Northrop P-530 / P-600 / P-610 / YF-17 Design Evolution

Seeing Mark's bid for the YF-17 Binder reminded me of back in the days of yore, when I was in high school, we had to write people in the profession we wanted to go into and "interview" them about it. So I wrote various Aerospace companies, many of them now non-existent or part of another company and also Wright-Pat and asked them some questions and sent them some of "my" designs that I had sketched to analyze. I have those somewhere, but anyway, the person who wrote back from Wright-Pat had been involved in the YF-17 program and he sent me a bunch of 8 x 10 photos, actual photos, not repro's. They've kind of yellowed with age and my scanner settings probably weren't the best. Anyway, here they are; I thought I had lost the scans, but I had them zipped elsewhere. Enjoy!
 

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Thanks Sundog for sharing your pics
I too have fond memories of writing to aerospace companies as a kid at school!
I have some Northrop F-20A Tigershark pics that I must share one day.

One thing that stands out with your pics is the large capacity drop tanks the YF-17 is carrying.
Would anyone like to guess their capacity?

Regards
Pioneer
 

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After seeing those delightful shots of the YF-17s, I figured I'd post this comparison shot of the YF-17 in the F-18L guise next to one of the early F-18s.

This photo had been given to me back in the 80s when I was working on converting the Hasegawa F-18 back to the YF-17. I had the thing just about finished when the people who at that time were running Eagle's Talon "borrowed" it along with my scratchbuilt ASSET and PRIME (X-23) to make molds. They produced the ASSET and PRIME in that three piece resin set but they did not do the YF-17. And, I did not get any of those models back. Oh well, that's life.
 

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Comparison of the YF-17 and early F-18!
Apart from the obvious size growth of the F-18, it was interesting to see the two landing gear arrangements of the two aircraft!
One only needs to look at the very beefed up F-18's gear to that of the lighter and simpler YF-17's to see how much weight alone that this must have been incorporated into the F-18.

Alway thought it a great pity the F-18L never went any further!!!!

Regards
Pioneer
 
Last edited:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT33jK4Zhv4
 
Greetings All -

A few scans from a recent EPay acquisition....

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 

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...Must make a note to send a rather curt e-mail to "NASACRais" about how blocking embedding is a waste of time and an insulting inconvenience to boot. Here's another YF-17 clip I came across. Might want to turn down the volume tho, as the song included is a bit on the lame "Depression Era Rock" side:

 
Here is Northrop YF-17 variants.
 

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The source is this beautiful photo book:

http://www.amazon.com/Northrops-YF-17-Cobra-Pictorial-Schiffer/dp/0887409105

Hesham's scans coming form page 30 but there's a lot more of interesting data in the book (both pictures and text). Highly recommended.
 
Cutaways of the YF-17 and proposed 2 seat version. These were purchased off Ebay a number of years ago. They are around 2 feet long and must have been used by Northrop for promo purposes. Color has faded somewhat over the years.
 

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No idea what it is supposed to look like, but I preferred this version which tones down the red a bit.
 

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Some early P-530 drawings from 1967. Enjoy!
 

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Thats really awesome - thanks once more. The F-5 ancestry is very clear in these early versions.


They seem to correspond well to these:


1966 version
index.php





1967 version (this is quite close but has a revised trailing edge - I imagine this is a slightly later version than the one above.)


index.php
 
Couple of P530 model pics that were taken at the Western Museum of flight (when it was still in Hawthorne).
 

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Two seat F-17 for USN, Northrop designation P-630 II.
 

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A few drawings from a Northrop P-530 mockup review. Sorry for the scan quality.
 

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Nice drawings, indeed a shame about the scan quality. If you have higher res copies, I might be able to make something better.
 

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YF-17 with 2x20mm guns in place of Vulcan.
 

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Hey nice find once again P630 drawing!!!

The 2x20mm cannon are M39 type! Proven cannon, but a little low on velocity and prone to jamming in high G turns :-[

Regards
Pioneer
 
Wow, thanks. I've been looking for a YF-17 drawing with cross sections for years. :)
 
Northrop study model of the N-300 (version A43) twin engine lightweight fighter. Detachable nose, cockpit and tail fin could be substituted to illustrate alternative configurations. The nameplate indicates a clean take-off weight of 20,500lbs (9318 kg) and a wing area of 300 sq.ft.
 

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Pioneer said:
Does anyone have pictures, drawings (including 3-view drawing) and technical data / specifications for the single-engine P-610?

Regards
Pioneer

Sure... Here are some photos of the Northrop P-610 factory model.
 

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Very nice. First time I've ever seen anything other than the top view. Thank you!
 
The sculptured boundary layer control orifice above the ventral engine air inlet is most interesting. _SP
 

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