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

[Sundog]

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!

 

[Sundog]

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[Sundog]

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[Sundog]

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[Sundog]

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[overscan (PaulMM)]

Thats a beautiful collection of photos. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[Stargazer]

Thank you so much for sharing these awesome pics!!!

 

[Pioneer]

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

 

[The Artist]

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.

 

[Pioneer]

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

 

[flateric]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT33jK4Zhv4

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Greetings All -

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

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[fightingirish]

Two pictures at SDASM Archives.
Link: http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=2&w=49487266%40N07&q=Northrop+p+600&m=text

 

[flateric]

interesting HUD-canopy symbiosis patent by Lee Begin and Michael 'Jerry' Huber seemingly intended for P.530
http://www.google.com/patents/download/3618881_COCKPIT_ENCLOSURE.pdf?id=aAECAAAAEBAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U0-vfPFfAuiAHTHwWAUdKfFb_m-tg

 

[OM]

...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:

 

[sferrin]

 

[hesham]

Here is Northrop YF-17 variants.

 

[Stargazer]

Very nice. I'd never seen this mockup before.

 

[Antonio]

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.

 

[Triton]

Northrop YC-17 advertisement circa 1974.

URL:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1974-USAF-Northrop-YF-17-Aircraft-Leader-Ship-Photo-Ad-/150888451926?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2321a70f56

 

[AeroFranz]

I suggest editing the typo in the designation

 

[Triton]

I suggest editing the typo in the designation

You guys are fast, LOL.

 

[RAP]

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.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Awesome! I will have to try some restoration on those.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

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

 

[RAP]

Some early P-530 drawings from 1967. Enjoy!

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

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

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

 

[RAP]

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

 

[RAP]

P610 single engine version of the F-17. Unfortunately this is the only drawing I have. Note also twin 20mm cannon in place of the M61.

 

[RAP]

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

 

[RAP]

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

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

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

 

[RAP]

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

 

[Pioneer]

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

 

[Sundog]

Wow, thanks. I've been looking for a YF-17 drawing with cross sections for years.

 

[circle-5]

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.

 

[BillRo]

Having models made with detachable mix-and-match parts was typical of Lee Begin's approach to show-and-tell. See also http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,4513.0.html where he had the same thing done for the Alternate F-5G.

BillRo

 

[circle-5]

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.

 

[RAP]

Very nice. First time I've ever seen anything other than the top view. Thank you!

 

[Steve Pace]

The sculptured boundary layer control orifice above the ventral engine air inlet is most interesting. _SP