This is #44 in the Warbird Tech series and if you compare this volume with the earlier ones, you can see that there has been improvement as the series has moved on. This particular volume is on an aircraft that really should have three times the pages just for additional photos! The Northrop F-5?T-38 has to be one of the major success stories of the last fourty years. Not just because it was the right aircraft at the right time, but also because so many of these planes are still flying and providing sterling service in air arms around the world.

Thanks to the large number of operators and markings carried, the plane is popular with modelers and enthusiasts as well.

Developed as a private program in the mid 1950s to combat the growing complexity and cost of operation of the usual US fighter, The Northrop 156 family, and especially the 156T (T-38) were one of the few planes that went through initial testing with almost no changes at all to the airframe and systems. So the production planes were virtually indistinguishable from prototypes and preproduction aircraft, something that few modern aircraft can claim.

The author takes us through the development of the F-5, foreign clients, the Skoshi Tiger program, T-38, F-5E/F, F-20 and the usual specs page. There is also a nice color section as well as a section on experimental aircraft using F-5 airframes.

The book is simply superb and one that you can buy knowing you'll have a reference that you'll use over and over. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I know that you will as well. What is probably one of the best things about it is that it is only $16.95, a real bargain in books nowadays.

September 2006

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