The Northrop N-102 Fang was a fighter aircraft design created by

Northrop Corporation Northrop Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its 1994 merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, most successfully the B-2 Spiri ...

and proposed to the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

in 1953. The Fang was explicitly designed as a ”light” or “lightweight fighter” in direct response to what Northrop saw as the ever-increasing weight, size, complexity, and cost of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

fighter designs. While the Fang was ultimately overlooked in-favor of the

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic interceptor. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the " Century Series" of fighter aircraft for the United States Air Force (USAF), it was developed into an ...

, Northrop’s interest in the lightweight fighter concept would ultimately come to fruition with the F-5 Freedom Fighter, itself spawning a moderately successful fighter family.

Design and development

In the early 1950s, concerns grew in the United States about the growing weight, complexity and cost of modern fighter aircraft, and in late 1952, Northrop started a design study for a simple, lightweight, supersonic fighter aircraft, the N-102 Fang, with the design team headed by Welko E. Gasich, Northrop's Chief of Advanced Design. On 12 December that year, the

(USAF) issued a requirement for a lightweight air superiority aircraft to replace the F-100 supersonic fighter. The new aircraft was expected to enter service in 1957 and was required to have a speed of at least Mach 1.3 at and a combat radius of . Northrop proposed the N-102 to meet the requirement, while other competitors were from Lockheed (the CL-246),

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F- ...

(the NA-212) and

Republic Aviation The Republic Aviation Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Farmingdale, New York, on Long Island, New York, Long Island. Originally known as the Seversky Aircraft Company, the company was responsible for the design and produ ...

(the AP-55). The N-102 had a shoulder-mounted

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (letter), delta (Δ). Although long studied, the delta wing did not find significant practical applications unti ...

and a small all-moving tailplane mounted behind the wing. It would be powered by a single

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

mounted in the lower aft fuselage which was supplied by air from a variable-geometry ventral air inlet. This promised smoother, more efficient airflow to the engine at the risk of being more vulnerable to ingestion of foreign objects and damage to the engine. A number of different engines were proposed, including the Pratt & Whitney J57, the Wright J65 (a license-produced derivative of the British Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire), the Wright J67 (a license-built

Bristol Olympus The Rolls-Royce Olympus (originally the Bristol B.E.10 Olympus) was the world's second two-jet engine spool, spool axial-flow compressor, axial-flow turbojet aircraft engine design, first run in May 1950 and preceded only by the Pratt & Whitne ...

) or the General Electric J79, with all of the engines giving an estimated speed of at least Mach 2. In early 1953, the USAF selected Lockheed's CL-246, which became the

, but Northrop at first continued work on the N-102 with the hope of gaining export orders, building a mock-up of the aircraft in USAF colors. However, the use of a single, large engine meant that the aircraft could not be as light or cheap as Northrop wanted, and Northrop stopped work on the N-102 during 1954. Northrop continued work on lightweight fighters, basing its further studies on the use of two small

General Electric J85 The General Electric J85 is a small single-shaft turbojet engine. Military versions produce up to of thrust dry; Afterburner, afterburning variants can reach up to . The engine, depending upon additional equipment and specific model, weighs fro ...

engines, which allowed a much lighter and cheaper aircraft, with Northrop's design team believing that twin engines would increase the reliability and safety margin. The J85-powered design studies eventually formed the basis of the F-5 fighter family. The design was the subject of a 1957

design patent In the United States, a design patent is a form of legal protection granted to the ornamental design of an article of manufacture. Design patents are a type of industrial design right. Ornamental designs of jewelry, furniture, beverage containers ...

Specifications (J79 engine - performance estimated)

References

* * * {{Northrop aircraft High-wing aircraft N-102 Single-engined jet aircraft Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States 1950s United States fighter aircraft

Design and development

Specifications (J79 engine - performance estimated)

See also

References