NFAF-228 F-20 Tigershark by Paul Metz

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NFAF-228 F-20 Tigershark

The books have landed at the sprawling world-wide Ginter Books headquarters and fulfillment center. Current orders will be going into shipping on 14 August.

With the loss of Specialty Press (currently in shutdown mode) as a US distributor, the best way for US-located persons to obtain the book is to go directly to the publisher at
http://www.ginterbooks.com/. Priced at $59.95, the book counts 144-pages, 296 color photos, 20 B&W photos, and 135 illustrations.

NFAF-228 - F-20 Tigershark sm b.jpg

From the website:
The F-20 was conceived as the next evolution of the Fighter for Export (FX), a concept that had been in place for over 50 years and a formalized U.S. government policy for over 25 years. Northrop invested $1.2 billion of its own money on that policy. However, no production contract followed, not because of any technical deficiency but because of a changing government policy on what our allies would receive in U.S. military aid.

This book traces the development of the 3 generations of a 1955 design called the N-156 which became the T-38 and the F-5A/B. The F-5A/B evolved into the F-5E/F, the F-5G and finally the F-20 Tigershark. Each step in that progression was to keep up with the latest Soviet fighters. The F-20 was designed to counter the Mig-29 and Su-27, 4th generation fighters.

The book reveals the unique and triumphs to create a new type fighter in a world of design goals that produced a reliable, easily maintained, easy to fly, agile fighter-bomber that was affordable for many allied air forces in the wake of WW II. The story is told from the first person accounts ("Tigershark Voices") of the struggles increasingly complex, expensive and maintenance-intensive fighters. Other "Tigershark Voices" bring the reader into the F-5 and F-20 cockpits as the pilots describe flying this breed of fighters.

This definitive Tigershark book features original documents and photographs, most in color and previously unpublished. Original documents of USAF struggles to name the Tigershark the F-20, Presidential directives to build a fighter for export and limitations on sales, performance with no government funding are a few of the many examples of original documents pivotal to the F-20 story.

Also included are the various F-20 follow-on proposals: RF-20A/B, F-20B/C/E/F and Lavi fighters. As with all Ginter books, the F-20 Tigershark also presents information of interest to the scale modeler.

Beyond the detailed color photos, the book has many detailed factory drawings of the F-5 and F-20 with 3-views, cross section cuts and inboard drawings showing structure and equipment in great detail. The cockpit comparison drawings are masterpieces of the graphic arts.
 
Who distributes Ginter's books in Europe?
I recommend the Aviation Megastore in the Netherlands. :cool:
The shop is situated at Aalsmeerderbrug in the close proximity of Amsterdam International Airport Schiphol.
A few years ago I ordered online from there to Germany a copy of Paul Metz's book about the YF-23.
 
Delta-winged F-20 was a Northrop proposal for a hybrid of the F-20 and the early Lavi. IAI had approached them about taking a part of the Lavi and, after analyzing it, came back with this proposal to reduce development costs. There were two different concepts proposed, having greater or lesser amounts of the F-20 within them.

It didn't happen, but given the way Northrop designed the series, you could mate the cockpit and nose of a T-38 to a F-20 aft fuselage, wings, and tail for a TF-20.
 
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It seems excellent book,shame on me,if I did't forget,I intended to send a real pictures
to Northrop F-20 in our bases during early 1980s for evolution,before we decided to
buy F-16,and my pleasure if the author put them in it.
 
Probably an excellent book but given the size and physical execution (soft covers, only glued binding), it should be priced less than $30.
 
Ginter Books have been expensive since the very beginning. From the point of view of an unbuilt project enthusiast, probably that's one of the most balanced between what you pay and what you get.
 
Just called in and ordered a copy. These are always fun books. For those worried about the physical quality, I've got a good amount of these now and they've held up very well. I'd say their quality, in terms of material and assembly, etc., is pretty close to Harpia, whose softbound volumes have also held up very well for me. Definitely worth the price in my opinion, especially the newer volumes that have tons of full color illustrations and photos.
 
Ginter Books have been expensive since the very beginning. From the point of view of an unbuilt project enthusiast, probably that's one of the most balanced between what you pay and what you get.
Not true. 5-10 years ago Ginter's books were significantly cheaper per page (books with 200-250 pages were priced at $40 and below) and were of good value for money. A good comparison today is the Nachtjagd Combat Diaries books from the British Wingleader publishing. 144 large format pages like in the F-20, but with sewn binding and priced at £25 per book.

Another good comparison are Morton's books and bookazines. Again, Ginter's newer books are much more expensive despite being of the cheapest binding.
 
You can buy any other F-20 book priced below $30...
Here you literally pay for rare first-hand information you won't find anywhere else.
And I doubt there will be another book on subject in decades to come.
 
You can buy any other F-20 book priced below $30...
Here you literally pay for rare first-hand information you won't find anywhere else.
And I doubt there will be another book on subject in decades to come.
Perhaps, but the F-20 is an aircraft that doesn't rank among the top 500 aircraft in my interests.
 
Not true. 5-10 years ago Ginter's books were significantly cheaper per page (books with 200-250 pages were priced at $40 and below) and were of good value for money.
Sorry I was thinking on classical Naval Fighters series between 30-40 pages like Grumman XF10F which is vailable today in Ginter's website at 11 USD. This is about 0.3 USD/page which is roughly the same cost for the F20 book ( 47 Euro / 114 page).

"Perhaps, but the F-20 is an aircraft that doesn't rank among the top 500 aircraft in my interests."

I agree with you, at the end everyone makes a decision based on cost but also the individual perception of cost vs value.

I think the book is expensive but my interest on the content is stronger enough to pay such money. With other Ginter Books, I didn't ordered because the equation worked in the opposite direction.
 
Perhaps, but the F-20 is an aircraft that doesn't rank among the top 500 aircraft in my interests.
Don't buy it?

There are different buyers for different books. 36 years ago I paid 150 guilders for a used copy of Walvissen by E.J. Slijper, at the time I thought it was a good buy. If your usual reading fare only consists of Barbara Cartland novels or Finnish aviation books, you would have considered that price extortionate.
 
Oh wow that does sound like an awesome information packed book on the F-20. Undoubtedly this book would contain info/drawings of the 'Big-Wing' F-20....
But alas for $AUD 133.02, sadly outside of my budget:confused:

If anyone in Oz finds a good price, can you please let me know.

Regards
Pioneer
 
I have exactly 40 Ginter books (I counted while packing for my last move). They’ve held up pretty well over the decades, so I can’t complain about the quality. As for cost, let’s face it, things are expensive now, especially for niche books that have to be shipped between continents. I think the Ginter series is a great value for what you get.
 
I wonder what your interest in this thread then?
Because I might buy such a book if cheap enough. I have not that great enthusiasm for the space shuttle, but I still bought Jenkins's single-volume book on it. And it was much cheaper than the F-20 book despite being almost 3 times bigger and hardcover.
 
As for cost, let’s face it, things are expensive now, especially for niche books that have to be shipped between continents. I think the Ginter series is a great value for what you get.
Undoubtedly GeorgeA, and thanks.

Regards
Pioneer
 
Mine arrived in the mail today. Came in some nice stiff cardboard packaging that the USPS was forced to leave at the door instead of bend and jam in my mailbox, that was definitely appreciated (and surprising given the Media Mail shipping cost was only $2).
 
My copy arrived from the flatlands of Schiphol for a princely €72.67 (£64.78 in old money, Paypal pay-in-3) and is, as I expected, wonderful.

53148086321_ec3cc81454_c.jpg


It arrived with three friends, so pray for my credit card bill.

53148581648_9a340dda10_z.jpg
 
I just acquired the book, and was instantly blown away by the sheer amount of new information that I had never seen or heard before.
The part that immediately caught my eye was the section explaining the different pits for each major variant
 
Hola chicos, alguien que tenga este libro podría pasarme la página donde dice donde confirma que tiene el aim120 y si era posible llevar doble aim120A en cada ala, solo necesito la página del libro para confirmar. thanks
 
Zeeink

The forum member's language is English.
And that's not a problem to post because there many free online translators. Here is the result:

"Hi guys, someone who has this book could pass me the page where it says where it confirms that you have the aim120 and if it was possible to carry double aim120A on each wing, I just need the book page to confirm. thanks"
 
Hola chicos, alguien que tenga este libro podría pasarme la página donde dice donde confirma que tiene el aim120 y si era posible llevar doble aim120A en cada ala, solo necesito la página del libro para confirmar. thanks
Hi zeeink,
the author Paul Metz describes the F-20 Air Defence Missionized Aircraft, a proposal for the USAF Air Defence Fighter competition, on page 96 to 97.
A 3-view drawing shows the F-20 AD Missionized Aircraft with two AIM-9L at wingtips, 4 AM-120 AMRAAMs (2 per launcher under each wing pylon) and 2 x 330-Gallon fuel tanks. No use of the fuselage center-line station in this configuration. In the end, F-16 ADF won the competition.
See also this post. I highly recommend buying this book.
Sorry, before you or anyone else asks, I won't take or post any snapshots of this book in this forum due to forum rules. :)
 

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