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

More photos of Cobra mockups.
 

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BillRo said:
I have been scanning some old slides and came across some slides of the Yf-17that were being thrown in the trash when the F-18L was cancelled. They show some demonstration weapons loadouts for F-18A development. The earlier ones with the aircraft in silver paint are from 1975 while the camo paint is from March 1976. Here are the 1975 images
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Thank goodness you had the fortitude to retrieve them BillRo!!

Regards
Pioneer
 
Got to see one of the YF-17s at the Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama today...
 

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YF-17 mockup in Isreali markings and a couple of models. From SDASM Flickr.
 

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Every now and again for several years I presented the F-18 mockup to visitors to Northrop. Here are a couple of pix with the big models we used to explain the aircraft. They did not let me talk to the possible customers, but the guy with me in the dark photo was the Brit Consul General in LA.
 

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BillRo said:
Every now and again for several years I presented the F-18 mockup to visitors to Northrop. Here are a couple of pix with the big models we used to explain the aircraft. They did not let me talk to the possible customers, but the guy with me in the dark photo was the Brit Consul General in LA.
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Go Bill!!

Regards
Pioneer
 
fightingirish said:
Another 50th anniversary. :cool:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1799911882687483965
View: https://x.com/airandspace/status/1799911882687483965?t=8_WWl1jUn_enMtzzJA-r_A&s=19
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Wow, 50-years.....so that means I was 3-years old when she first flew.

Although my experience with the Hornet isn't as exciting as BillRo's [I'm very envious Bill!], this anniversary gives me cause to reflect....
For in 1986 whilst at school I applied and sat exams for apprenticeships in building the Hornet at Fishmans Bend in Port Melbourne. Alas no apprenticeship, but a great and exciting life experience just the same.
On reflection, as a Digger, I've seen her grace in many a take off and landings, I've witnessed her sheer power of and manoeuvrability over airbases, I've sat in awe of her cockpit, I've helped protect air base from which she's operated and I've seen her deliver ordance.

I guess my only regret on reflection is that no F-18L / F/A-18L ever entered service.

Regards
Pioneer
 
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From Aviation magazine 1975.
 

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bercr said:
Northrop YF-17 roll out ceremonies photographs (NASM):

https://edan.si.edu/slideshow/viewer/?eadrefid=NASM.1995.0050_ref505
Northrop YF-17 flight test progress photographs (NASM):

https://edan.si.edu/slideshow/viewer/?eadrefid=NASM.1995.0050_ref506
On each page you can download a PDF file containing the corresponding images with their captions.

Other images of YF-17 cockpit and ejection seat tests from Museum of Flight digital collections:

YF-17 cockpit and ejection seat tests
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The rollout ceremony book was my first EBay buy what, 20 years ago - neat to see it elsewhere!

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 
A well put together video regarding the LWF/ACF Competition, which includes an interesting snippet in regards Northrops P-610 single-engine study at Time 21:29, denoting both the weight saving of the single-engine derivative, as well as that the P-610 from a Northrop perspective would have had a more promising manoeuvrability than the two-engine P-600, which became the YF-17.

View: https://youtu.be/ZJQyP9fozK8?si=vfnBBRIir0iwMqdX


[In fact, Not a pound for air to ground YouTube channel is a fantastic program I highly recommend!!]

Regards
Pioneer
 
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Pioneer said:
A well put together video regarding the LWF/ACF Competition, which includes an interesting snippet in regards Northrops P-610 single-engine study at Time 21:29, denoting both the weighting saving of the single-engine derivative, as well as that the PP-610from a Northrop perspective would have had a more promising manoeuvrability than the two-engine P-600, which became the YF-17.

Regards
Pioneer
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Interesting tit bit.

I wonder how the P-610 would have matured. For one, it doesn't seem like much thought has been given yet to the location of the nose gear so not have a major impact on intake performance in gear down conditions.

While promising, it is clear the P-600 was further developed and a bit more mature design at the time hence continuing with it.
 
NorthrUp... ?:oops:?

And am I seeing things or are those thrust reversers associated to some lateral trust vents (near the windshield), similar in principle to the Harrier control air valves/nozzles?
 
Sferrin said:
Those are ""holes" in the LERX at the root. Legacy Hornet has that too, but much smaller.
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I was not talking about the well-known slots in the leading edge root extensions. ;)
If you observe the interception illustration, you can see what looks like streaks of jet blast going sideways, coming from in front of the LERX, somewhere under the windshield.
On the side picture of the Northrup Northrop YF-17, there is a rectangular shape (and an associated panel under it?) in the same area.

Or simply the illustrator took some liberties with the way vapor forms during tight maneuvers, and coincidentally the only panel he bothered to draw is the one with the warning sign...

Honestly, I'm not sure. Maybe I just need more caffeine.
 

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Those LEX slots were Walt Fellers, Northrop Chief Designer's favorites and the Cobra/YF-17 had several of them. When MCAIR became involved on the F/A-18A their aero group changed them constantly for a while and the F-18L group, designing the land-based version at Northrop, tried to keep up. The slots finally vanished entirely on the production aircraft. That configuration created vortices that impacted the vertical tails and forced the stuctures group to add large angled cleats to the inside of the verticals to handle the loads/vibration. The final fix was to add the small "fences" on the top of the LEX seen on the legacy Hornet to control the vortex.
 
Here is an image of my Northrop CF-18L model showing the slots at one point in time. McAIR also were fans of snags on the LE of both wings and horizontal tails and those came and went also. Somehow Northrop aero were/are? smart enough to avoid those gimmicks.
 

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Manuducati said:
[-]
Or simply the illustrator took some liberties with the way vapor forms during tight maneuvers, and coincidentally the only panel he bothered to draw is the one with the warning sign...
Honestly, I'm not sure. Maybe I just need more caffeine.
Click to expand...
I agree with your observation, @Manuducati, the illustrator has some liberties with the depiction of vapor formation during tight maneuvers, and there are indeed no thrust vents in the front fuselage. :)
 
fightingirish said:
Some pictures showing drawings of a YF-17 with trust reserve or early TVC were posted at SDASM Flickr Archives today on 2025-05-12.
[--]
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Hello folks, it appears to be a thrust reversal/ deflection application developed by the Rohr Aircraft Corporation, an aerospace manufacturing company based in California, for aircraft such as the YF-17, F/A-18, and F-18L. Please also refer to this post showcasing a (Y)F-16 fitted with a comparable thrust/deflection system.:)
 
Sorry I misunderstood. There were no thrust vents on the nose of the YF-17, F/A-18 or F-18L. I do not know if it was ever considered. Northrop did much work on nose shaping to produce a vortex as you can see with the small strakes on the "radome" of the YF-17 and the flattened nose on late models of the F-5.
 

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