Chinese fighters: errors and mis-reporting

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Found in Air International September 1987:

Taiwanese sources declared in 1978 that a new Mach 2 fighter called F-9 was entering operational service.
In 1982 they claimed several hundred were built and nearing fully operational status. They also claimed the F-12 had already flown using Spey engine technology and would enter service in 1985-86.

 

[Deino]

Quite interesting how often that J-9 designation was used during these times !

First for the "radar" equipped J-6-version what turned out to be the radar-less Q-5.
Then later for the competitor to the J-8 program the Shenyang and later Chengdu J-9 delta-canard-fighter ... later on the Super-7 - now FC-1 - was said to get the J-9 designation if it will enter PLAAF-service and now sometimes a single-seater-fighter version of the Guizhou JL-9 - maybe exactly the fighter how the Super-7 might have looked like with US-help - is rumoured with the J-9 number.

That fighter from these Taiwanese reports are most likely the original Shenyang J-8 with over-hyped in servive estimations ... and the J-12 using Spey engine technology became the JH-7.

Deino ;D