Northrop N-102 Fang

History of Northrop N-102 Party

The rise of the jet engine after World War II (1939-1945) ushered in a new golden age for the development of military aircraft. It is now possible to make aircraft more aerodynamically efficient and exceed previously coveted speeds (supersonic speeds), while giving war planners entirely new ways to wage conventional warfare.

Along with jet engines, swept wings are another consistent quality of these aircraft, and many designs have been developed to meet the numerous demands put forth by various world powers.

In the United States in the early days of the Cold War, a variety of fighter jet designs emerged - some were successful, and many were considered paper drawings or models before they were cancelled or abandoned altogether. Northrop introduced the N-102 "Fighter" light fighter in the early 1950s to meet the needs of the U.S.

Air Force, a compact fighter that displayed the calling card of fighter jets at the time - swept wings and streamlined fuselage.

Engineers opted for a relatively simple configuration, with the pilot sitting behind a short nose cone assembly in the front and under a largely unobstructed canopy. Due to the downward angle of the nose section, the pilot should have a good nose-down view. A single split air intake is located on the belly line of the fuselage below the cockpit, giving the fighter a somewhat understated profile. While engineers prefer a twin-engine approach for performance and reliability reasons, a single-engine design was envisioned for reasons of simplicity of construction, ease of maintenance, and lower initial cost.

Power will come from a General Electric J79 series turbojet engine embedded in the fuselage (the original idea was the Wright TJ31B3 - a licensed Armstrong Siddeley "Sapphire"). The empennage consisted of a vertical fin with horizontal planes on either side of the aircraft's tail - a feature that was withdrawn in 1954, although the focus was initially on a V-shaped ("butterfly") fin arrangement.

The tricycle landing gear completes the presentation of the design.

One of the most notable qualities of the

Fang is its tapered main planes (delta wings) at shoulder height on either side of the fuselage. The components end at an extreme point to form a triangle, and the principal planes are also given a slight contraface angle beyond their midpoint.

The main landing gear legs will be tucked into the main plane of the wing, while the nose receives the nosebone retracted.

Very compact grip compared to peers. With versatility in mind, the airframe is designed to readily accept any of the four available jet engines to meet mission requirementsa forward-thinking design quality.

The proposed weapon is an 80 to 100 x 1.5-inch airborne rocket housed in the wing root compartment, but like various engine modifications, this can be modified to suit mission requirements. 2 x 20mm and 2 x 30mm artillery kits are proposed as well as 2" rocket, bomb and nuclear delivery capabilities.

While the N-102 never made it past some drawings and models (it was in project form throughout its life cycle), the design is said to have had some influence on the upcoming F-5 Tiger light aircraft program. The U.S. Air Force authorities turned to the Lockheed template for their high-altitude day fighter needs, the F-104 "Starfighter."

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