USAF Patch Test F 5E F 5F Tiger II Joint Test Force Edwards AFB

USAF Patch F 5E F 5F Tiger II Joint Test Force Edwards AFB 1972 Embroidered on twill merrowed edge 102mm four inches diameter.

Free Shipping

Northrops entry for the IFA International Fighter Aircraft Mutual Assistance Pact MAP successor of the F 5A and F 5B was declared winner on 20 November 1970 with an order placed for 5 development aircraft and 325 production aircraft. In January 1971 the aircraft was reclassified as the F 5E and was named Tiger II after the Skoshi Tiger program code name the F 5 gained when in October 1965 the USAF took 12 combat ready F 5As from MAP supplies and sent them to Vietnam with 4503 Tactical Fighter Wing for operational service trials. 

Tiger II F 5E/F Joint Test Force was established at Edwards AFB in 1972 to carry out Initial Operational Test and Evaluation IOT&E of the F 5E and its two seater training version F 5F prior to its service implementation with USAF 425 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron at Chandler AFB to train foreign pilots from countries purchasing the F 5E and F5F under the Mutual Assistance Pact MAP. 

The first F 5E rolled off the Northrop production line at Hawthorne on 23 June 1972 and was sent to the F 5E/F Joint Test Force at Edwards AFB for flight testing with its maiden flight on 11 August 1972 and USAF flight evaluation tests commencing later in August. 

The new engines proved less reliable than had been hoped and malfunctions lead to a suspension of flight testing between 21 September and 16 December 1972 and  the engines were not declared officially ready until 25 April 1973.  

In the meantime the first Tiger II reached the 425 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron at Chandler AFB Arizona on 4 April 1973 for flying training to commence for crews from countries that had acquired the F 5E under the Mutual Assistance Pact MAP.  

This patch dates from 1972.