Northrop F-5
Defending the rain forest
F5A flying over Rio de Janeiro
By 1965, the
Brazilian air force – FAB - cogitated to acquire the F-5 (twelve of the version A and four of B). However, due to other needs of FAB, the purchase was not made.After the purchase of Dassault’s Mirage III by FAB in 1970, to carry out the missions of aerial defense, FAB needed another aircraft to accomplish interdiction missions and aerial superiority, in order to substitute the ATTN-33A-20-LO then in use - aircrafts totally inadequate for those missions. After an evaluation of the several existent aircrafts in the market - which included Hawker-Siddeley Harrier Mk.50 (export version of Harrier GR.1 of RAF), SEPECAT Jaguar , FIAT G.91Y, Aermacchi MB.326K Veltro II and McDonnel-Douglas A4F Skyhawk – the F-5 was selected in 1973.
The order made to Northrop included 36 units of model E and six of the model B, besides replacement parts and other components. Brazilian F-5Es were distinct from the USAF models by a dorsal keel containing an ADF antenna, as well as an VHF antenna atop the fuselage.
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REVO refueling operation
By the middle of the eighties, due to operational aircraft losses and consequent reduction of the fleet, FAB tried to acquire new copies of F-5Es and, preferably, of F-5Fs, due to their superior characteristics over F-5Bs. Twenty-two F-5Es and four F-5Fs were acquired then. These were formerly operated by the " Aggressor " squadrons of USAF and the units acquired by Brazil were selected by FAB personnel. However, those airplanes presented two characteristics that distinguished them from F-5Es of the first lot acquired by FAB: they didn't have VHF or ADF antennas (they did not have the dorsal keel), and didn't present refueling capacity in flight.
F5E of Gav at BACO – Canoas air base
The airplanes of the first lot used a camouflage similar to " USAF Southeast Asia ", in two tones of green and one of brown. F-5 of the second lot arrived in Brazil using six different kinds of Aggressor camouflage, which imitated the camouflages of aircrafts used by the Warsaw pact. As those F-5s go by revisions, they are painted in the gray scheme of aerial superiority; nowadays, only one aircraft, coded FAB 4870, continues to use the camouflage known as " Lizard ", in green, brown and sand. Some of the F-5s painted gray have the upper portion of the fuselage ahead of the canopy and the canopy frame painted black.
Southeast Asia color scheme
Aggressor – one out of six different schemes
"Lizard" – also known as café au lait, this color scheme is still largely used by Israeli and Mid East nations