JOHAN VISSCHEDIJK COLLECTION
No. 7253. General Dynamics YF-16A Fighting Falcon (75-0750 c/n 61-6) US Air Force
Photograph from General Dynamics, taken December 7, 1982

General Dynamics YF-16A Fighting Falcon

12/31/2007. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The sixth Full-Scale Development YF-16A was selected in 1978 to become the AFTI (Advanced Fighter Technology Integration) test bed to explore new fighter aircraft technologies in the AFTI/F-16 program, directed by the USAF Systems Command's Flight Dynamics Laboratory, with NASA, the USN and General Dynamics (GD) as participants.

The selected YF-16A, s/n 75-0750, was returned to GD by the USAF on March 6, 1980, and the AFTI/F-16 was flown for the first time by Alex Wolfe at Fort Worth, Texas, on July 10, 1982. The AFTI/F-16 program ended on November 4, 1997 after more than 700 research flights. The USAF continued to fly the aircraft until retiring it to the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, on January 9, 2001.

Visible in the picture are the forward mounted canards and the hump on the spine containing additional test equipment. Not visible is the anti-spin chute mounted on the left-hand rear fuselage."


Created December 31, 2007