Northrop F-5E Tiger II - Swiss Air Force

Product description

The Northrop F-5 tactical fighter was designed as an extremely maneuverable, supersonic
fighter with a high rate of reliability at a low operating cost. The F-5 first flew on July 30,
1959 with the first customer delivery in 1964. The last of more than 2,600 F-5’s was
produced in 1989 and about two-thirds of these are still in service with 26 countries more
than 4 decades later. The F-5 was manufactured by Northrop Grumman and under license
in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland.

Swiss Air Force Squadron (Fliegerstaffel) 8 “Vandalos” was formed in 1925. In 1993 Staffel
8 received the first F-5E. All Swiss squadrons are militia units and don’t have specific
aircraft assigned to them so they draw from a pool of aircraft. J-3073 is unique for Staffel 8
because in March 2017 this aircraft received a special squadron-related paint scheme on
the vertical stabilizer. In the scheme is the red sawfish “Vandalo”, numerous 8’s and “ADIO
VANDALO”, “Good Bye Vandalo” because like Staffel 6 and 19, Staffel 8 F-5E’s future is
uncertain.