US JET FIGHTERS IN FOREIGN SERVICE.pdf

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Introduction
oday it may come as something of a surprise to see
so many countries opting to purchase the F-35 stealth
fighter from Lockheed Martin. It has, after all, been
more than three decades since the last such combat
aircraft sales bonanza and times have changed somewhat.
But America has famously been the arsenal of democracy since
the Second World War – supplying the latest, or nearly the latest,
weapons technology to friendly nations across the globe. And its
most high profile defence export has always been fighter aircraft.
Some have seen relatively modest use beyond their native
land; few foreign users adopted the F-80 Shooting Star, the F2H-
3 Banshee or the F9F in either Panther or Cougar form. Even
newer types such as the F-100 Super Sabre, F-101 Voodoo,
F-102 Delta Dagger, F-8 Crusader and F-14 Tomcat were rarely
operated by America’s allies.
Yet seemingly for every ‘miss’ there was a ‘hit’ so
spectacularly successful in terms of production numbers and
individual air force users that it put jet fighters produced by
every other nation outside the Soviet Union in the shade.
The first such success was the Republic F-84G Thunderjet,
which equipped countries across Europe and beyond during
the early 1950s. This was swiftly followed by the F-84F
Thunderstreak but both were soon eclipsed by the incredible
North American F-86 Sabre. For the first time with the Sabre, US
jet fighters were manufactured in significant numbers abroad as
well as being exported from America.
The next big hit would come less than a decade later with
Lockheed’s F-104 Starfighter – a type largely unwanted by the
USAF which became a huge sales success abroad, being picked
up by the majority of NATO countries albeit under somewhat…
controversial circumstances in some cases.
The first truly modern US jet fighter to be widely exported
T
was the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. Designed from
the outset with flexibility in mind, it proved to be a good fit for
many air forces and remains in service today thanks to a host of
upgrade programmes. More successful even than the venerable
Phantom was Northrop’s relatively simple and lightweight – but
also highly dependable and long-lasting – F-5 Freedom Fighter/
Tiger II. The F-5 has served with more air forces than any other
US fighter and continues to serve despite production lines
having long since closed.
Then during the 1970s, in the wake of the Vietnam War, came
an incredible trio of fighters – the McDonnell Douglas F-15,
General Dynamics F-16 and Northrop-developed/McDonnell
Douglas-built F/A-18. Together these superbly capable multirole
aircraft continue to provide the backbone of US-aligned nations’
air forces all over the world. The F-35, it seems, is picking up
where they left off – although their stories are by no means
over, with new examples of all three (allowing that the F/A-
18E/F continues the lineage of the earlier models) still rolling off
production lines.
This publication cannot, of course, provide every detail about
every exported airframe ever supplied by the US; the myriad
upgrade programmes rolled out over the years, the many
political twists and turns of military hardware for export, and the
detailed operational histories of many thousands of aircraft are
beyond the scope of the text contained herein. I have instead
attempted to provide the bare essentials for each type and its
operators to accompany the beautiful artworks of renowned
aviation illustrator JP Vieira – which are the main feature of this
book. I hope you enjoy marvelling at the incredible variety of
designs as much as I have.
Dan Sharp
ABOUT THE
ARTIST
JP Vieira is an illustrator producing military history and
aviation-themed artwork.
He is entirely self-taught and aims to constantly
improve both the technical and digital methods. His
attention to detail and constant pursuit of improvement
makes his artworks both accurate and artistically pleasing.
JP is a published artist, collaborating with several
authors, editors and publishers.
GENERAL DYNAMICS F-16
FIGHTING FALCON
An F-16 in Turkish service.
US JET FIGHTERS IN FOREIGN SERVICE
USAF FIGHTERS
003
US JET FIGHTERS IN FOREIGN SERVICE
CONTENTS
012
GRUMMAN F9F
PANTHER AND COUGAR
004
US JET FIGHTERS IN FOREIGN SERVICE
048
MCDONNELL F-101
VOODOO
038
NORTH AMERICAN
F-86D AND F-86K
022
REPUBLIC F-84F
THUNDERSTREAK
006
LOCKHEED F-80C
SHOOTING STAR
010
MCDONNELL
F2H BANSHEE
014
REPUBLIC F-84
THUNDERJET
028
NORTH AMERICAN
F-86 SABRE
044
NORTH AMERICAN
F-100 SUPER SABRE
All illustrations:
JP VIEIRA
Design:
DRUCK MEDIA PVT.
LTD.
Publisher:
STEVE O’HARA
Production editor:
DAN SHARP
Published by:
MORTONS MEDIA
GROUP LTD, MEDIA
CENTRE, MORTON
WAY, HORNCASTLE,
LINCOLNSHIRE LN9
6JR
Tel.
01507 529529
Printed by:
WILLIAM GIBBONS
AND SONS,
WOLVERHAMPTON
ISBN: 978-1-911703-05-1
© 2023 MORTONS MEDIA GROUP LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS
PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY
MEANS, ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING,
OR ANY INFORMATION STORAGE RETRIEVAL SYSTEM WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION
IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER.
122
LOCKHEED F-35
LIGHTNING II
112
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS
F/A-18A, B, C, D HORNET
086
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS
F-15 EAGLE
072
NORTHOP F-5
TIGER II
060
VOUGHT F-8
CRUSADER
050
CONVAIR F-102
DELTA DAGGER
052
062
084
094
120
LOCKHEED F-104
STARFIGHTER
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS
F-4 PHANTOM II
GRUMMAN F-14
TOMCAT
GENERAL DYNAMICS
F-16 FIGHTING FALCON
BOEING F/A-18E, F
SUPER HORNET`
US JET FIGHTERS IN FOREIGN SERVICE
005

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