Richard Stewart wrote in message ...
Hi Guys,
Just wondering what the alternate (losing) choices were for the main US
older fighter aircraft?

eg. I know the YF17 lost out to the F18...

But what were the competitors to the rest (you don't need to go back too
far) - that's if they actually HAD competitors...

F14?
F15?
F16?
A10?
F117?
(have I missed any?)

and any pix?


The F-14 & F-15 had several paper competitors from LTV,
Fairchild, & the like. There are pics out there. ISTR some older ARCO
books on the F-14 & F-15 with artist concepts of some competitors.
I've also seen some artist concepts in old back issues of Aviation
Week & Space Technology. See if your library has them or can get them
& go back to the late '60s - early '70s. I think you can find a pic
eventually of an F-15 in SEA camo! World Airpower Journal issues in
the last few years have also had some pics of I know the F-14's
competition, even some mock-ups. Maybe even the F-15. The A-10's
competition was Northrop's YA-9. Do a search for it. There are pics &
even a couple of model kits out there. ISTR seeing a pic in an early
'70s issue of Air International/Air Enthusiast of the A-10 &/or YA-9
designs in SEA camo. I don't think the F-117 had a competitor, but
Northrop did have some sort of stealth a/c similar to the F-117 so it
could've been its classified concept competitor. The YF-17 lost out to
the YF-16. The F-18 was developed from the YF-17 by McD/D.