The Freedom Fighter!! This venerable jet has been on the list for a long time. The early F-5s were quickly replaced with the more advanced Tigers, but the Freedom Fighter is where it all started.
The F-5A/B:
Powered by two General Electric J85 turbojet afterburning engines and with a maximum speed of Mach 1.63, the F-5A Freedom Fighter is a highly aerodynamic, lightweight, low-cost, supersonic tactical fighter, capable of carrying conventional and nuclear weapons.
Entering service in the early 1960s, the airframe was initially designed for day air superiority but soon proved its versatility as a reliable ground-attack platform.
The F-5 has played pivotal roles in major conflicts, including the Vietnam War, and adopted an opposing forces aggressor/adversary role for dissimilar air combat training.
The airframe continues to serve multiple foreign air forces today demonstrating its enduring effectiveness as a simple yet lethal warplane.
The tags:
Our tags were cut from a vertical stabilizer removed from Philippine Air Force F-5A S/N 13323. This vertical stab was found buried at a boneyard and most likely made its way back to the United States during a maintenance evolution.
Operating only 35 F-5A/Bs, the PAF retired its F-5s in 2005. Additionally, aircraft 13323 served with the PAF’s demonstration team “The Blue Diamonds.”
This vertical stab features livery found on PAF F-5s during the 1970s, and the tags are offered in 10 colorful variants: Grey, Grey Blue Diamonds, Grey Thick, Black/White, Black/Yellow, Black/White/Grey, Black/White/Yellow, White Composite, 13323, and Multicolor.
Also offered are 2 sets/combos:
The Solid Sets contain the few solid Black and Yellow tags and also come with a Grey and a White tag (4 total tags). Tags in the Solids Set are 100% solid colors.
The Freedom Combo contains a Grey (Blue Diamonds) and a Black/White tag.
All tags are laser etched except for the White Composite, which is printed. The “Grey Blue Diamonds” tag comes on a special edition Blue Diamonds card and features an etching with the drop tanks removed. All the colored tags were cut from the PAF emblem/insignia on the stab. The 13323 tags were cut from the 13323 stenciling. The Grey Thick tags are significantly thick with most .25" thick.
The Multicolor tags are mostly yellow or black and have remnants of other colors. These tags were not fully solid like those in the Solid Sets, but also didn’t have quite enough of a second color to be added to a separate variant.
This run is limited to 500 tags. Some variants are limited to <10 with the run comprised of mostly Grey tags.
Card art provided by BVR.