Aircraft by type

        The Canadair (Northrop) CF-5 Freedom Fighter

List being compiled
Date Air Force A'cft Unit / Serial

based

 crashed crew photo Northrop

 


RCAF

CF-5

 

 

 

 

 

 seat

?????


RCAF

CF-5

116759
1059

 

This aircraft did not crash.

 

 

Northrop

3rd March 1969


RCAF

CF-5

116804
2004

434 TACF(OT) Sqn Cold Lake

First CF-5 Loss

 

 

Northrop

3rd December 1969


RCAF

CF-5

14701/116701
1001

AETE Edwards AFB

 

 

 

Northrop

16th June 1970


RCAF

CF-5

116752
1052

CX 84 DET, AETE Canadair Ltd Montreal, OC

Third flight of this aircraft. First of (usually) two CAF acceptance
flights. Pilot was assigned to 204 CFTSD/AETE Det.
(CFTSD is Canadian Forces Technical Services Detachment, the unit
assigned to oversee production at Canadair for the CAF. Pilots were
seconded from AETE.)

Capt. John Peter Felix
 No ejection
Fatal

 

Northrop

21st August 1970


RCAF

CF-5

116708
1008

433e Escadrille Tactique de Combat  Bagotville

Mid-air collision with 116718.

 

 
CAPT. Joseph Rosario Bernard  LAMBERT

Northrop

21st August 1970


RCAF

CF-5

116718
1018

433e Escadrille Tactique de Combat  Bagotville

Mid-air with 116708.

 

Northrop
Lieutenant Marc Fortier, pilot of 1 aircraft apparently was involuntarily ejected & survived, other pilot [CAPT. Joseph Rosario Bernard  LAMBERT] killed.  Unsure which aircraft the survivor was in.

22nd September 1971


RCAF

CF-5

116722
1022

433e ETAC Bagotville

Non-fatal crash.

Pilot ejected safely

 

Northrop

3rd January 1974


RCAF

CF-5

116711
1011

433e ETAC Bagotville

Stabilized flat spin

Ejected & survived

 

Northrop

12th May 1974


RCAF

CF-5

116756
1056

433eetac Cold Lake

Hit ground during low-level turn near Cold Lake

Ejected & survived

 

Northrop

2nd March 1976


RCAF

CF-5

116741
1041

 

Correct other than it was built by Canadair.

AETE Cold Lake

 

Northrop

2nd May 1976


RCAF

CF-5

116760
1060

419 F(T) Sqn Cold Lake

Post-storage delivery flight. Unit was 419 TF(T) Squadron.

Major Gerhard Kennedy
ejected
at 300 ft.

 

Northrop

20th May 1977


RCAF

CF-5

116731
1031

433e ETAC Bagotville

Crashed into St. Lawrence River, Quebec

Ejected & survived

 

Northrop

7th June 1977


RCAF

CF-5

116755
1055

419 F(T) Sqn Cold Lake

Hit ground during ACM, near Cold Lake

Captain
 Robert Russell  CHALLONER
killed

 

Northrop

10th August 1977


RCAF

CF-5

116770
1070

 

Unit was 433 (TF) Squadron.

433e ETAC Bagotville

 

Northrop

12th February 1979


RCAF

CF-5

116761
1061

419 F(T) Sqn Cold Lake

Gear inadvertently down & damaged during high-G turn near Cold Lake

Ejected & survived

 

Northrop

11th July 1979


RCAF

CF-5

116728
1028

433e ETA Cold Lake

 

 

 

Northrop

13th December 1979


RCAF

CF-5

116706
1006

433e ETAC Bagotville

.Engine failure on takeoff, Bagotville

Ejected & survived

 

Northrop

26th February 1981


RCAF

CF-5

116735
1035

433e ETAC Bagotville

Dove into frozen lake in Quebec during ACM

Captain
 Leonce Germain  BOUTIN
No ejection
fatal

 

Northrop

30th April 1982


RCAF

CF-5

116844
2044

419 TF(T) Sqn Cold Lake

 Aerodynamic stall during touch & go; Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada
Crashed (overshoot after flapless landing)

 

 

Northrop
Lieutenant
 John Blake  DUBANSKI
killed		 Major Malcolm Donald BRANTER
killed		 Northrop

20th January 1983


RCAF

CF-5

116771
1071
 

434 TAC(F) Sqn CFB Chatham

20 n.mi. N of Bagotville

Lt. Alan Gordon Paterson
killed

 

Northrop

7th March 1983


RCAF

CF-5

116816
2016

419 TF(T) Squadron

Hit frozen lake during descending turn, 80 mi from Cold Lake

 Capt. Terrance Allan McKenzie
30
Camrose
killed

 

Northrop

22nd December 1983


RCAF

CF-5

116817
2017

419 TF(T) Squadron Westover AFB, Mass

Landing gear collapsed

 no ejection, serious injury

 

Northrop

12th November 1987


RCAF

CF-5

116720
1020

434 TAC(F) Chatham

Spin, encountered a high attitude control departure during dissimilar ACM near Tyndall AFB, Florida

Captain Manjeet Singh
ejected
into Gulf of Mexico & survived

 

Northrop

9th September 1988


RCAF

CF-5

116842
2042

419 TF(T) Squadron

Inadvertent gear extension during 1 v 1 ACM near Cold Lake.
The aircraft continued in uncontrolled but stable flight for about 18 minutes. CF188 aircraft were being scrambled to shoot down the CF5 if required when it crashed east of the town of Grand Centre (now part of the town of Cold Lake) a short distance from the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, adjacent to the road.

 

 

Northrop
Student
ejected & survived		 IP Captain Raimo "Kujo" Kujala
ejected over CLAWR
(Cold Lake Air Weapons Range)
& survived.		 Northrop

10th January 1992


RCAF

CF-5

116819
2019

 419 TF(T) Squadron

Struck ground during turn, near Cold Lake

 

 

Northrop
Capt. Jeffrey David Tait
killed		 Capt. Richard Griffith Lloyd
killed		 Northrop
                 

 

 

 
further notes added Bob Steadman, Captain, retired, 6th Feb 2012
notes added by Jeff Rankin-Lowe on 21st Oct 2005
 
in an email dated 22nd October 2005

Mike,

I'm not sure of the date or unit, but there is one rear seat ejection from a dual at Cold Lake, unusual in that the jet subsequently landed back at base. 

A Photo Tech (my trade in the Cdn Air Force) was doing a photo shoot from the back seat of a CF-5D.  The cockpit filled with smoke, the pilot declared an emergency, and when it looked like he was going to lose control of the aircraft from the smoke obscuring the instruments, he ordered the photographer to eject.  When he did, the smoke got blown out of the aircraft and the pilot regained control of the jet and returned to base.

The incident below might be the one, as the dates seem about right, but I got the impression that it was an AETE jet.  I got this story pretty much first hand from a guy telling the war story, with the unlucky back-seater sitting in the room!  He's the only Photo Tech ever to eject and have the jet fly away and leave him behind.

Cheers,
 
Steve Sauvé
Ottawa, Canada
                 

10th January 1992

 

 

116819

2019

Crashed 10 January 1992. Unit was 419 TF(T) Squadron.

419 F(T) Sqn

 

Northrop

 

 

   VF-5 (CF-5) in Venezuelan Service

 

At least three Venezuelan CF-5s have been lost that have included ejections

 
Date Air Force A'cft Unit / Serial

based

 crashed crew seat photo

about 1975


FAV

 

 

 

collision between two CF-5s. One pilot made a safe landing

One pilot ejected.

Northrop

  
21st May 2000


FAV

 VF-5A FAV-9348 near Barquisimeto, Capital of Lara State Routine training flight. vulture was sucked into the engine which malfunctioned Pilot ejected safely Northrop  
 


FAV

              
notes added by Jeff Rankin-Lowe on 21st Oct 2005
116827
2027
Crashed as 2985 with the Venezuelan AF on 2 March 1976. Both pilots
ejected safely. Mid-air with 6323 (ex-116776).
116808
2008
W/o as 2327 with the FAV (date unknown).
116774
1074
Crashed as 6539 of the Venezuelan AF on 26 September 1979, killing the
pilot.
116786
1086
Crashed as 9348 with the FAV in 2000.
116781
1081
Crashed as 2950 of the FAV on 1 October 1974.
 
116776
1076
Crashed as 6323 of the FAV on 2 March 1976. Mid-air with 2985
(ex-116827).

 

 

 

FEEDBACK

 

Ongoing correspondence with
Iván Peña Nesbit
LAAHS Venezuela

 

Darío Silva /www.fav-club.comwrote

"Hi Mike

. . . I´ve been making a swift research about your question with the people of the FAV-Club, about how many accidents in Canadair/Northrop CF-5 and NF-5 involving ejections happened in Venezuela? . . .


The first ejection happened in the mid of the 70’s between 1974 and 1976,but I still miss the exactly date,  when two CF-5´s colided in the air, the pilot of the first aircraft ejected safely, and the other F-5 made a force landing.

The second ejection occurred in 5/21/2000 on VF-5A FAV-9348 near Barquisimeto, Capital of Lara State, during a routine training flight. The aircraft was flying when suddenly a vulture was suctioned by the engine and creates a malfunction losting the control of the aircraft, the pilot take the decision to eject, landing unhurt. . . . "