I have not forgotten the F20. I only wished I could have flown one and owned one! As I recall Northrop built three F20's. I was working for Northrop in Hawthorne CA on a classified program back in 1981 when the F20 program was in development. They were competing with General Dynamics and their F16 for government approval. They lost one F20 on the way to the Paris Air Show. Cannot recall the reason. They may have lost the second one during flight testing but my memory after 40+ yrs. cannot be sure. The last F20 was intentionally destroyed by Northrop as our government selected the F16 over the F20 and would not approve Northrop's request to sell of the F20 to foreign governments. There was a huge demand for the F20 from foreign governments. I know the reason why but I'll keep that to myself! Oh! One last thing, the F20 had better performance #'s then the F16!

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/impress ... prototype/

Both accidents blamed on G-LOC according to this article.

My recollection was that the F20 went up against the F-16/79 (J-79 power).

It seems the need went away and those customers were allowed to buy F-16A/B aircraft.

https://www.f-16.net/f-16_versions_article12.html

I believe Yeager said F–20 was one of his favorite planes. I’m pretty sure there is one hanging from the ceiling in the entry lobby of the California Science Center in Los Angeles (where the Space Shuttle Endeavour is displayed).

Yes there is! The report that Northrup destroyed #3 is obviously incorrect.