Everything here comes from the museum's own page. The museum gives no source for its Top Gun claim, so we record it as a claim.
Identity
The Fort Worth Aviation Museum identifies its F-5E as original Air Force serial 74-1558, construction number U.1218. After its transfer to the Navy it carried Bureau Number 741558. The museum acquired it in February 2006, on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum. [1]
Timeline
- 1984 With the U.S. Air Force's 64th Fighter Weapons Squadron, an aggressor unit. [1]
- Date not stated Transferred to the U.S. Navy. Flew as an adversary with VFC-13. [1]
- 2005 Retired from military service. [1]
- February 2006 Arrived at the Fort Worth Aviation Museum. [1]
- 2020 Repainted in its current Air Force scheme. [1]
The Top Gun claim
The museum says this jet was one of the black "MiG-28s" in the 1986 film. The film's F-5s belonged to the Navy Fighter Weapons School at Miramar. Since the museum places this aircraft with the Air Force in 1984 and gives no transfer date, its page alone cannot confirm that it was with the Navy school during filming. The claim may well be true. It needs a dated photo or record to prove, which is the whole puzzle of the F-5 in Top Gun.
The museum notes the aircraft now has a Swiss F-5 wing of unknown origin. Its original low-hour wing went to a life-extension program. Parts swaps like this are one reason a single airframe's history can be hard to pin down.
Last updated
Source and limits
[1] Fort Worth Aviation Museum | F-5E Tiger II. This record includes only details the museum states.
How to read this record
Serial and operator records establish which aircraft this page follows.
Model, equipment and markings may change during one airframe's life.
Display or operating status is dated because aircraft can move.
A photographed paint scheme is supporting evidence, not proof of identity by itself.