SOUTHLAND : Fighter Plane Takes First Flight
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The battle among aerospace firms to build the Air Force’s advanced tactical fighter became an air war today as a Northrop-McDonnell Douglas team got its version off the ground first.
The twin-engine YF-23 took off from Edwards Air Force Base at 7:16 a.m. and joined two chase planes on a flight that lasted about 50 minutes.
Test pilot Paul Metz, 44, took the jet to 25,000 feet and 333 m.p.h., but didn’t push its capabilities.
The ATF will cost about $51 million per plane, almost twice as much as the F-15 Eagle, the Air Force’s current top fighter.
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