Here’s how the Norwegian Air Force celebrated the 40 years of the F-16

On Jan. 10, the Royal Norwegian Air Force celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first flight of the YF-16, the first prototype of the Fighting Falcon.

In fact, even if the aircraft conducted its first official maiden flight at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) at Edwards AFB, California, on Feb. 2, 1974, it took to the air by accident during a high-speed taxi test on Jan. 20, 1974: while accelerating speed, a roll-control oscillation caused a fin of the left hand-side wingtip-mounted dummy missile and the starboard stabilator to hit and scrape the ground. As a consequence, the aircraft lifted off.

General Dynamics test pilot Phil Oestricher, decided to continue the take off, flew the plane for about six minutes and eventually safely landed it back six minutes later.

Anyway, the celebratory video cockpit video was taken from a Norwegian F-16 flying at low altitude over one of Norway’s most beautiful regions, Lofoten (northern Norway.)

Some stunning sights!

H/T to Endre Lundre, Stefan Bøyum Schlömilch and Nils K Haugen for the heads-up

 

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About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.