Bureau Number 160775, the first Hornet produced jointly from McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, having rolled out onto the tarmac from the factory in 1978.
Born out of the VFAX program that aimed to replace the A-4 Skyhawk, A-7 Corsair, and F-4 Phantom, this aircraft was built off of a design that had lost the Air Force's Lightweight Fighter Program, the Northrop YF-17 Cobra. This "failed" design went off to be rebuilt with various features modified to be better suited for Carrier Operations and act as a new complement to the F-14 Tomcat, soon to be known as the F/A-18 Hornet. During the first prototype's operational service, the aircraft proved to be a highly capable multirole platform with great handling characteristics, performing most of its tests at NAWS China Lake, and where it rests today on display.
