The Northrop F-5 tactical fighter was designed as an extremely maneuverable, supersonic fighter with a high rate of reliability at a low operating cost. The F-5 first flew on July 30, 1959 with the first customer delivery in 1964. The last of more than 2,600 F-5’s was produced in 1989 and about two-thirds of these are still in service with 26 countries more than 4 decades later. The F-5 was manufactured by Northrop Grumman and under license in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland.
In the mid 1960s the RoCAF began procuring the Northrop F-5 from the U.S.. Between 1973 and 1986 the Taiwanese company AIDC began to build them and added another 242 F-5Es and 66 F-5Fs for a total of 336 F-5E/Fs. Northrop F-5F Tiger II 5408 was manufactured as 83-00134 MSN VH.1031 and was assigned to the 5th TFW / 4th TRS located at Hualien AB. In 2005 the 4th TRS transferred to the 401st Wing and became part of the 12th TRS but continued to wear the 4th TRS markings.