Welcome to Warbird Wednesday! Today we’re visiting an advanced tactical fighter, the Northrop YF-23. In the 1980s, the USAF sent out a request for a proposal for a fighter aircraft to counter the Sukhoi Su-27.Built for survivability, supercruise, stealth and ease of maintenance, the YF-23 was one of two finalists for this proposal. Ultimately, it was not selected and the F-22 Raptor was announced the winner. Around the same time, the Navy was considering the YF-23 to replace F-14 Tomcat. However, the aircrafts large size required them to go with a different design. The two protocols built were nicknamed “Black Window II” and “Gray Ghost” and are currently museum exhibits.