“This is a world-class range that is run very well. The units here in Idaho, along with the range, OCTC [Orchard Combat Training Center], and Mountain Home communities have taken care of us every time we’ve come up here. If we find ourselves in a jam, or need something or don’t know this procedure or that procedure, we get nothing but help here.”-Master Sergeant Daniel Haack, JTAC manager for 11th Marine Regiment, 1st MARDIV
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Corporal Dean Gurule, 17APR2023.
In April 2023, the U.S. Marine Corps launched operation (Exercise) Garnet Rattler, seizing the U.S. Air Force’s gunnery range known as Saylor Creek, in Southern Idaho.
USMC photo by Corporal Dean Gurule, 17APR2023.
The use of the word ‘garnet’ is appropriate because Idaho is officially known as The Gem State. Exercise Garnet Rattler is about training Joint Tactical Air Controllers (JTAC): “Garnet Rattler’s main objective is to take entry level joint terminal attack controllers, forward air controllers, air officers and joint fires observers, and put them in a live-fire environment that has a lot of maneuver flexibility, as well as aviation employment, in order to train realistic scenarios for their entry level controls in the fleet.”-Master Sergeant Daniel Haack, JTAC manager for 11th Marine Regiment, 1st MARDIV
U.S. Marine Corps video report by Corporal Dean Gurule, 29APR2023, note the Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th Fighter Wing/190th Fighter Squadron A-10Cs in action, also, a Mountain Home Air Force Base (AFB) F-15E pilot admits it is all about “…the Air Force and Marines are starting look to the Pacific and preparations for the Near Peer fight…”:
The following USMC videos, recorded (between 10-29APR2023) by Corporal Dean Gurule and Lance Corporal Juan Torres, have been edited by me.
“Rotors comin’ in!”:
Mountain Home AFB F-15E Strike Eagle:
USMC photo by Lance Corporal Juan Torres, 26APR2023.
Machine guns & mortars:
Idaho National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Joseph Morgan, 25APR2023.
Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th Fighter Wing/190th Fighter Squadron’s A-10C Thunderbolt-2 (remember, the ‘woke’ USAF has been trying to get rid of this awesome aircraft):
06 December 2022 (11:54-UTC-07 Tango 06) 15 Azar 1401/12 Jumada l-Ula 1444/13 Ren-Zi 4720/06 Декабрь 2022 года
According to the U.S. Air Force, the F-15 Eagle was designed to last for 4-thousand flight hours, but several F-15 types have made it all the way to 10-thousand flight hours, and some are still flying today (despite the current mass-retirements underway)!
California Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sergeant Christian Jadot, 05NOV2022.
On 05NOV2022, Airmen with the 144th Fighter Wing signed the tail feather of the 10-thousand hours F-15C ‘Heritage Jet’, on Fresno Air National Guard Base, California.
California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedes Taylor, 21OCT2022.
A California Air National Guard (144th FW-194th FS) F-15C Eagle got a special paint-job after reaching 10-thousand flying hours. It then added more hours by taking a test flight with its new clothes, on 21OCT2022.
California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedes Taylor, 21OCT2022.
California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedes Taylor, 21OCT2022.
California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedes Taylor, 21OCT2022.
California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedes Taylor, 21OCT2022.
California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Mercedes Taylor, 21OCT2022.
Massachusetts Air National Guard F-15C Eagle #125, still flying in June 2022, after hitting 10,000 flying hours in May 2021. Massachusetts Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Hanna Smith, 16JUN2022.
Tail #85-125 is still flying today, after joining the 10-thousand hours club in 2021. See the video below.
Massachusetts Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Lindsey S. Watson, 11MAY2021.
Massachusetts Air National Guard video, by Master Sergeant Lindsey S. Watson, F-15C #85-125 hits 10-thousand flight hours on 11MAY2021:
F-15C #85-125 hits 10,000 flight hours. Barnes Air National Guard Base. Massachusetts Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Lindsey S. Watson, 11MAY2021.
Massachusetts Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Lindsey S. Watson, 11MAY2021.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Shawna L. Keyes, 18SEP2018.
On 18SEP2018, F-15E Strike Eagle tail #472 hit 10-thousand flying hours. It is the first F-15E assigned to a training unit on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, to hit the mile-stone.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Shawna L. Keyes, 18SEP2018.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Siuta B. Ika, 25JAN2017.
On 25JAN2017, F-15C Eagle #83-3014 reached 10-thousand flight hours during a sortie at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada: “To get to 10,000 flight hours means probably a couple hundred thousand maintenance hours have been put in. So for over 30 years, day-in and day-out, maintainers have done everything asked of them and more to get the aircraft to this point. Normally, 10,000 flight hours is only seen within combat-coded units. Everybody in Eagle AMU has touched this aircraft, so if it wasn’t for their work, and the work of M1 Support Services, this jet would never have reached 10,000 hours.”-Master Sergeant Joseph Romero, Eagle Aircraft Maintenance Unit (AMU) lead production superintendent
USAF photo by Airman First Class Lynette M. Rolen, 29JUL2016.
On 29JUL2016, an F-15C Eagle, on Kadena Air Base, Japan, joined the 10-thousand hours club: “It shows the F-15 is long-in-the-tooth, but still meets the combat capability required. We have jets here with multiple combat kills; they’ve been through more than four wars and operations: Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Operation Northern Watch, Operation Southern Watch, Operation Allied Force; and all those jets are sitting out on the ramp.“-Captain Brian Anderson, 67th Fighter Squadron pilot
USAF photo by Airman First Class Ericka Engblom, 13JAN2012.
While on Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, F-15E Strike Eagle #89-0487 (487) hit 10-thousand flying hours. On 13JAN2012, it was painted with both markings for ‘kills’ (made during the 1991 Operation Desert Storm) and the 10-thousand hours achievement.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Ericka Engblom, 13JAN2012.
Despite it being younger than the F-15A and C versions, F-15E #487 was the first F-15 of any version to hit 10-thousand flying hours! 487 was ‘born’ in November 1990, fought in Desert Storm in 1991, then the ‘War on Terror’ where it achieved 10-thousand flight hours over Afghanistan: “It has taken more than 21 years of qualified maintenance technicians performing more than one million hours of inspections and repairs in all types of environments at home station, depot facilities, TDY [Temporary DutY] and AEF [Air Expeditionary Force] locations to ensure aircraft No. 89-0487 was available to deploy on numerous TDYs and AEFs. It also took careful, timely loading and maintenance by hundreds of weapons technicians in conjunction with countless hours of repairs and inspections performed by avionics, electrical and environmental, engine, fuels, egress and structural airmen.”-Chief Master Sergeant John Parrott, 335th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit
“When we got here, it was at 8,800 hours. We put 1,200 hours on it in the past three months. During that time, this aircraft dropped 15 percent of all bombs deployed in our fleet. To keep it flying at that pace, it was very important to keep the same crew on it to get to know the aircraft.”-Staff Sergeant Ryan Forsse, 455th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Crew Chief assigned to #487
USAF photo by Airman First Class Ericka Engblom, 13JAN2012.
In August 2009, F-15E Strike Eagles with 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron surpassed 8-thousand combat hours, while flying out of Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan: “Everything went smooth. We try to give them a jet they don’t have to worry about; they need to focus on the mission and save the lives of our people on the ground.”-Senior Airman John Yates, F-15E Crew Chief
Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) ASM (Anti Satellite Missile)-135A: Two solid-rocket stages (first stage made by Boeing), third rocket stage with telescopic heat seeker known as the Miniature Homing Vehicle, speed of 15-thousand miles per hour.
Boeing promotional photo dated August 1982. Note, the F-15A in the background is not the F-15A used in the ‘Capture Carry’ part of the ASat testing program.
First ‘capture carry’ flights of F-15A Eagle #76-0086 armed with ASat were in December 1982.
F-15A Eagle armed with the ASM-135A, 21DEC1982. U.S. Air Force photo by H.L. Wilson.
Over Edwards Air Force Base, California, 21DEC1982. U.S. Air Force photo by Al Chang.
Over Edwards AFB, California. Boeing photo released in January 1983.
Model kit builders take note, the ‘fin flash’ on 76-0086 is changed sometime between 1983 and 1985.
ASat equipped Eagle over Vandenberg AFB, California, 03APR1985. USAF photo by Paul E. Reynolds.
The actual launch of the ASM-135A was done in September 1985, by F-15A #76-0084 first seen in the photo from August 1982. Model kit builders note that back in August 1982, 76-0084 did not have the fin flash.
F-15 launches an ASat, somewhere off California’s Pacific Coast. USAF photo by Paul E. Reynolds, 13SEP1985.
USAF photo by Senior Airman Erik Hofmeyer, 13SEP2007.
08MAR2015, USAF Space Systems Command releases this video about the only launch of ASM-135A:
Computer generated scenario of resulting debris field created by an ASat strike. As you will see by the date code on the video, it was made in 2014, yet the U.S. Air Force didn’t publicly release the video until November 2021:
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar.
Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing (FW) trained with U.S. Marines, on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in California. But this year might be the last time.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 14AUG2022.
In August 2022, Oregon’s F-15C Eagles (along with 125th FW F-15s out of Florida) played ‘bad guy’ against USMC F/A-18C/D Hornets from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 (VMFAT-101), and the F-35B Lightning-2 from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 502 (VMFAT-502).
Oregon Air National Guard video report by Staff Sergeant Emily Copeland:
Oregon Air National Guard video interview by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 23AUG2022:
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 14AUG2022.
For almost 40 years the 173rd FW’s Kingsley Field served as the only F-15C training base for the U.S. Air Force! But starting in 2024, the 173rd will be using the brand new F-15EX Eagle-2.
Oregon Air National Guard music video, by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, point of view of an F-15C Crew Chief:
“It died; I say died because that’s how it feels.”-Master Sergeant Charles Fleek, Oregon Air National Guard, talking about tail number 78-0511, one of the lucky F-15Cs that actually flew under its own power to The Boneyard, in April 2022
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01APR2022.
Just a few months before the 50th Anniversary of the first flight what is probably the best combat aircraft ever employed by the U.S. Air Force, the state of Oregon decided to cannibalize one of its F-15Cs.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01APR2022.
It is no April Fool’s Joke, after stripping the F-15C of usable parts, on 01APR2022, personnel with Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing loaded the worn out Eagle onto a flatbed trailer, to be hauled-off to the ‘Boneyard’ of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, in Arizona.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01APR2022.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01APR2022.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01APR2022.
Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01APR2022.
On 13SEP2022, the Oregon Air National Guard revealed that, after 24 years of service, all its F-15C Eagles were on the chopping block! Not all of them; on 11SEP2022, eight Oregon Eagles were transferred to the Israeli air force, under the guise of Foreign Military Sales (which are usually taxpayer subsidized).
173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field, Klamath Falls, Oregon. Oregon Air National Guard photo via Master Sergeant Jefferson Thompson, 19JUN2018.
In July 2022, tail number 78-0515 was sent to work for NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration). It is hoped that most of the Eagles will end up with the National Museum of the United States Air Force, for public displays, however, the reality is most will end up in the Boneyard.
David R. Kingsley Memorial, an F-15A is displayed by the 173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field. Oregon Air National Guard photo Master Sergeant Jefferson Thompson, 13APR2018.
Oregon’s 173rd FW has operated the A, B, C and D version of the undefeated-in-combat Eagle. But wait, it’s not over for Oregon Eagles after all; the retiring F-15Cs are being replaced with the new build F-15EX.
The first combat use of the F-15 Eagle was by Israel in 1979, followed by Saudi Arabia in 1984. First combat use of the F-15 by the U.S. Air Force was during Operation Desert Storm, in 1991.
Five months before Desert Storm, the build-up was called Desert Shield. These F-15C Eagles are patrolling the sky over Saudi Arabian oil operations. U.S. Air Force/33rd Tactical Fighter Wing photo.
Desert Shield: 02AUG1990 to 16JAN1991
Somewhere in Saudi Arabia, a 1st Tactical Fighter Wing (out of Virginia) F-15D Eagle waits for a mission during Desert Storm, 23JAN1991. Notice the Patriot missile batteries in the background.
F-15E Strike Eagles waiting for another mission during the last weeks of Desert Storm, 01FEB1991. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Robert Jackson.
A Kuwaiti A-4KU Skyhawk and a USAF 1st Tactical Fighter Wing F-15C Eagle about to take off from an airfield in Saudi Arabia, during the last weeks of Desert Storm, 02FEB1991.
Desert Storm: 17JAN1991 to 28FEB1991
Notice the kill marking on this 58th Tactical Fighter Squadron F-15C. The USAF info says this photo was made during Desert Storm, yet the official date of the photo is December 1991! Photo by Technical Sergeant Fernando Serna.
An F-15C Eagle over the desert during the cease-fire between coalition and Iraqi forces, March 1991. USAF photo.
The USAF info that came with this photo is highly dubious. 1st, it states the photo was made in May 1992, more than a year after Desert Storm, yet claims this F-15C is being prepped for a mission during Desert Storm. 2nd, as you will see in the photo below, this Gulf Spirit does not have the kill markings that were applied after Desert Storm. Possibly this photo was made during Desert Storm, but not released until May 1992? Photo by Senior Airman Chris Putnam.
Kill markings on a F-15C Eagle named Gulf Spirit. The Gulf Spirit had just returned to the U.S. from Desert Storm, May 1991. USAF photo by Don S. Montgomery.
USAF photo by Don S. Montgomery.
After Desert Storm, France, the United States, and United Kingdom, imposed a ‘no fly zone’ over Iraq. This Operation Southern Watch would last more than a decade, and help the U.S./NATO invade Iraq in 2003. Even though the invasion was rationalized by the claim of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which would later be proven false, the invasion of Iraq was dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom (a major clue that it was not about WMDs). This was followed by Operation Inherent Resolve in 2014, supposedly to fight religious extremism that had taken over Iraq as a result of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Even though Operation Inherent Resolve was declared a success in Iraq, in 2019, U.S./NATO forces continue to operate in Iraq. This means the taxpayers of U.S./NATO have been funding direct military involvement in Iraqi affairs for more than three decades, and the result the leaders of the so called free world promised has yet to materialize.
For many decades after Desert Storm was declared finished, Eagles would continue to patrol over, and even bomb, Iraq. The relatively new F-15E Strike Eagle somewhere in Saudi Arabia, 20MAY1992. USAF photo.
Southern Watch: 27AUG1992 to 19MAR2003
An F-15C Eagle, normally based in NATO Germany, takes off from Incirlik Air Base in NATO Turkey, for a no-fly-zone mission over Northern Iraq, under the guise of protecting Kurds. USAF photo by Senior Airman Gudrun Cook, May 1995.
Two F-15C Eagles patrol the no fly zone over Southern Iraq, in support of Operation Southern Watch, 14JAN2002. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Jack Braden.
Iraqi Freedom: 20MAR2003 to 15DEC2011
A Washington based KC-135 refuels an Idaho based ‘Bold Tiger’ F-15E for its deployment to Iraq during the first months of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 29DEC2003. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Suzanne M. Jenkins.
A ‘Bold Tiger’ F-15E Strike Eagle (from Mountain Home, Idaho) was one of many Eagles deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Suzanne M. Jenkins, 29DEC2003.
Inherent Resolve: 15JUN2014 to present day
On 23SEP2014, F-15E Strike Eagles used Iraqi airspace to conduct a dawn airstrike on Syria. USAF photo by Senior Airman Matthew Bruch.
USAF video report by Senior Airman Daniel Asselta, explaining the rational behind deploying F-15s to NATO Turkey to bomb Iraq and Syria, November 2015:
Video by Staff Sergeant Michelle Di Ciolli, of fully armed Idaho based ‘Bold Tiger’ F-15Es, getting refueled over Iraq during Operation Inherent Resolve, 17MAR2016:
An F-15E Strike Eagle somewhere over Iraq 06SEP2017. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Trevor T. McBride.
Night vision video, by Senior Airman Nathaniel Stout, of KC-10 Extender refueling F-15E Strike Eagles over Iraq, December 2017:
An F-15E Strike Eagle gets refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker, somewhere over Iraq, in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, 05OCT2018. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Keith James.
On Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, a USAF F-15E gets ‘bombed-up’ with GBU-31 bombs, for an air strike on the Salah ad Din Province of Iraq, 10SEP2019. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Chris Thornbury.
Yet again, another F-15E Strike Eagle gets refueled over Iraq, and even The Pandemic has no affect on military operations. USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Taylor Harrison, 09FEB2021.
Eagles like to nest at the top of trees. 14AUG1986.
Rome Air Development Center-Newport Measurement Facility (New York), aka USAF Super Lab, aka Newport Research Site-Griffiss Institute, aka Griffiss Air Force Base.
A pole dancing F-15 Eagle? Researching the tail number I came across info that says it is an F-15A (72-0113). It is mounted upside down on a pedestal at the Rome Air Development Center’s (aka USAF Super Lab) Newport, New York, test site. A radar warning system pod mounted on the fuselage is being compared to the onboard radar warning system, 06OCT1988.
I’ve read the official 1991“in-house report”on Super Lab activities and it made no mention of the pole dancing F-15A, it talks about the late 1970s pole dancing F-111, and middle 1980s F-16 (which took place at about the same time as the F-15 testing).
Information that was issued with the publicly released photos incorrectly says this Eagle is a F-15C!
Photo via Rome Air Development Center.
F-15A 72-0113 was one of the first production Eagles. Interestingly it was quickly retired, after only a few years of testing over Edwards Air Force Base in California, to The Bone Yard (Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona) in 1977. Then, in 2005 it was reported as being “preserved on a pole” in Newport, New York!
Photo via ‘USAF Super Lab’.
Supposedly, F-15A tail number 72-0113 was spotted still hanging around the USAF Super Lab, in 2016. Unfortunately, Newport Research Site-Griffiss Institute’s website doesn’t give any information about the F-15.
U.S. Air Force photo, 24SEP1979.
Photographic evidence shows that #72-0113 was delivered to the Rome Air Development Center in September 1979.
An F-15 Eagle pole dances while a YA-10 waits its turn.
The elaborate ‘antenna test site’ use several different height, 3-axis position, towers. The site tests the effects of radar, electronic jamming and the effectiveness of experimental electronic countermeasures.
A July 1986 photo showing 72-0113 on top of the Irish Hill tower. The info that came with the photo incorrectly states that it is in Rhode Island!
Photo via ‘USAF Super Lab’.
The aircraft that have been tower mounted, so far, are the YA-10, AC-130, F-4, F-16, F-15, F-18, F-22, F-35, MH 60 SEAHAWK and sections of the B-1B, EC-135 Snoopy, and others.
F-15A number one rolled out of the Saint Louis, Missouri, factory. Notice it does not yet have the DayGlo orange paint applied. McDonnell-Douglas photo, 26JUN1972.
McDonnell-Douglas F-15A number one gets packed aboard a Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, for its trip to Edwards Air Force Base, California.
McDonnell-Douglas photo of the first flight of F-15 number one, 27JUL1972. DayGlo paint not yet applied. Notice the shape of the wings and stabilators.
The first F-15A, #71-280, unveiled publicly after its first flight, July 1972, it now has the DayGlo paint applied. It was never called the YF-15 as several interweb sites say. From the beginning it was F-15 Eagle.
USAF promotional video, by Airman First Class Moses Taylor:
71-280 F-15A number one is now serving museum duty on Lackland AFB, Texas. However, it is painted to represent a different F-15.
This B-52 is carrying a 3/8th-scale F-15A drone, back then called a Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle (RPRV), 23OCT1973. This was done to test the possibility of stall-spins, before the real F-15A Eagles began their test flights.
The 12 contractor F-15As were used in Category I pre-production T&E, the eight USAF F-15As were used in Category IIpre-production T&E. They were never officially designated as prototypes or even called YF-15 (as some online sites say), they were officially called McAir F-1 (for the F-15A single seaters) and McAir F-2 (for the TF-15 two seaters). The Category I phase was later re-named Contractor Development, Test & Evaluation, the Category II phase was renamed Air Force Development, Test & Evaluation.
Installing a F-15 style intake on a J85 nacelle. NASA photo, 1975.
Photo via Edwards AFB photo shop. NASA’s F-15A 71-287 in 1976, testing the FMD version of Pratt & Whitney’s F-100. 287 would go on to test the HIDEC system, in the early 1990s.
I took this photo with a crappy little fixed focus 110 camera, in 1977.
This photo shows a T&E Eagle (possibly number one) with the straight edged stabilators. McDonnell-Douglas photo.
This photo shows the smaller speed/dive brake of pre-production aircraft F-15A number five (71-284). It was apparently the first F-15 to get the 20mm Vulcan gun, obviously not at the time this photo was made (due to lack of gun port). McDonnell-Douglas photo.
The pre-production T&E Eagles can be distinguished from later production Eagles by the shape of the wing tips, the shape of the elevators (officially called ‘snag stabilators’) and the size of the speed/dive brake. T&E F-15As had squared-off wing tips, stabilators that did not have a ‘dog tooth’, and had a smaller more rectangular speed/dive brake. However, several T&E F-15 Eagles were quickly updated with the snag stabilators, yet retained the original wing tips and small speed brake.
This photo shows one of the T&E Eagles updated with the snaggle toothed stabilators. USAF photo via the Edwards AFB photo shop, I got it in the mid-’70s but exact date it was made is unknown.
One of the T&E F-15s transferred to NASA, with original configuration wing tips and stabilators.
For kit builders, the first issue 1:72 scale Hasegawa, Revell U.S.A. and Monogram kits were based on the Category I McAir F-1 Eagles.
They were quickly revised once the final changes were established for the production F-15s.
The same T&E F-15, with the squared-off wing tips, but it has been updated with the dog-tooth elevators. NASA photo, 24FEB1978.
Development of the F-15A actually started in the late 1960s, it was designed as a pure dog-fighter, intended to replace the F-4 Phantom-2 in that role. The design was based on U.S. air combat experience over Viet Nam, and on incorrect assumptions about Soviet fighter development, especially the MiG-25 Foxbat.
The defected MiG 25P. This is the photo that inspired the artwork on Minicraft/Hasegawa’s black bordered box issue of their MiG 25 kit, in the late-1970s.
Before the defection of a Soviet pilot in a MiG-25P, to Japan in 1976, the ‘experts’ in the U.S. Department of Defense thought the Foxbat was a dog-fighter. The MiG-25 was actually a straight line Mach 3 bomber interceptor, it carried four long range anti-bomber missiles, and had no guns. Fortunately, the incorrect assumptions resulted in a still potent modern day dog-fighter (proven by the Israeli Air Force) that has also proved it excels at other forms of aerial combat.
TF-15A #71-290. Photo via the Edwards AFB photo shop. 290’s final mission would be as the NF-15B ACTIVE in the late 1990s.
I got this photo from the Edwards AFB photo shop in the mid-1970s. It is TF-15A/F-15B 71-291, which would go on to become the ‘demonstrator’ (mock-up) of the F-15E concept.
71-291 all gussied-up for the Bicentennial in July 1976, and flying over its birthplace of Saint Louis, Missouri. McDonnell-Douglas photo by Pat McManus.
Also in 1972, a combat capable trainer version was created called the TF-15A, but it was soon re-designated F-15B. The improved F-15C single seater, and the improved F-15D two seater, were created in 1979. Visually they all look the same as the improvements are internal.
Bare metal Streak Eagle, named because it was naked, not fast. In the 1970s there was a fad called streaking, which meant you got naked and ran as fast as you could through a public gathering. The insignia on the vertical tail was removed for the high speed runs.
Between 16JAN1975 and 01FEB1975, a bare metal F-15A nicknamed Streak Eagle, broke eight time-to-climb world records. It was then donated to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, in 1980, where it was painted to protect from corrosion:
The F-15 is used by Israel, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States.
The second F-15A Eagle (71-0281) was turned over to NASA in February 1976. It was used in no less than 25 experiments which not only benefitted the USAF and NASA, but also the civilian airliner industry.
NASA F-15A #281 over the Mojave Desert, California, 03MAR1978.
This NASA F-15A Eagle was used to compare actual in-flight aerodynamic data to data collected from models in wind tunnels, 17MAY1978.
This is a NASA image showing what their proposed F-15-2D/STOL/MTD would look like, using NASA’s F-15B Eagle. The project would morph into the NF-15B ACTIVE program in the late 1990s.
Somewhere over NATO Norway, the Sun is setting on an F-4E Phantom-2, while its replacement, an F-15B Eagle flies in formation. USAF photo by Master Sergeant Edward Condon, 08MAR1982.
Potential satellite killer. An F-15 armed with the ASAT missile, sometime in 1983. USAF photo.
On Bitburg AFB, West Germany, an F-15D Eagle blows off steam, at full throttle in a ‘Baker Sound Suppressor Unit’. USAF photo by Jose Lopez Junior, November 1984.
An F-15A Eagle gets armed with an AIM-9 Sidewinder anti-aircraft missile, while taking part in wargames over Australia, 01OCT1985. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Marvin D. Lynchard.
An F-15B Eagle taxis past the then new air traffic control tower on Edwards AFB, sometime in the mid 1980s (1987?).
A pole dancing F-15C Eagle? It is mounted upside down on a pedestal at the Rome Air Development Center’s (aka USAF Super Lab) Newport, New York, test site. An external radar warning system pod mounted on the fuselage is being compared to the onboard radar warning system, 06OCT1988.
The ground attack F-15E Strike Eagle began service in 1989, however, the first production F-15E (86-183) came off the assembly line in 1986.
86-183, the first production F-15E.
At first it was just called the F-15E Dual Role Fighter, no Strike Eagle. They stenciled on the nose F-15E No. 1, to be clear that it is the first F-15E.
F-15E Strike Eagles, and a F-15C Eagle, are flanked by F-16s as they fly over burning oil wells, during Desert Storm in early 1991.
Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).
NASA’s HIDEC (Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control) F-15A (NASA #835, USAF #71-287), Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, California, February 1993.
A 53rd Fighter Squadron F-15C Eagle returns to Aviano Air Base, Italy, after a No-Fly-Zone mission over Bosnia-Herzegovina. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant David Mcleod, 12APR1993.
A 10% scale wind tunnel model of the F-15E Strike Eagle, used to test the viability of ‘pneumatic forebody controls’, September 1994.
Size comparison between USAF F-15C Eagle & E Strike Eagle, and a Slovak MiG-29 Fulcrum. According to the USAF, this was the first time F-15 Eagles and MiG-29s flew together. Photo by Technical Sergeant Brad Fallin, 25MAY1996.
USAF video, by Staff Sergeant Esteban Esquivel, of Israeli F-15I Ra’am operations on Uvda Air Base, Israel, May 2017:
A Ukrainian flag behind the windshield of a California Air National Guard (CANG) F-15D Eagle, 26OCT2017. A Ukrainian General is in the front seat while a CANG Lieutenant Colonel is in the back seat, it was a flight promoting the military partnership of California and Ukraine. CANG photo by Senior Master Sergeant Chris Drudge.
Somewhere in the Middle East (South West Asia), September 2017 USAF video report about F-15E Strike Eagle operations against so-called Islamic State:
California Air National Guard (CANG) video, by Staff Sergeant Christian Jadot, of historical moment when for the first time California’s 144th Fighter Wing lands their F-15C & D Eagles on Starokostiantyniv Air Base, Ukraine, 06OCT2018 (it should be noted that it was not the first time for California to send aircraft to Ukraine, in 2011 the CANG sent F-16 Falcons):
On 04MAY2021, U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles, based on the United Kingdom, conducted an “Independence Flyover” of the tiny NATO country of Latvia. Short video of F-15E getting refueled enroute to Latvia by Technical Sergeant Emerson Nuñez:
USAF video, by Staff Sergeant Danielle Sukhlall, of Japanese F-15J Eagles operating from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, 07JUN2021:
A November 2021 USAF promo video, by Staff Sergeant River Bruce, states the F-15 series of aircraft has a long way to go before retirement:
In January 2022, at least six F-15E Strike Eagles (from Seymour Johnson Air Base, North Carolina) were deployed to NATO Belgium, for so-called air policing missions against Russia. Video via NATO:
February 2022:
Ämari Air Base, Estonia, U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Megan M. Beatty, 01FEB2022.
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Natalie Rubenak.
Republic of Singapore’s F-15SG Strike Eagles of the 428th Fighter Squadron ‘Buccaneers’ are based on Mountain Home Air Force Base (AFB), in Southern Idaho. But at the beginning of March 2021, they attacked the air space over Las Vegas, Nevada!
USAF photo by William R. Lewis, 18MAR2021.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Natalie Rubenak, 16MAR2021.
It’s part of Red Flag 21-2 wargame, over the Nevada Test and Training Range, Nellis AFB.
USAF photo by William R. Lewis, 18MAR2021.
U.S. Air Force video by Senior Airman JaNae Capuno, F-15SG Buccaneer during Red Flag 21-2, 15MAR2021:
USAF photo by Airman First Class Natalie Rubenak.
Not all of Singapore’s Idaho Buccaneers have fancy painted tails, this one was seen over Mountain Home AFB, 01MAR2021. I also noticed that the F-15SG has similar antennae and ECM bumps as the new F-15EX.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Natalie Rubenak, 08MAR2021.
Red Flag 21-2 runs from March 8th through March 19th, 2021.
IDAHO’S TACP/JTACs TRAIN WITH INFANTRY WEAPONS!
