“We could fly further, we could fly faster, we could fly longer than any other fighter out there.” “It was designed with energy maneuverability in mind with the most power we could put on an airplane with two Pratt & Whitney F-100 engines at the top of their game and with the biggest radar that we can put on an air-to-air fighter in the APG-63 out of Hughes which later became Raytheon,” said Greg “Sherlock” Watson, IPT lead for the F-15 Division at Wright-Patterson AFB. The F-15 was a revolutionary leap forward, as hoped by the McDonnell-Douglas team behind its development.

On June 27, 1979, the Israeli F-15s would become the first to shoot down an enemy aircraft, starting the unrivalled record of 104 kills and 0 losses against adversary aircraft throughout various conflicts. The same year Israel became the first export operator of the Eagle, locally designated “Baz” (Falcon) under the Peace Fox program. In 1974 the first Eagle, an F-15B, was delivered to the Air Force, while in 1976 the first F-15 for a combat squadron was delivered to the then 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron (now FS) “Triple Nickel”. Matthew Plew)Ī total of 12 pre-production F-15s were built, including two twin-seater aircraft initially designated TF-15 and later F-15B, and the new twin-engine fighter jet was approved by the USAF for full-rate production just six months after its first flight test. Air Force F-15C Eagles, assigned to the 493rd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, conduct a routine aerial mission in support of NATO Air Police operations at Keflavik Air Base, Iceland, Oct. In setting the last of the eight records, it reached an altitude of 98,425 feet just 3 minutes, 27.8 seconds from brake release at takeoff and “coasted” to nearly 103,000 feet before descending. That aircraft became known as the “Streak Eagle” and broke the eight time-to-climb world records between January 16 and February 1, 1975. #AlwaysReady /R9Wr9Hbz7Rįor this purpose, an F-15 was stripped of everything that could be considered useless for the flights it was going to perform: speed brakes and flaps actuators, radar, cannon, tailhook, one generator, utility hydraulic system and even the paint. Burrows took the F-15 Eagle up for its first flight and the rest is history. The F-15 Eagle has remained one of the main 4th generation platform fighters since its inception. But the F-15 could do even better than that, and was used to break multiple records, including eight time-to-climb records that were held by the Soviet MiG-25. Several more flights occurred in the week that followed the first flight, which included milestones such as achieving Mach 1.5 speed and reaching an altitude of 45,000 feet. After testing the new “racked” wingtip configuration, the Air Force was completely satisfied with the buffeting characteristics. Those features were later modified as initial flight testing led to the discovery of heavy wing bending and buffeting well within the operational envelope. The first YF-15A prototype, painted in the USAF “Air Superiority Blue” livery with orange flight test markings, still had the square wingtips and an unnotched stabilator. One thing that’s not changed – #F15EX refuses to be second best, and continues to dominate the skies. Since then, the Eagle 🦅 has changed in many ways. “This aircraft performed well from the first minute, we knew we had a winner from the start.”įifty years ago today, #F15 made it’s debut. “It was just like the simulator,” he said. Air Force’s new air superiority fighter on a 50-minute uneventful flight, up to 12,000 feet and 250 knots, discovering only a minor issue with a landing gear door. Burrows, the Eagle took off for its first test flight over the California skies at Edwards Air Force Base.īurrows took the U.S. A month later, on July 27, under the control of McDonnell Douglas chief test pilot Irving L. Louis, where all the F-15s were and are still being produced, on June 26, 1972. The prototype, YF-15A (s/n 71-0280), was rolled out of the McDonnell Douglas facilities in St. The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15 Eagle celebrates today its 50th birthday, marking half a century of undefeated air dominance around the world. Jmarked the beginning of a new era in air superiority, with the first flight of the fighter jet that would rack up 104 aerial victories without ever being shot down by an adversary aircraft.

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