F15 Eagle

About

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as the U.S. Air Force's response to the Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat — a high-speed, high-altitude interceptor that, when revealed at the 1967 Domodedovo air show, badly worried Western intelligence. The result was the F-15: a twin-engine, twin-tail air-superiority fighter built around the requirement "not a pound for air-to-ground" — explicitly optimized for the air-to-air mission rather than the multi-role compromises that had compromised the F-4 Phantom.

The F-15A made its first flight on July 27, 1972, with McDonnell Douglas test pilot Irving Burrows at the controls. The type entered USAF service in 1976 and went on to compile one of the most impressive combat records in fighter aviation history. F-15 Eagles in U.S., Israeli, and Saudi service have shot down over 100 enemy aircraft in air combat, with no air-to-air combat losses against any opponent — a perfect kill ratio sustained across more than four decades of operational service.

The Eagle's two Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofans, large twin-tail layout, and extensive use of titanium alloy in the airframe gave it the kind of high-thrust-to-weight ratio that allowed sustained vertical climbs and high-altitude air-combat performance no contemporary fighter could match. F-15s have served in every major U.S. air engagement from the 1980s onward, with later F-15E Strike Eagle variants extending the type into the long-range strike role.

The unmistakable F-15 silhouette — twin-engine, twin-tail, large delta-shaped intakes — is one of the most-modeled modern fighter subjects in RC EDF scale flying.

In the simulator

A demanding twin-engine fighter scale subject. Use it for serious jet pattern flying with the visual signature of one of the most successful air-superiority fighters in history.