#mcdonnell douglas f15

[usafphantom2]

494th FS F15E buzzing the Tower at Lakenheath - May 25th 2022..

credit Stewart Jack

@CcibChris via X

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on patrol

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Eagle

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Le F-15 : Pilier de la Supériorité Aérienne #F15 #AvionDeChasse #USAirFo...

Découvrez le McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, un véritable pilier de la supériorité aérienne depuis plus de cinquante ans ! Dans cette vidéo, nous plongerons dans l'histoire fascinante de cet avion de chasse emblématique, conçu pour dominer le ciel. Explorez sa conception axée sur le combat aérien, ses puissants moteurs, et ses impressionnantes capacités opérationnelles. Nous mettrons en lumière ses systèmes d'armement sophistiqués et ses différentes variantes, comme le F-15E Strike Eagle et le F-15EX. Malgré la montée en puissance des chasseurs furtifs, le F-15 reste incontournable dans le monde militaire moderne. N'oubliez pas d'aimer et de partager cette vidéo !

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For those who haven't seen it on the news, or social media, Mi Amigo was a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress that was returning heavily damaged from a raid. It crashed into trees in Sheffield's Endcliffe park. At the time a group of kids were in the park, having met up for a prearranged fight! One of them, a gentleman called Tony Foulds, witnessed the pilot turning the aircraft to avoid the kids and sacrificing himself and his crew to save them. Memorial To The Fallen As he grew up, Tony started to tend to the memorial that had been placed in the park. A labour he has undertaken for 6 decades. This was unnoticed by all except a few locals. Until a chance meeting with Dan Walker. Host of a radio programme for the BBC he was jogging through the park. Noticing Tony sweeping the monument they got to talking. Tony explained what he was doing and why. He told Dan his ambition was for a memorial flypast to commemorate the anniversary of the crash. Dan told him to "Leave it to me" and decided to help. He tweeted about the meeting, asking if anyone knew how much the red arrows would cost. Dan found the story going viral, with both U.K. and U.S. military chiefs contacting him regarding the request. A Memorial Flypast The upshot was that on 22nd February, a number of both countries military craft flew over the park in tribute. The final flyover was 4 Mcdonnell Douglas F15 Fighting Eagles, which flew the "Missing Man" formation. This is a poignant tribute, where the flight approaches with 4 craft in close formation. One of the middle aircraft suddenly breaks away and climbs vertically, leaving the rest of the formation to fly on with an obviously missing place. This is to honour a pilot, who can no longer fly the formation due to his death, and was a fitting tribute to the heroism of a long ago pilot. F15 Strike Eagles Fly The Missing Man Formation WWII Era Dakota Transport Eurofighter Typhoon Fighter Aircraft Saluting The Mi Amigo Now you might well ask, what has any of this got to do with a company specialising in Corporate Entertainment. Well, to be honest, nothing really, other than since I obtained my Private Pilots Licence I have had an increasing interest in aviation. Oh, and if it wasn't for men like the crew of that B17, this blog might well be called Zuckerwatte Verrückt (That's German for Candy Floss Crazy). Read the full article

[skyfire85]

-An F-4S painted in the Heater-Ferris scheme in 1983. | Photo: Keith C. Svendsen

FLIGHTLINE: 138 - HEATER-FERRIS CAMOUFLAGE

Tested by the US Navy and Air Force during the 70s and 80s, the Ferris and Heater-Ferris schemes sought to optimize the effectiveness of visual camo.

Carlisle Ferris, who goes by his middle name Keith, was born on 14 May 1929 in Honolulu while his father was stationed at Luke Field, Pearl Harbor. His father was then transferred to Kelly Field, Texas as a flight instructor before being moved again to March Field, California. There he was treated to a flight in a Douglas B-18 Bolo, which ignited a life-long fascination with aviation.

After WWII, Ferris enrolled in Texas A&M's aeronautical engineering program with the aim of getting commissioned in the USAF. When he found out that he was medically unable to become a pilot, he transferred to George Washington University to study anatomy and figure drawing. In 1951 he moved to St. Louis and worked as a contactor producing artwork for USAF training manuals. When the USAF closed the operation in 1956, Ferris moved to NYC to become a freelance artist for the aerospace industry, as well as participating with the Air Force Art Program. This program allowed him to fly on numerous USAF aircraft from the late 50s through to the 1990s, and in locations from Thailand to the Balkans. Ferris was one of the the program's most prolific artists, producing 62 paintings, along with two giant murals for the Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum: "Fortresses Under Fire", which depicts the B-17 'Thunderbird' during its 70th mission, and "The Evolution of Jet Aviation", which is exactly what you'd think it is.

-In this 2005 photo, Keith Ferris stands before his mural “Fortresses Under Fire” at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. | MarkBennett13

APPLIED THEORIES

Seeking to combine his knowledge of aircraft and his artistic talent, Ferris went on to develop and patent several camouflage ideas, including painting a false canopy on the bottom of an aircraft to confuse opponents, and another involving asymmetrical, splintered patterns of gray. Another change was reducing the size of aircraft marking, as well as making them gray, black or white.

-A Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II with a false canopy on the underside. | Photo: USAF

The Ferris scheme was applied to several early F-14s and F-15s for testing, with mixed results.

-A painting guide for a model F-14, showing the splintered pattern of Gunship Gray, Dark Gull Gray and Gull Gray. | Illustration: Don Color

-An F-14 painted in a Ferris scheme. | Photo: US Navy

-Two Farris painted F-14s deployed on a carrier. | Photo: US Navy

-Painting guide for a USAF F-15 in a different scheme of Dark Gull Gray, Gull Gray and Camouflage Gray. | Illustration: Don Color

-An F-15 painted in the above scheme. | Photo: USAF

Later, Lt Commander Chuck "Heater" Heatley of the Naval Fighter Weapons School ("Top Gun") made some changes to the basic Ferris scheme, simplifying the pattern and running the various shades of grey across the entire aircraft. Two F-4S squadrons adopted the Heater-Ferris scheme, VF-301 ("Devil's Disciples") and VF-302 ("Stallions").

-One of the VF-301 F-4s in the Heater-Ferris scheme. | Photo: Keith C Svendsen

Experiments with the Ferris and Heater-Ferris schemes proved that they did work at reducing the range at which an aircraft could be seen, as well as disguising the direction of travel, but the usefulness of visual camo was being deemphasized in an age of radar guided BVR missiles, though the F-15 and F-16 have worn other schemes influenced by Ferris.

-A USAF F-16 showing multi-shade pattern camouflage, influenced by Ferris. | Photo: USAF

Now retired, Ferris and his wife operate a small online business, offering his original art and prints of his work for sale.

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Eagle Squadron

[usafphantom2]

Tiger, Eagles and Viper out of Luke AFB over the Grand Canyon. (b. simons)

@kadonkey via X

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night eagle

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Eagle

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The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle back page feature from Warlord No. 124, dated 5 February 1977.

DC Thomson.

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McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle

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McDonnell Douglas F-15C 83-0040 OT 422 TES by Duncan Monk Via Flickr: Landing at Nellis AFB, Nevada

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tarmac

[candy-floss-crazy]

The Last Flight Of Mi Amigo

For those who haven't seen it on the news, or social media, Mi Amigo was a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress that was returning heavily damaged from a raid. It crashed into trees in Sheffield's Endcliffe park. At the time a group of kids were in the park, having met up for a prearranged fight! One of them, a gentleman called Tony Foulds, witnessed the pilot turning the aircraft to avoid the kids and sacrificing himself and his crew to save them. Memorial To The Fallen As he grew up, Tony started to tend to the memorial that had been placed in the park. A labour he has undertaken for 6 decades. This was unnoticed by all except a few locals. Until a chance meeting with Dan Walker. Host of a radio programme for the BBC he was jogging through the park. Noticing Tony sweeping the monument they got to talking. Tony explained what he was doing and why. He told Dan his ambition was for a memorial flypast to commemorate the anniversary of the crash. Dan told him to "Leave it to me" and decided to help. He tweeted about the meeting, asking if anyone knew how much the red arrows would cost. Dan found the story going viral, with both U.K. and U.S. military chiefs contacting him regarding the request. A Memorial Flypast The upshot was that on 22nd February, a number of both countries military craft flew over the park in tribute. The final flyover was 4 Mcdonnell Douglas F15 Fighting Eagles, which flew the "Missing Man" formation. This is a poignant tribute, where the flight approaches with 4 craft in close formation. One of the middle aircraft suddenly breaks away and climbs vertically, leaving the rest of the formation to fly on with an obviously missing place. This is to honour a pilot, who can no longer fly the formation due to his death, and was a fitting tribute to the heroism of a long ago pilot. F15 Strike Eagles Fly The Missing Man Formation WWII Era Dakota Transport Eurofighter Typhoon Fighter Aircraft Saluting The Mi Amigo Now you might well ask, what has any of this got to do with a company specialising in Corporate Entertainment. Well, to be honest, nothing really, other than since I obtained my Private Pilots Licence I have had an increasing interest in aviation. Oh, and if it wasn't for men like the crew of that B17, this blog might well be called Zuckerwatte Verrückt (That's German for Candy Floss Crazy). Read the full article

[skyfire85]

-A speculative scale model showing an operational F-15N. | Photo: volzj

Flightline: 50 - McDonnell Douglas F-15N Seagle

-A full view of the F-15N Sea Eagle model. | Photo: volzj

Grumman’s F-14 was the endpoint of a long, torturous path to equip the Navy’s aircraft carriers with a high-speed, long range interceptor to defend against Russian bombers and their anti-carrier missiles. Initially planned to be the General Dynamics/Grumman F-111B, the failure of that airplane forced the Navy to request new submissions. Grumman’s submission to the new TFX program also included swing wings, but was an entirely new design. Grumman made the decision to incorporate as many technologies developed for the SeaPig as possible into the F-14, and that included the TF-30 engines, which proved to be inappropriate for a fighter. Though powerful enough to propel the F-14 to Mach 2.3, the TF-30 were sensitive to rapid throttle movement, and prone to compressor stalls at high angle of attack, which could send the fighter into an upright or inverted spin, both of which were deadly. The engines were also prone to failures of the turbine blades, which led to Grumman having to reinforce the engine nacelles to limit damage. Still, fully 28% of F-14 accidents could be traced to the engines.

-Line drawing of the proposed F-15N-PHX Sea Eagle. | Illustration: McDonnell Douglas/Boeing

With this in mind, in 1971 McDonnell Douglas offered a “navalized” version of its new F-15 air superiority fighter, still under development, to the USN. Modifications for the F-15N included a wing hinge, proper arresting hook and strengthened landing gear. Even with the weight imposed by these changes, the F-15N was expected to still be able to outmaneuver the F-14. What the initial proposal did not include were the AIM-54 Phoenix missiles or the AN/AWG-9 radar needed to aim and fire them. A study by the US Navy included adding the radar and AIM-54s, but the resulting aircraft would have weighed 10,000lbs more than a standard F-15A, erasing any advantage the Sea Eagle might have had. McDonnell Douglas, along with Hughes Aircraft, maker of the AIM-54 and the radar, worked up a proposal to modify the F-15s AN/APG-63 radar to interface with the AIM-54.

-Scale model of the F-15N-PHX showing AIM-54 mounts. | Photo: McDonnell Douglas

A Senate subcommittee began to study the proposal in 1973, and was later expanded to include a stripped F-14 variant and an upgraded F-4. A fly-off between the F-14A and F-15N was brought up, but was never held.

-Part of the Sea Eagle concept study involved integrating Harpoon anti-ship missiles. | Photo: McDonnell Douglas

The Navy ultimately stuck with the F-14, and with time and upgrades, including new GE F110 engines, the F-14A+ (later F-14B) and F-14D proved that the Tomcat was a capable aircraft. The Senate hearings did lead to the formation of Navy Fighter Study Group IV, which, through the second VFAX program, birthed the F/A-18 Hornet.