F 15 Eagle R&D and History

Video from the channel Aviator Sailor about McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 54:21. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A 1980s documentary on the origin, development, and entry into service of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. It reviews the problems that led the US Air Force to request a new air superiority fighter, McDonnell's track record as a manufacturer, the construction and testing of the prototype, the Streak Eagle's altitude records, and the aircraft's operational use in the United States, Europe, and other countries.

The narration traces the Eagle's origin to two simultaneous problems. On one hand, the air war over Vietnam showed that American fighters, good interceptors or fighter-bombers, could not maneuver against the MiGs; not even the F-4 Phantom II. On the other, the appearance of the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber, capable of flying at more than three times the speed of sound, pushed the Soviets to develop the MiG-25, known to NATO as Foxbat, which was unveiled at the Domodedovo air show and outran an Israeli F-4 above 60,000 feet. The United States had cancelled the F-108 Rapier and built only three YF-12s, so by the late sixties it needed a new fighter. The documentary also reviews McDonnell's history: the experimental XP-67, the F-101 Voodoo, and the F-4 Phantom II, adopted by all three US air services.

According to the narration, McDonnell won the competition in 1969 and received an order for 20 F-15s on January 1, 1970. The first aircraft left the St. Louis factory on June 26, 1972, and flew at Edwards with Irv Burrows at the controls, powered by Pratt & Whitney F100 engines. The video describes the raised canopy, the variable-geometry air intakes, the large dorsal airbrake, the internal cannon, and the armament of four Sparrow and four Sidewinder missiles. On November 14, 1974, with President Ford present, the Air Force accepted its first operational F-15. An unpainted example, the Streak Eagle, set climb records flown by Roger Smith and two other pilots. The video also shows mock combat against the F-5, the deployment to Europe, the launch of an ASAT anti-satellite missile in September 1985 at 80,000 feet, the study of a STOL variant with canards, its use in Japan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia (where it shot down two Iranian F-4s in June 1984), the William Tell competition, and the interception of Soviet bombers from Alaska.