Do you want a video on the new f15ex ?

The F-15 was developed to counter the MiG-25 Foxbat, except the Soviets lied about what the Foxbat could do and so Uncle Sam made a jet fighter to beat an imaginary super plane and still won.

the Strike Eagle that blew up an Iraqi helicopter with a bomb also went on to be the first F-15 of any kind to break 10,000 flight hours, an extremely impressive service time which is only growing. 487 (or as it has appropriately been named Lucky) is still in service with the 335th Fighter Squadron to this day and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon despite being a 30+ year old jet

As a retired Eagle driver who flew the F-15C with the 43rd TFS based, at that time, at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage Alaska, I want to thank you for giving Rodan the tribute she deserves. The years I spent flying the Eagle passed far too quickly. It was an honor and a privilege to fly the F-15C, and my final flight in her marked the saddest day of my life. I'm sure the F-22 is amazing to fly, but if I were offered the opportunity to serve another tour I would choose the Eagle without a second's hesitation.

i still thinks its funny that the first air to air kill for the f22 was a balloon

F-15: 'Loses a wing' Also F-15: "Tis but a flesh wound."

4:13 the reason they used a bomb was that the helicopter was flying so low they couldn’t get a missile lock, but they realized they could paint it with a laser. AIR POWER!!!

The F-15 is a badass that wins every fight it’s in. The F-22 is the badass that when it shows up, everyone runs.

The F22 is the brother that went to college, the F15 is the one who went to Fight Club 😂

F-15: 104 air to air kills to 0 losses. F-22: 1 air to balloon kill……0 losses

F-22: I have a 1-0 combat record shooting down a balloon F-15: I have a 104-0 combat record, not including my dad’s satellite, I once flew 10 miles while handicapped and I’m being upgraded while you’re scheduled for retirement. F-22: *cries in stealth*

I was stationed at Bitburg AB Germany from 1988-1990. It had 3 fighter wings of F-15's. I met a pilot who was an F-16 pilot until he witnessed that F-15 land with a missing wing. He immediately asked his CO how he can switch to flying F-15's. During our exercises, F-15's would be screaming off the runway day and night. I called it the sound of Freedom!!!

The F15 is the chuck Norris of planes. Gravity turns itself off out of fear

I was a crew chief on F-15's for 19 years. I was once asked why I don't watch NASCAR or I wasn't into racing of any sort. I told them: "Dude, what I worked on was able to break the sound barrier. Going straight up. If it doesn't go over 400mph or have a BIG GUN...I just don't care."

In June of '73 I had graduated basic and was headed towards my AIT/OJT assignment. I had a three hour layover at Lambert Field. Knowing who and what the guys across the way did kept me at the window. My patience was rewarded by the StreakEagle...a special one-off stripped down racer made for capturing FAI records. It crawled out of the cavernous hanger, turned right and started to move smartly towards the heavens. After a takeoff run off certainly not longer than two football fields it left the earth at an 85° angle and popped the sound barrier while still within sight...still climbing. One of my favorite aviation memories...

I was honored to have flown the Eagle in the mid-'80's, when America was in the midst of the Reagan Era buildup. Our readiness and proficiency were off the charts! 250-300 sorties/year was not uncommon.Thank you for your tribute vid!

As a former F-15 crew chief I can tell you it is a bad ass when it comes to maintenance too. On the F-4 Phantom it would take 5 guys 8 hours just to get an engine out, and that's even after the removal of 2 missile launchers. When I was in the 8th TFS Black Sheep back in the late 70s we could change an engine in-between daily sorties in about 2.5 hours increasing mission readiness to ridiculous levels. I even got to go on a 5-day cross-country flight in one of four F-15s and had no issues. On one departure my pilot did one of those straight up to 35,000 feet, at 25,000 feet we exceeded the speed of sound. When people ask me what it was like I tell them that it was the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on. EagleKeeper 1 out.

"The F-15 doesn't need to generate lift. It can just beat the atmosphere into submission." I love that quote.

An F15 pilot once told me that dog fighting a F22 was like fighting a UFO due to the things an F22 can do in flight

You know something, my job in the Marine Corps was 6092 I level Airframes and composite materials maintainer and I got stuck on the V-22, but every day I wished I could work on this masterpiece myself because this really is the coolest aircraft out there. right next to the F-22.

Shout out to the Airman who flew and retired the very same Eagle his father flew 20 years prior.

I'm British, but I'll never forget the day I was standing at a bus stop with F-15s flying overhead, releasing bombs as they passed over (they were high, could barely see the spicy potatoes) onto a nearby raf practice range. Coolest wait for a bus I've ever had.

Two things I noticed about this video and aircraft… 1. Nic could eloquently explain why the “pop” phase of popcorn is overwhelmingly badass. Unbelievably good story teller! 2. The F-15 is so grizzled in its well-deserved reputation that it joins the “nope” class for enemy actors. Seems enemy pilots would either turn tail or eject just to stand at attention to give a proper salute to this badass machine Another amazing video.. thank you!

I have to say as a 29 year Navy veteran, I worked with the F-14 Tomcat back in the early 80's at NAS Miramar and very often we would see the F-15's flying into the base. War Games were conducted time after time. Many years later the Tomcat has long been retired and yet the F-15 is still here and getting the job done. My hats off to ya.

How do you know it’s the most gangster fighter jet we got? Because WE named it the Eagle.

“The F-15 lost one wing, flew 10 miles and landed safely.” Ah, the Solo Wing Pixy story…

Absolutely the best! In 1970's, my bro-in-law was engineer at MacDonald Douglas, St. Louis, on F15. He can say only a very few stories. Today, I still work at STL. Several times each month an F15 will take off, probably a test flight, straight up. Always overwhelmingly awesome sight, and the sound is deafening - like all the thunder of a lifetime in one moment. Can't ignore! Those things are beautiful!

Being a jet engine troop in the USAF and working both the PW F100 and the GE F110. The F110 is far superior. They used the F110 in the F15K. In Jemic our instructor made the comment “if PW ever made an engine that didn’t stall, the engineers are required to redesign it”. Love your content!!!

The fact an F-15 took out a helicopter with a BOMB is hysterical

I’m a crew chief on 15’s, I was lucky enough to get a ride in one. The unrestricted takeoff was the gnarliest thing I have ever experienced, it felt like it was trying to flatten me like a pancake while trying to shove me through the seat at the same time. That’s the best way I can describe it

Yep, versatile air superiority and very long range fighter aircraft plus quite intensively updated. Operable at a high flight ceiling, sustained and with a 'Zero casualties' record over 5 decades, speaks volumes!

when MD heard about the israli one wing landing they all flew out and couldn't believe it and that's when it publicly came out that it was powerful enough that it could fly without wings. the pilot said he had to land at twice the normal speed just to keep it level.

My Brother flew the F-15A and B. At one time, he was the youngest instructor pilot on the model. Two summers in a row in the late 70's, he was allowed to bring an F-15 to Peoria, IL for the hometown's little static display of a few planes. The first year was a B model, with a crew chief enlisted guy who ate the last bit of our family meal (I'm hanging on to that) after my brother made him black out during an "unplanned" 360 over the airport with afterburners at night in the back seat. The plane had three tanks slung underneath. When they left two days later it didn't impress my young teen self, so I wrote and told him the plane looked like a dog. A year later he brought another one back, an A model. Once again, I had to sit on the left engine inlet for hours to keep people out of the cockpit while my brother went to the O-club (which was cool for me). A couple of days later, he left, after making a comment to me that the local airport didn't have enough spare fuel (like, for real?) and he'd have to refuel on the way back from IL to AZ, so he'd be taking off light. The National Guard unit at the airport set up a flatbed near the end of the runway and my Mom, Sister and myself stood there as the plane taxied away. There were no crowds or anything, it was like a Monday or something. The plane suddenly appeared after the radio call over the loudspeaker for clearance, maybe 50 feet off the deck, gear up, and you couldn't hear it. Near the stand, the plane went to 90 degrees, or darn near that. It was the loudest thing I've heard in my life to date and it made our Mom cry. They (the plane and my Brother) disappeared nearly straight up, just vanished. He wrote us a letter a few months later. He's 73 and still kicking ass.

Former F-15E crew chief here. The F-15 still holds the rate of climb record. Went from ground to 98k feet in just under 3 1/2 minutes. Then coasted another 10k before apexing and falling back to earth. Talk to the crew chiefs and you'll get so many more stories. Awesome video!

Even as a Brit the US AF is badass, and its second air force the US Navy is badass.

I'm glad you said the F-15 was replaced by the F-22 and not the F-16. A lot of people think the F-16 is better just because it's a higher number, but in reality, the F-16 is just intended to be a cheaper export plane.

The F-15 is the definition of "Old Man Strong".

The Eagle has some absolutely insane stories. Losing a wing and still making it to the landing strip, a confirmed air-to-air kill with a bomb (yeah, a bomb), and a bunch of hypothetical upgrades, including one which it would turn into an aerial ICBM launch platform. An absolutely incredible platform that deserves more recognition.

0:21 HOLY SHIT THAT'S ONE OF MY BIRDS! That sexy beast is one from my current base!

One of my first computer games (mid 90’s) was F-15 Strike Eagle. I spent countless hours flying runs over Libya and the Persian Gulf, completing objectives, and then hunting down random planes to shoot down or radar instalments to obliterate. I love this plane!

I work the weapons systems on the f15e right now. The sheer amount of fire power this jet can carry is scary. It's pretty much a small bomber with fighter capabilities.

Fun fact: the reason the US developed the F-15 the way we did is because we saw the Soviet MiG-25 and thought "damn that thing might be a problem" but no they built it out of steel so it basically couldnt move any direction besides forwards.

The sound of an F-15 is still the sexiest sound in existence. Aliens chilling in their uap hear the F-15 and get wood.

The JFS howl during its startup is one of the most amazing and menacing sounds an aircraft could ever make. The F-15 is truly among the greatest aircraft to have ever existed in American history.

“We don’t make sense (cents), we make dollars!” Phenomenal.

I love the 80’s mindset of these planes. F it, just add more thrust.

03:18 That sound... that's the zipper of the body bags it opens every time it needs to use that gun...

Saw one of these at an airshow back in 2007. Pilot did a low speed pass over the runway, yanked the stick back, and started accelerating vertically. Best damn part of the whole show.

As a retired crewchief... you are correct sir. The most gangster aircraft ever. Fixing them was frequently a pain but dude they are awesome.

There was a quote about the F-4 along the lines of "The victory of thrust over aerodynamics", so the F-15 was just talking that and making it better it seems. And it would be cool to see a video about the "Leading Distributor of Mig Parts" while we're on the F-4

In 1983 Most airplanes: if we lose a wing, we crash The F-15: hold my airplane fuel and watch this

This piece is an instant classic, hands down. When I was doing my tour on a carrier, F-14s were doing flight ops, along with A-6 Intruders and A-7 Corsairs. The F-15 is my favorite fighter by far.

...Dear lord, hitting a moving aerial target with a (I assume unguided) bomb? That's either extremely lucky or that pilot is way too good at carnival games.

From what I recall, the F-15 that lost a wing could only fly in a pretty small window of airspeed. They needed to stay fast enough that the intake, wing root, and tailplane were able to make up enough lift to be stable. They landed at 300mph, give or take, double the normal landing speed.

Been liking the videos, and my only real problem with them IS I DONT HAVE ENOUGH TIME IN A DAY TO WATCH THEM ALL! Seriously, these videos are amazing, and I cannot believe I have not seen your work before. So very well done and interesting.

I was on the first Operational Wing of F-15s at Langley AFB in 1976. As a Michigan farm boy, I immediately in awe of this aircraft, and have remained so to this day !!!

Gotta love the uncontested master of the skies.

I just opened this video. If you don't talk about the bomb ass air - air kill I'm unsubbing. 4:18 You didn't let me down. I love that.

I worked on the F-15 in 1980-1984. One of our favorite sayings was “ the eagle is proof that with enough thrust, you can get a rock to fly

What is significant about the +1 power to weight ratio is that it means it can accelerate in a straight vertical climb. I love the F-15 and to me it is the perfect non-stealth fighter.

F-15 : Say 'Uncle Sam'! Gravity : UNCLE SAM! UNCLE SAM!

I was stationed at a (now closed) ATC base from 1978-1984. When the F-15 pilots came in for whatever reason, when they left anyone outside would stop and watch and they loved to perform for us. As soon as the F15 gained air the pilot would turn it 90 degrees and accelerate out of sight.

I grew up in the era of the F-14, F-15, F-16, and F-18. They were all amazing planes, but my favorite by far was the F-15. I love that it's still flying, and will be for decades to come.

You finally went over something I really know a lot about. Been on the F15E for 5 years as an aircraft mechanic and deployed with them back in 2019. I'm also so glad you mentioned 0487. That's the tail number of the jet that you mentioned dropped a bomb on the helo, it has a green star with "helo" on it as a badge so you always know that specific jet was the one that got that kill.

I was a brand new FO in the Army back in 1982. I will never forget the first time I called in an airstrike during an FTX. An F15 came in so fast it was scary. The target was a hulled out 113 (personnel carrier). The F15's first run was with it's Gatling gun, and I thought the jet was either tearing apart or farting, because I'd never heard an electric primered gun before ( I admit, I jumped a bit). It's second run, it fired a missile that would've cooked anything left living in the carrier. Very impressive.

Beautiful aircraft. Being on the ground with enemies in the AO, gives you chill bumps to see them in the sky. I love them, they can really book

I wouldn't be surprised if the Space Force will eventually have carriers and they want a design that can be a stratofighter in a planetary atmo as well as fight in space, we'd get the F-15 style

That one clip of it landing perfectly with a wing missing breaks that part of my brain that tells me what physically *should* make sense. It just looks like it was told you just got shot down’ and it stayed in the air purely out of spite on the basis that none of it’s siblings ever got shot down so why the hell would it?

My father did flight simulators for the air force for 26 years. His 2nd to last duty station was Bitburg AFB in Bitburg, Germany. Home of the Eagle. After school, if no one was training on the simulator, my brother & I got to fly it. Too much fun. Great aircraft.

School circle time everyone; sit, kneel, stand. Usually when a person says that something is so loud they can't hear themselves think, they're just being hyperbolic. Not in the case of the F-15 - it truly is that loud, and I got to experience it firsthand. Back in 2010, I was in the Air Force ROTC at the University of Oklahoma, and a member of the color guard. One fine weekend, we played host to the Air Force Academy, and all the stops were pulled out. For the flyover, they had a flight of 4 F-15s from Mountain Home AFB fly about 500 feet AGL. I was on the field for that, and I couldn't hear the band finish the anthem, and could barely hear the "order arms" call. A little different experience with the F-15 than a lot of people on here, but something that will (hopefully) stick with me forever.

I've been on the flight line at Edward's and watched 2 F-15s take off at full power, gear up to vertical. Absolutely amazing. Only one better was having the opportunity to watch the sr71 take off at Edward's and come back over the flight line for a speed run. Thank you for the laughs.

THANK YOU! I’ve been waiting forever for this episode. F-15’s my favorite USAF fighter.

I have heard it explained that the F-22 takes air superiority while the F-15 holds air superiority. The exact wording was: "F-22 grabs them by the balls. The F-15 cuts them off."

I was stationed at Langley AFB in the mid 70's when the F-15 was 1st TAC's newest toy. I always got a kick out of watching the pilots putting in time with them. One of the most impressive things for me is how slowly the F-15 can fly. I saw them doing turns at the end of the runway and you'd swear the thing was going to stall at any moment.

There's a couple of USAF pilots (one of them flew the F16, and he mentions it in every single song) who formed a band called Dos Gringos and their 'I wish I had a gun like the A10' and there's 2 references to the F15, first is the capability of the AMAARM, the second is the loiter time where they refer to the Eagle as the 'Mud Hen'. Their 'Going in for Guns' is another classic. The shooting down the satellite mission was an all time classic.

My mom is a former marine and loaded ordinance onto the f-18 hornets during desert storm. Her main job was processing the black boxes. Her squadron was the VMFA-232. Shes been enjoying your videos i share with her and I would love to share a video of you reviewing the f-18's.

Not the only plane to fly with a missing wing! Back in the early 80s there were two A10s that collided over the North Sea during practice maneuvers. One was lost, the other suffered the loss of a wing, half the tail and an engine. It was on it's way back with plans to land at RAF Woodbridge when the decision was made not to fly over a populace. It was ditched at sea but there is little to no doubt that it could have made it.

My wife's grandfather was on the design team for the F15 back in the 60s and 70s. This jet is actually insanely old.

The A-10 Warthog has definitely flown with less plane attached to the plane, but losing a wing and making it back is still impressive.

Fun fact, Tom Clancy's World War III speculative novel Red Storm Rising has a scene that involves a F-15C that fires an ASM-135 to destroy a Soviet satellite. The actual mission to destroy our own satellite happened not even a year before in 1985. I wonder if that scene was a nod to the actual mission, or if he just happened to know what F-15Cs could do at the time.

The F-15 was designed in 1969 and first flew in 1972. 52 years later it is competitive if not dominant against most of the planes in the skies. The top-of-the-line fighters could take (maybe) It, but it is still an amazing aircraft.

I’d never heard it hit a damn flying helicopter with a bomb. That is indeed one of the most gangster things I’ve heard an aircraft do.

I remember sitting in the United lounge at Honolulu as a kid in the 80s, watching 6 F-15s take off into a unrestricted climb, as a Aussie that doesn't live near a AF base it was absolutely mesmerising. 🙂🇦🇺

*My Uncle was a engineer for Raytheon and a pilot, and he told the story about the F15 that came back from a mission minus a wing. It sort of puzzled everybody but basically it was that thrust; having wing was better, but not strictly necessary so long as the push fluid held out!*

Worked on these as a 462/2W1 for most of my 12 yrs of service, and I got an incentive flight in one. Of the 3 airframes I got to work on, this one was by far the best.

Loved "If you can't be unseen, go fast enough to go untouched."

I wasn’t expecting the grin on my face by the end. I got to witness a full-burn vertical takeoff maneuver by a Strike Eagle while driving parallel to the flight line in Elmendorf AFB, AK in 1998. It was unexpected and glorious. Also, that Hind shot down by the bomb wasn’t only moving, it was moving at about 100 knots. I just read that story four days ago. 😁

In my time in the military I was a structural mechanic in the Air Force. The F-15E Strike Eagle was the platform I was lucky enough to work on. During our deployment to the middle east in 2016-2017 we broke the fighter and bomber record for the most bombs dropped in a 6 month deployment at 5,018 bombs. First bombs we dropped were less than 24 hours after we showed up. Absolutely wonderful platform, hell to work on. They break A LOT.

I've seen that in real life! On the runway at Nellis AFB. Watching a touch and go. Straight up, with no problems. Made an impression that, in 44 yrs, I have never forgotten it!

A pair of these just flew low over my house this morning, woke me up like some apocalyptic event, whole house shook

F-15 the ultimate definition of FAFO 🤘🏻

the F-15E has the -229 motors, which are pumping out 29,000lbs of freedom per engine

I was born, raised and served in the USAF. I was sent to Cold Lake, Canada for cold weather training (I was stationed in Louisiana so we froze in our field jackets, while the Canadians were all warm and snug in their leisure suit uniforms). An F-15, not one of my units aircraft, took off and "rocketed" straight up at the runways end. This angered/embarrassed the Canadians since they were still using second hand aircraft that the USAF had retired 10 years earlier. But that was ok since the next day a US F-15 pilot had to punch out and wait until spring to dredge his CREW CHIEF'S aircraft out of the lake which had decided to freeze over during the night.

I enjoyed doing weapon maintenance on it. Also, when the Air Force heard about how it landed with only one wing. They decided to do a test on Edwards Air Force Base to do a alteration on one F-15 to give the pilot the ability to eject both wings of the F-15. An the plane was still able to stay flying and eventually land with both wings gone at the testing ground on Edwards AFB.

Don’t forget about the most insanely nimble big fighter ever made the F-15 Active. Seriously no idea why we didn’t adopt that too.

Definition of old, but gold.

Awesome video, I was a F15E crew chief for a couple years before I got moved to a different airframe. But the F15E will always be my favorite. Civilian now and haven't touched a jet in years.

Great job. You explained the F15 better than any of the other videos I've seen on it.

My neighbor used to drive F-15s. One day I was talking to him about the jet and he said the same exact thing about busting through the sound barrier after take off. Light the cans, rocket down the runway, pull on the stick and next thing you know, Mach 1. Amazing jet that's as old as me. Incredible piece of USAF kit!

I had the pleasure of watching two of these beauties takeoff side-by-side at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, NE. Both pulled onto the runway at the same time, told the tower they were leaving and hit the throttle. A short way down the runway they lifted their noses, gained about five feet, cruised in ground effect to around three-fourths down the strip then went vertical like they were bored of gravity. Sheer aeronautical bliss.