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F-15A Streak Eagle


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January 16th marked the 41st anniversary of the Streak Eagle. The 19th pre-production McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle aircraft (S/N 72-0119) time-to-climb records during Operation Streak Eagle. (Aquila Maxima), smashing "time to climb" records who's top three positions were held by the Soviet MiG 25 Foxbat.

The Strike Eagle was held in place at the end of the runway while hooked up to a hold-back bar, as the pilot applied full afterburner, the explosive bolt detonated, freeing the Eagle to accelerate down the active. Rotating away after only 400 feet of runway, the Streak Eagle pulled into a 80 degree climb while accelerating through the speed of sound, with her low fuel, and minimal equipment, sporting a thrust to weight ratio of nearly 2:1. At altitudes, the Streak Eagle even beat the climb rate of the Apollo Saturn V Rocket!

In setting the last of the eight records, it reached an altitude of 98,425 feet just 3 minutes, 27.8 seconds after reaching Mach 2.2 at a climb angle of 55 degrees after brake release at takeoff and "coasted" to nearly 103,000 feet before descending. At this altitude, the Streak Eagle's engines flamed out, but were restarted during the descent phase.

The Streak Eagle broke eight time-to-climb world records between Jan. 16 and Feb. 1, 1975.

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You forgot to mention that the Streak Eagles records were subsequently 'smashed' by the Sukhoi P-42 Flanker....

And I look forward to reading that thread upon the anniversary of those flights.

Whatever happened to the Streakeagle? Did it go operational ( it was a preproduction bird ), or did it end up on a pole somewhere ?

Unfortunately, to protect it from corrosion, McDonnell Douglas Corp. has since painted it in the gray color scheme of most operational F-15s. Differences in internal structure and systems operation made it too costly to return to operational service and it was delivered to the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio in December 1980 after it was no longer useful as a flight test vehicle.

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Thanks Trigger,

I kinda figured that since it was a preproduction bird and had been modified for that mission. Saw a C-17 at Wright-Pat that looks brand new. But was told it was the the test article and it would've been cost prohibitive to modify it up to the operational fleet standards. So off to the museum it goes. It's too bad cause the the damn this is essentially brand new!

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Just saw an article about it somewhere else, and it is inside one of their restoration hangers.

According to their website it is in the Cold War Gallery, which is where I last saw it four years ago. McDD painted it before giving it to the museum, I don't foresee them stripping it back to its original naked glory. They are much too busy with the new expansion.

edit: oh, and the telemetry antenna is not on the jet now either. I suspect it was removed long before the museum got it.

Edited by habu2
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It got painted because it sat outside for years and years. The NMUSAF has had a lot of airplanes rot because of being left outside. The Airborne Laser Lab NKC-135 is going to be scrapped because of corrosion and mold, and there are significant parts of the XB-70 that are falling apart as a result of sitting out in the weather for so long.

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Thanks Trigger for posting this. The "Streak Eagle" was always on my "want to build" list but my skills are just never going to be able to do that cool scheme justice. It sure would be nice if she was restored to her former glory. Never say never but its unlikely anytime soon.

Good stuff :thumbsup: !

:cheers:

Don.

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I was always curious about the colors on the Streak Eagle. Were those gold tones painted? Some sort of anti-corrosion coating?

Thanks,

Eric

it is an anti corrosion coating called Alodine. the aluminum part is usually dipped in a bath of the stuff. depending on how long it sits in the bath will give slightly different tones to the coating.

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Edited by dylan
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  • 4 years later...

I Did not know that, just looked it up on Scalemates and yes they did back in 2002. I've never seen one but would like to pick one up for the stash as this is an interesting subject. 

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