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May 1, 1983. Negev desert. Two jets in a hard training fight 1 A-4 vs 1 F-15D. Then the unthinkable. Mid-air collision. One jet turns into a fireball. The F-15D is missing its entire right wing... sheared off clean just two feet from the fuselage. Nothing left but a bleeding stub and a white cloud of fuel pouring into the sky. The jet snaps into a violent roll. Back-seater is screaming “EJECT!” The pilot looks at the instruments, shoves both throttles into full afterburner, and says “F--- that.” With half an airplane and pure American thrust, he fights the roll, keeps the nose up, and flies the one-winged Eagle all the way to a runway. Approaches at twice normal landing speed. Hits the concrete so hard the tailhook rips clean off. The jet stops 20 feet from the end of the runway. Only then does the pilot look out the side and realize the wing is completely gone. McDonnell Douglas engineers later put it best: “The F-15 has such a massive lifting body and so much excess thrust that if you keep the speed up… you don’t even need wings.” That same jet was fixed and went right back to work. The Eagle doesn’t quit. The Eagle just keeps flying. #F15 #F15Eagle #EaglePower #AviationHistory #IAF 🦅🔥

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