#f 15a

[usafphantom2]

27 July 1972. First flight of the McDonnell Douglas YF-15A-1 (F-15) Eagle. American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter. Piloted by Irving L. Burrows from Edwards Air Force Base.

@ron_eisele via X

[usafphantom2]

Sept 13, 1985: Maj. Doug Pearson in an F-15 pulled a wild zoom climb and became the first and only pilot ever to shoot down a satellite from an aircraft.... 345 miles up, pure kinetic kill.

41 years later, no other jet or pilot on Earth has repeated it.

We proved fighters could reach space… then stopped.

@Fahadnbiem via X

The chosen weapon to counter this threat was the Vought ASM-135A Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile. The ASM-135A featured several interesting characteristics such as the first stage of the AGM-69 SRAM-A nuclear air-to-surface missile and the lack of any warhead, meaning that it had to physically hit the target to destroy it. This result could be achieved thanks to a small IR-guided “homing kinetic kill vehicle” which had to guide the ASAT on the heat source of the oncoming satellite.

[usafphantom2]

Yesterday I was told we should go streaking, so here we go😜: January to February 1975 Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota. Freezing cold. McDonnell Douglas took a brand new F-15A (72-0119) and stripped it to the bone. Every bit of paint, the radar, nonessential systems, anything that added even an ounce of weight. Natural metal only. Maximum thrust to weight ratio. They named it the Streak Eagle. In just 17 days three pilots, Maj. Roger Smith, Maj. Willard Macfarlane, and Maj. Dave Peterson, absolutely demolished the record books. From a dead stop on the runway:

9,843 feet in 27.57 seconds.

19,685 feet in 39.33 seconds.

29,528 feet in 48.86 seconds.

39,370 feet in 59.38 seconds.

49,213 feet in 77.02 seconds.

65,617 feet in 122.94 seconds.

82,021 feet in 161.02 seconds. Then the monster climb:

98,425 feet in 3 minutes and 27.8 seconds. It kept climbing and coasted past 103,000 feet before decending. Eight world time to climb records smashed by one lightweight, stripped down Eagle that could accelerate straight up like a rocket. The F-15 did not simply show up. It owned the sky and put the MIG-25 to shame. #F15 #F15Eagle #StreakEagle #USAF #AviationHistory #AirForce #MilitaryAviation @Velcros_Hammer1

@F15’sRdaBest via X

[usafphantom2]

McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle 77-0088 CR. 1980.

@09runway via X

[usafphantom2]

A 49th TFW F-15A Eagle out of HOLLOMAN NOV81 (ken hackman)

@kadonkey via X

[usafphantom2]

Project Streak Eagle, F-15A, 72-0119 getting ready for another test run January 1975. Streak Eagle – Eagle Country

@Skytrailernl via X

[usafphantom2]

🦅🔥13 September 1985: An F-15 becomes the only fighter in history to score an air-to-space kill. Maj. Doug Pearson flew F-15A 76-0084 “Celestial Eagle.” He accelerated to Mach 1.22, then yanked into a 3.8-g / 65° zoom climb. By 38,100 ft the speed had bled to Mach 0.93 when the ASM-135 automatically launched.

Minutes later the missile’s 30-lb kinetic kill vehicle slammed into the Solwind P78-1 satellite 345 miles up (200 miles west of Vandenberg) at a closing speed of ~15,000 mph. No warhead. Pure kinetic energy. Completely destroyed. 40+ years later, still the one and only air-to-space kill by a fighter jet. Raw Eagle power at its finest!🇺🇸🦅 Requested by:@Russkies_suck. #USAF #ASAT #CelestialEagle

@F15sRdaBest via X

[usafphantom2]

McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle 77-0079 CR. 1979.

@09runway via X