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Wild Blue Yonder 1: 50 Years of Gs & Jets
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Wild Blue Yonder - Episode 1 - 50 Years of Gs and Jets (Digital Ranch) (Spectrum Holobyte)(1-107-40-101)(1994).iso
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00091_Field_91.txt
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1994-08-29
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1KB
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A Bird Stalks its Prey
With a top speed of Mach 2.5, the F-15 is fast, but speed is not
always desirable. For instance, in Vietnam dogfights were
conducted at less than Mach 1.0. To fight such battles, the
Eagle slows down with speed brakes. The F-15 also has a stellar
safety record. In its first 7000 hours of flight, not one Eagle
was lost, the first fighter in history to do so well.
Like many other U.S. aircraft, the F-15 made its debut in combat
under Israeli colors, badly mauling opposing Arab aircraft
wherever they met. F-15s also played a role in both Grenada and
Panama, where they faced no air opposition.
In the Gulf War, F-15s flown by the USAF shot down 33 enemy
aircraft, establishing an early and lasting dominance over the
few Iraqi fighters that exposed themselves to combat. An F-15C
flown by the Royal Saudi Air Force scored two additional aerial
victories. The conditions were perfect for the F-15's radar,
which could paint targets as far as 80 miles away. Coalition
forces maintained total air superiority throughout Operation
Desert Storm, thanks in large part to the McDonnell Douglas F-15
Eagle.