[admin]

Conspiracy Therory?
I was talking to a gentleman about this today. He said he thinks that they are using this crash as a cover to halt or reduce sorties in the area after protests from Hamid Karzai. I don't know about that, but he seemed convinced.

[Hornchurch]

Originally Posted by Tundra04

Wow, hate to see that this is affecting the -Es...Definitely not good!

I waited before posting in this thread, to see (exactly) what would happen to our local F.15-E's, from the 48th F.W. based at nearby Lakenheath ........ as they are always in the sky directly above & around where I live.

Sure enough........ since this thread kicked off, NO SIGN of ANY F.15's in the local sky round here (upsettingly)........


That was until this afternoon just gone (Wed 14th Nov) - as whilst sorting out my car in the driveway, a BEAUTIFUL twin-tailed 48th 'E' version cruised close-by at very low-level

My Mother was trying to talk to me, as I just 'Gazed' at the (happy) return of my local regular 'birds' - as the 'E' 'cruised' on by, with Mother releasing a string of choice expletives.... " **** the F.15" !!!!!!!!!!!
She walked off, as the 'E' disappearing over the fields towards the coast, suddenly picked up speed, accelerating & curving round along the coastline = Joy !!!!!!!!

As two of the three resident Sqdns that make up the 48th F.W. operate 'E's (492nd & 494th) they're obviously back in business.

However, as the remaining Sqdn (493rd) operate the older single-seat F.15-'C's (which is the variant that crashed & caused this spell of grounding) it makes me wonder whether the 493rd are still grounded (or not ?) with their much older single-seaters.......

In many cases with the 48th's '15's that I've watched & photographed, there's usually (at least) a seven or eight year gap, between their 'fiscal-year' dates (with many/most of the 'E's being '92/'93/'94 birds, as opposed to the mid-eighties 'C's)
But I AM only commenting on the '15's that operate out of Lakenheath.

I'm ALWAYS reminded of that Israeli F.15 that returned to base with one ENTIRE WING MISSING !!!!!!!!!
If that ain't a 'strong' airframe, you tell me ????????
The pictures (in-flight too) leave you slackjawed, & show the F.15's strength !!!!!!!!

[flyXwire]

Originally Posted by Hornchurch

I'm ALWAYS reminded of that Israeli F.15 that returned to base with one ENTIRE WING MISSING !!!!!!!!!
If that ain't a 'strong' airframe, you tell me ????????
The pictures (in-flight too) leave you slackjawed, & show the F.15's strength !!!!!!!!

That's gotta be the most impressive picture I ever saw a few years ago. No doubt in my mind it came down to piloting skill, and at the risk of invoking a cliche...

"A landing you could walk away from is...." well you know the rest!

[Tundra04]

Went to the Blue's show at NAS Pensacola this last weekend. The Air Force Heritage flight was performed by an F-16 from the West Coast Demo team instead of the usual F-15. Not a single F-15 on static display. Actually, not much in the way of active duty aircraft on static display period!

[Cavtanker]

Found this news this morning:

Officials stand down F-15 A-D models until further notice

[STARMAN 352ND]

Originally Posted by Cavtanker

Found this news this morning:

Officials stand down F-15 A-D models until further notice

Well here we go again....another stand down for the F-15...At least it's not the F-15E ..Maybe it's time to order more F-22's now.
JP