The F-15 is well known by just about everyone who is interested in modern military aircraft. Designed to replace the F-4 Phantom II, F-106 Delta Dart and F-101 Voodoo in the air defense role, it incorporated all the experiences of the F-4 pilots in the war in Vietnam to provide what was hoped to be a superlative interceptor and dog-fighter.

Those lessons were learned well as the Eagle was equipped with all the modern missile armament and a 20mm cannon. It had two huge engines that provided more than enough thrust and the airframe was designed with a lot of lift to allow it to maneuver well and operate well at high altitudes.

In all, it turned out to be an exceptional airframe and one that filled all the needs that the Air Force was seeking. It also got them out of a 'foreign' airframe as the F-4 Phantom wasn't designed for the USAF, but since it was so much better than what they had at the time, it was bought in numbers that we probably won't see again in a modern military warplane.

Development of the plane went quickly and rather smoothly with little in the way of airframe changes from the prototypes. Naturally, a preproduction F-15 was stripped down and went record seeking, breaking nearly all of the records set by the Phantom II, and doing so by a nice margin in most cases. This aircraft 'Streak Eagle' is now displayed at the USAF Museum, though it has been painted so isn't quite as impressive.

Author Davies and Dildy have produced a very nice history of the F-15, taking it from its inception to its current status. This includes all of its wartime experiences, operations with the ANG, air defense units, and foreign operators. No mud movers in this one so no coverage of the F-15E.

There are the usual 'there I was' stories as well as stories by those who maintain and develop systems for the Eagle. This all adds considerably to the interest of the book as do the excellent selection of photographs. Nearly every unit that currently flies or has flown the Eagle is included with at least one photo. As a bit of an Eagle fan myself, I did notice a few unit omissions. There were no images of planes from the 5, 318 and 57 FIS. Especially odd as there was a section on the Keflavik based 57th, with an image of a Hawaiian ANG plane. A few other ANG and test units were also not provided image coverage. I also didn't see any information on the ASAT, one of the more interesting weapons systems developed for the Eagle.

However, these are minor in the overall picture of things. Speaking of which, the pictures are all very nicely done and the majority of them are in-flight photos and in several cases, chosen for the drama they provided. Many are official USAF images while others are from the authors and other sources.

In all, a very nice book that is both an excellent reference and a nice 'coffee table' book. One that I know you will be browsing through time and time again.

October 2007

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