Photo: USAF/2nd Lt. Mary Begy
Like most other military aircraft currently in service, the F-15 is an old beast. It was born almost half a century ago, and over 1,100 of them and roaming the skies of the world. But as is always the case with military birds, old and many don’t necessarily mean unimpressive, and the pic we have here (click main photo to enlarge) is proof of that.
We’re looking at something the U.S. Air Force (USAF) recently depicted as a “flock of Eagles.” It shows four of them from two generations, flying together behind a KC-135 Stratotanker. We get three F-15C Eagles and one of those fancy new F-15EX Eagle II flying in a perfect alignment behind the aerial refueling station, as they were conducting an in-air refueling mission.
Of course, the star of the pic is the single Eagle II, the most recent incarnation of the airplane, which was inducted into service earlier this year. In fact, at the time of writing, there are just two of them out there, flying for testing purposes with the pilots of the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
The soon-to-be fleet of Eagle IIs was just confirmed at the beginning of this month to use General Electric’s F110-GE-129 engines, beasts capable of developing 17,155 lbf of thrust (29,400 lbf on full afterburner).
The photo we have here was snapped back in mid-October in the sky over the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma and shows a bit more than just military machines.
What catches the eye in this photo perhaps more than the planes themselves are the multitude of circles dotting the landscape below. They look either like crop circles made by some alien force or like some horizontal portals Doctor Strange would be capable of producing.
They’re neither, of course, and we’re looking at central pivot irrigation systems, which are extremely common in the American Great Plains.
Of course, the star of the pic is the single Eagle II, the most recent incarnation of the airplane, which was inducted into service earlier this year. In fact, at the time of writing, there are just two of them out there, flying for testing purposes with the pilots of the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
The soon-to-be fleet of Eagle IIs was just confirmed at the beginning of this month to use General Electric’s F110-GE-129 engines, beasts capable of developing 17,155 lbf of thrust (29,400 lbf on full afterburner).
The photo we have here was snapped back in mid-October in the sky over the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma and shows a bit more than just military machines.
What catches the eye in this photo perhaps more than the planes themselves are the multitude of circles dotting the landscape below. They look either like crop circles made by some alien force or like some horizontal portals Doctor Strange would be capable of producing.
They’re neither, of course, and we’re looking at central pivot irrigation systems, which are extremely common in the American Great Plains.
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