That's a nice description, but I would have preferred either some of the Cold War-era types (i.e. B-52 Stratofortress, B-58 Hustler, F-104 Starfighter, F-106 Delta Dart) or something like the F-14 Tomcat. I've had a long love-hate relationship with the F-15, which all got started back when I was a kid, and found out that the F-15 development program made copious use of former F-102A Delta Dagger fighters as drone targets for the AN/APG-63 radar & AIM-7 Sparrow missile combination. Later on, somewhere in the 1990s, I came about and decided to embrace the thing. It didn't hurt that I'd read the following (paraphrased) description of the F-15 program:

"It was a typical American fighter: Developed in tremendous haste against an imagined threat (the MiG-25 Foxbat), it cost an absolute fortune, overran its budget multiple times, and wrecked several other procurement programs. But it was also the best land-based air superiority fighter in the world, and has been for fifteen years."

Nevertheless: I don't actually have a combat record, but I did manage to do pretty good in law school once I actually got in the courtroom. Southern charm still goes a long way, especially when delivered in an understated "let's be reasonable" manner.

I dunno about my looks. I'm a man; so long as I've shaved recently and had a haircut in the last month or so, I'm fine, thank you. I suppose my reputation preceded me on several occasions; it always helps, whether it be to put the other side to sleep or to earn their respect, depending. Yee haw.

Fast, agile and loud? Two out of three ain't bad; I'm too old to be agile. But my hand-eye coordination's still good, thanks to a steady diet of computer games. Nearing the end of stardom my foot; the F-15C can still slaughter most anything in the skies, thank you. That is, if they'd give it the AIM-120B and AIM-9X with helmet-mounted sight. Kinda like Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven switching from pistol to shotgun.

Tip of the Imperial Navy officer's hat to Llama Butchers. Bring back the Star Wars logo!

UPDATE: Well, I spoke too soon about that 'slaughter most anything in the skies' bit. It appears that, when compared to the Su-35 (one of the more up-to-date Russian fighters), the Eagle loses nastily, requiring 1.3 lost F-15Cs to kill 1 Su-35. D'oh!

And yes, I'm well aware that the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker may very well be superior to the F-15; I've been playing the Su-27 Flanker series of flight simulators since 1996. You've gotta love that beautiful Russian crane.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 507 words, total size 4 kb.