The Briefing Room
General Category => Military/Defense News => Military History => Topic started by: rangerrebew on October 16, 2021, 01:42:41 pm
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The full story of how an F-15E scored its only air-to-air kill… with a bomb
Alex Hollings | October 15, 2021
America’s F-15 Eagle has long since secured a position in the pantheon of the world’s greatest fighters. With an incredible air combat record of 104 wins and zero losses, the fourth generation powerhouse we call the F-15 remains America’s fastest air superiority fighter, beating out even the venerable F-22 Raptor. But the F-15E Strike Eagle, the F-15’s multi-role sibling, was never really intended to serve as a dedicated air-to-air platform. Instead, the F-15E’s goal was to leverage the speed and payload capabilities of an F-15 Eagle for ground attack missions — making it one of the most capable multi-role attack fighters of its generation.
In 1991, Air Force Capt. Tim Bennett was serving as a flight leader for the 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron out of Al Kharj Air Base in central Saudi Arabia, in support of Operation Desert Storm. The U.S.-led coalition had opted to begin the war with airpower, flying hundreds of sorties per day from land and carrier-based fighters throughout the region. Al Kharj, where Bennett flew out of, was home to five squadrons of F-16s and F-15Es, so flight operations were continuous.
“We were slightly undermanned in our unit and, if you were a flight leader or an IP [instructor pilot], you flew a lot,” Bennett would later write for Air Force Magazine.
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/how-an-f-15e-shot-down-an-iraqi-gunship-with-a-bomb/
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That's wild!