Ooh, that's vicious! Credit: @DaOfficialVigil (Twitter)
#EagleBot

Kids were going through boxes of old photos and found a few from my "top cover" days in Alaska. Couple of me from April 1985, intercepting some Russian bros in a Tu-95 Bear G, the nuclear air-to-surface missile variant, 150NM north of Pt. Barrow, taken by my wingman. There's also a Tu-16 Badger F I photographed over the Bering Strait in October 1984. #sierrahotel #eaglebot #milair

The link is a little confusing, since this company supplies both female and male fighter pilot cups to the USAF. The linked page is actually about male cups. As a proud fighter pilot, I wanted to point you to the sizes they come in, perfectly tailored to fighter pilot egos if not their actual anatomy: https://www.flyairus.com/femalecups-1
#eaglebot #sierrahotel

Some old unit mugs: 32nd TFS Woldhounds, Soesterberg AB, the Netherlands; 44th TFS Vampires, Kadena AB, Japan. The watch is the one I wore for most of my flying career. #eaglebot #sierrahotel #bigseiko

I often post F-15 Eagle content here. The old, now almost retired air-to-air Eagle is a single-seat fighter, but every unit had a couple of two-seaters on hand for training, check rides, and orientation flights. Here's a nice (uncredited) photo of both versions together. They're identical except for the second seat and bulgier canopy. #eaglebot #sierrahotel

Nice one (stolen from a Facebook F-15 group, photographer uncredited). #EagleBot #SierraHotel

Odd story. A wingman once rejoined on my right side and told me a circular panel had blown off my jet. After landing I looked and didn’t see anything, so I called him over to show me. Despite a few hundred hours of Eagle time, a lot of it in close formation with other Eagles, he’d never noticed the round vent behind the cockpit, the one in this photo. That’s what he saw and called out. Better that than thinking something’s wrong and saying nothing, of course! #EagleBot #MilAir #SierraHotel

Tell me you don't understand anything about flying fighters without coming right out and admitting it. #MilAir #EagleBot https://www.eurasiantimes.com/as-90-of-f-15-pilots-suffer-china-uses-centuries/#google_vignette

There's a new Air-Minded post at Paul's Thing: https://pwoodford.net/blog/?p=35793 #EagleBot #MilAir #SierraHotel

Archival photos sent by a friend: RNLAF weapons crew loading a Hawker Hunter gun pack, Soesterberg AB, NL (NATO photo, 5 Apr 1961). Some fascinating details, including mounting the "Sabrina" blisters used to collect spent brass after the guns were fired. #SierraHotel #EagleBot #GunsOnly

One for the spotters: Open Day, Twente Air Base, the Netherlands, Sep 15, 1979. Squeaky-clean F-15 Eagle from nearby Soesterberg Air Base (my unit) at center stage. Photographer unknown. #EagleBot #SierraHotel

Stumbled on this earlier today (creator unknown) and got a laugh. Back in the days when gun cameras didn't record sound and we carried tape recorders, I had one get loose during a BFM engagement. I could see it in the mirrors, all the way back on the turtleneck (the flat surface the photoshopped raccoon is on). Negative Gs and fanning the speedbrake summoned it back, no harm done. #EagleBot #F15Eagle #SierraHotel

Looking for more of these, sometimes called flat lay or knolling photos of military aircraft w/armament & equipment. Google Images is not being my friend in this search. Any help appreciated. #EagleBot #MilAir

Kadena Memories: https://pwoodford.net/blog/?p=35501 #EagleBot #F15Eagle #SierraHotel

The last F-15C has left Kadena Air Base. My last USAF flying assignment was Kadena, where I flew F-15s, so I've been following news of the drawdown. Some C models are still flying for the Air National Guard, but this was the end of an era for the active Air Force. #SierraHotel #Eaglebot
https://www.eurasiantimes.com/u-s-pulls-out-last-f-15c-eagle-from-japans-kadena-ab-in-ceremonial-flight-now-f-15ex-jets-to-hold-fort/#google_vignette

A friend forwarded this to me. My background is fighters, not bombers, but this reads like the species of accident report focusing on pilots wearing non-regulation socks or nametags with tactical callsigns.

Seriously, though, ground ejection is sporty to begin with, and if you weigh more than the dummies ejection seat manufacturers use to test their products, you may hit the ground before your chute opens.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/07/25/report-unhealthy-culture-ellsworth-air-force-base-units-contributed-b-1b-lancer-crash.html

#EagleBot #ejection #USAFacccidentreport #Bone

I'm certain that empty back seat is hotly contested at Air Staff level. Oh to be a fly on the wall in the Pentagon!
#F15Eagle #EagleBot #SierraHotel

In 1981 my squadron sent me to the Raytheon plant in Lowell MA for a 2-week course in radar missile theory and employment. Graduates got these nifty presentation Sparrows, and in return taught what we'd learned to our squadron mates. The Sparrow, a "thinking man's missile," was a very complex gadget, and a thousand things had to work perfectly to get a kill. #EagleBot #F15Eagle #SierraHotel #BigSeikoLittleDick

I wrote about this incident shortly after it happened in May 2023. Now the accident report's been released and I've published an update. You can read both at https://pwoodford.net/blog/?p=33347
#EagleBot #F15Eagle #AirMinded

There's a new Air-Minded post on my blog, this one about pilot training assignment night. https://pwoodford.net/blog/?p=34986 #EagleBot #MilAir #SierraHotel