Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

1st503rdsgt wrote:

Wasn't there a problem with the turkey feathers ripping off in flight with the mudhen?

There was way back when, also the little bit of reduced drag wasn't worth the man-hours of removing and installing them.

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eaglekepr wrote:

...Operationally is a different matter. B and D rear pits were designed for training/instructors, the E was designed for a WSO...although he can still fly the plane.

Interesting info... but as a follow-up to the original thread's question then (if not violating any opsec), could the front-seat of an F-15E lock-on equally as well in the A2A role and engage with AMRAAM independent as could the WSO in the plane? I'm assuming the F-15K and F-15SG's IRST systems in the current configurations can only be utilized from a rear-seat? But possibly a later block update could include such multi-function operation from the front-seat equally as well?

No clue about K or SG (or I or S or SA or SE), but both cockpits can generally control all [Link pending approval] it's just that the rear of the E was set up so that a WSO had more switches/better controls to do it [Link pending approval] the pilot COULD "do it all", but his primary task is to fly the [Link pending approval] the WSO's is to set up sensors and weapons for the mission. To my knowledge though, A2A is the pilot's bread and butter. The E and C cockpits are pretty much the same in this regard.

Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

F-15E strike eagle questions