Customer Reviews

McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle - Warbird Tech Vol. 9

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book gives a detailed look at the history of the F-15, and contains one of the better technical descriptions I have seen in print, covering all the electronics systems, weapons, and the airplane itself. Also included is a list of the air-to-air kills made by the F-15 in Israeli, Saudi, and U.S. service. Photos are included of all 20 prototype aircraft, as well as photos of each operating air force. Highly recommended.

This book was published in 1998, but it does a very good job covering the F-15 from beginning to the F-15E "Super Eagle" which is a remarkable fighter bomber. Designed to replace the infamous F-4 Phantom, McDonnell Douglas(now Boeing) created an air superiority fighter that has to this day never been shot down in combat. Over 2,000 have been built and serve in US, Saudi, Israeli Air Forces to name but a few countries that fly the Eagle.

The Aerofax format is to give you a paperback book with high glossy paper, great quality B&W and color photos, a ton of data and statistics. The development phase is covered very well, how the "Fighter Mafia" those within the Air Force wanted a pure fighter jet ("not one pound for air to ground" was their motto) and eventually got their way.

The improvement in engines, avionics and capability of the F-15 are all spelled out in very detailed text. Color photos show different camouflage schemes used by other nations.
Plenty of line drawings show the engines, radar, weapons and major parts of the F-15 to good effect. Some of the photos are a little small, but that is about the only complaint I have of the entire book. While not a perfect book for modelers, this does provide a wealth of material and information regarding the different versions of the plane. Despite the age of this book, I'd still recommend it to aviation buffs, fans of the F-15 Eagle and anyone who wants to learn a lot of the nuts and bolts of this plane.

I really like the Warbirdtech series only stumbling on it recently. It is an excellent series for model makers and often includes information on model kits and aftermarket parts as well as being a good book for anyone interested in the history and information on the particular aircraft. The F-15 Eagle Volume 9 continues in this tradition and provides excellent detail on sensors, upgrades, weapons, aircraft structure and it includes a liberal dose of photos of all of these features that it discusses. Rather than being a photo story of the aircraft such as "F-15 Eagle Engaged" it is rather almost like a walk around of the aircraft combined with a talk through on the engineering bluprints aspects of the aircraft with a brief on its history and deployment.

The book is mostly focused on the 'C' variant of the Eagle and whilst it was published in 1997 it does go into the MSIP II upgrades, but it is dated before the AIM-9X, JHMCS, or AESA radars so if you want detailed info in those elements then you might need to supplement this. The book is written in a very methodical and technical sense and despite the aircrafts exceptional combat record the book is also critical of the Eagle where it felt that it needed to be (namely its size and internal fuel fraction) and hence provides a fair assessment of the aircraft. It is definately interesting reading and I have not found another book on the Eagle that covers this material in this way.

The pictures are well done and are almost always making a point about some feature that is being discussed in the text. This is not something that you often find in aircraft books which are often photo essays and is also a reason that I have come to like this series. However there are limited actual colour photos so if you are looking for colour profiles then you might want to supplment your reading, and I say supplement because to me this book is a terrific grounding for beginning your references to this aircraft.

So in the end this book is like a walk around on steroids. I say that this book is very well worth the money. Highly recommended.

The F-15 is without doubt one of the best fighters in the world, with a staggering combat record to prove it. This book covers almost every aspect of this exceptional jet: it's development, different models, foreign (that is non-US) versions, combat records (up to the second half of the 90's), operator units and experimental versions, all very detailed and concentrated, often heavily technical.

The author aims high to discuss all these topics in one book, but fortunately for us, readers, hits the mark in an impressive way. 112 pages don't seem to be too much, but beware, the book is 8,5" x 11", printed with small letters - if you read it you feel like being bombarded with concentrated information. It's a good read, but not some light stuff for your leisure time on the beach - you need to be prepared to take on all these info, which includes tons of technical details.

The pages are packed with lots of photos and illustrations, most of them are black&white but there are many in color. They cover everything the text covers, leaving quite an impression. Reading the text and looking at the photos you can't help but wonder just how much work the author must have pushed into the writing of this book. Very impressive indeed.

Since the book was originally published in 1998, it cannot cover the latest 12-13 years of F-15 operations, but if you want to get a good and solid foundation for your F-15 knowledge, this is the book you have to read first - but only if you are a serious kind of F-15 fan.

Don't say I didn't warn you!

This book focuses on the technical aspects of the F-15 program, and gives a good overview of the competition, development, and history of the F-15. It does not cover the operational deployment of the airplane in any depth. There are lots of great photos (although the paper quality is not so good). The author obviously likes the F-15 since this is the third book I have purchased by him.

A wonderful book, this is an enthusiast's book, if you would like to learn more about this soon to be classic warplane, this is an excellent addition to your library. However, if you're looking for a book with performance, maneuverability, radar range, strengths and weaknesses, you'll have to find more books on the Eagle. This book does come with plentiful pictures (not many color pictures though) Technical schematics, and some history. You might enjoy this book if you're a complete enthusiast like me