from Hacker News

The F-15 Eagle: Origins and Development, 1964-1972 [pdf]

by cdwhite on 3/26/23, 10:44 AM with 106 comments

  • by chiph on 3/26/23, 1:10 PM

    For those of you using CA Harvest Software Change Manager, it has it's origins with Hughes Aircraft and the software written for the F-15.

    It was sold commercially as CCC/Harvest by Softool Corp starting in the late 1970's. Looks like Broadcom is the newest owner. It's still being used - the last time I encountered it was in 2009 at a large bank.

  • by Stevvo on 3/26/23, 12:26 PM

    The "Dissent and Decision" section is fun. Reads very much as a battle over egos and personalities rather than the technical merits of a particular aircraft.
  • by tomohawk on 3/26/23, 12:33 PM

    The F15-EX has been in the news recently. Interesting comparison and contrast with F35:

    https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/buying-just-80-f-15exs...

  • by YZF on 3/26/23, 4:17 PM

    I got to see F-15s flying every day for almost three years pretty close up. They are amazing machines.
  • by The_Colonel on 3/26/23, 6:40 PM

    I'm kind of fascinated how these deadly machines can be so good-looking / elegant.
  • by knolan on 3/26/23, 11:50 AM

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen the competing designs to the McDonnell Douglas design before. Were these public at the time like with later aircraft competitions? I’m thinking of the YF-17, YF-23 and X-32.
  • by skeeterbug on 3/26/23, 12:49 PM

    Megaprojects just did an episode on the F15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgI7jDd7hww
  • by 29athrowaway on 3/26/23, 4:18 PM

    The Soviets had better aircraft, then pilots defected to the US and Americans reverse engineered them.
  • by RcouF1uZ4gsC on 3/26/23, 12:41 PM

    > OSD, however, refused to tolerate this kind of intransigence and in May 1966 McNamara ordered a joint review of the commonality issue. Conducted over the next 18 months, the review confirmed that the needs of the Air Force and Navy could not be met by a single airframe. The two services argued that attempts to merge their requirements would produce, at exorbitant cost, a grotesque mutation with increased weight, and reduced performance.

    The truth of this is again illustrated by the Joint Strike Fighter F-35 with its massive cost overruns and its reduced performance.