The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is one of America's most prominent air superiority fighters, credited with over 100 air victories without suffering a single loss to this day. First flown in 1972, it is still currently in service with the United States, Israel, Japan, and Saudi Arabia.

Even before the first batch of F-15s rolled off the assembly line, the US Air Force and NASA began experimenting with the fighter. In 1984, an F-15 was highly modified with short take-off and landing capabilities, reducing the aircraft's required runway landing length by an impressive 80 percent.

Years later, specialized canards developed by NASA drastically improved the aircraft's stability at supersonic speeds and even implemented Artificial Intelligence for emergency protocols.

The result was the most modified F-15 ever built, with state-of-the-art components and systems that made it a more effective air superiority fighter that even helped test and discover new technology. It would also go down in history as the ‘Frankenstein aircraft’...

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Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.

As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.

All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.