F-15 that landed without a wing 40 years ago continues to fly in Israel

Engaged in the controversial offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) continues to operate one of its most famous F-15 Eagle fighters, registration number 957. The aircraft seen in recent photos is the same one that 41 years ago landed without one of its wings after colliding with a A-4 Skyhawk. 

The pictures were shared by the IAF itself and defense analyst Guy Plopsky on X (formerly Twitter) and show the F-15D Baz (Falcon in Hebrew) still flying, engaged in an armed reconnaissance mission. The fighter carries an Ophir reconnaissance pod, used to photograph targets at long, safe distances.

For self-defense, the aircraft also has AIM-7 Sparrow and Python IV/V air-to-air missiles and an ELTA ELL-8222 electronic countermeasures pod.

Nicknamed 'Markia Schakim' (Sky Blazer), the F-15D 957 was already recognized for having achieved three kills in the 1982 Lebanon War. But the great feat would come on May 1st of the following year, during training in the region of Negev, in southern Israel. 

During a dissimilar aerial combat exercise, the F-15 from 106 Squadron Spearhaed collided in flight with an A-4N Skyhawk from 116 Squadron Lions of The South. The violent crash completely tore off the right wing of the F-15, causing it to lose control.

The A-4 pilot ejected as his jet disintegrated in midair. Aboard the F-15, however, a young aviator named Zivi Nedivi struggled to control the massive fighter. In the back seat, his instructor Yehoar Gal ordered the ejection. With great difficulty, Nedivi managed to regain control of the plane and observed that it was rapidly losing fuel. When looking outside the aircraft, he saw a huge leak in the root of the right wing, the same leak that prevented him from seeing that the wing was simply no longer there.  

The pilot tried to slow down the “single-wing” F-15, causing the aircraft to return to the spin. Again he managed to regain control, while Yehoar coordinated the emergency landing with control at Ramon Air Base. 

Forced to keep the engines on afterburner, Nedivi brought the fighter plane in for a landing, touching down on the runway at about 260 knots, twice the F-15's normal landing speed. Even with the extremely high speed – fast enough to break the tail hook for emergency landings – Nedivi managed to stop the jet on the runway.

With the aircraft on the ground, the two crew realized the gravity of the situation. Only 60cm of the root of the right wing remained. Later, engineers at McDonnell Douglas, the fighter's manufacturer, pointed out that the fuselage and horizontal stabilizers generated enough lift to keep the plane in the air. 

The Baz 957 was repaired and returned to flying, and like other Israeli F-15s, it underwent modernization. As seen in the images, the fighter remains flying and remains active with Squadron 106. In fact, the same plane participated in a historic flight between the IAF and the German Luftwaffe in 2021.