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Last update:
06/27/2010
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Northrop F-15 Reporter |
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Scale 1:33 |
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Author: Rafal
Ciesielski |
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File Size: 61.8Mb |
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Please take a look at
Our Offer page before placing an
order. |
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Northrop F-15 Reporter
Build report of the model can be viewed
on
Papermodelers website.
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Price $16.00 |
Model # 055 |
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If ordering a CD, please
add $5.75
for Shipping & Handling. One charge per order. |
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Technical data: |
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Length |
49ft 7in |
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Span |
66ft |
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Engine |
2 x Pratt & Whitney R-2800-65W
Double Wasp 2,250hp each |
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Max Speed |
440 mph |
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Armament |
None |
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Crew |
2 |
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The F-15
Reporter was created when the guns were removed from the experimental
XP-61E, the last fighter variant of the P-61 Black Widow. With less than
six months flying time, the first XP-61E was taken back to the Northrop
modification shop where it was converted into an unarmed photographic
reconnaissance aircraft. All the guns were removed, and a new nose was
fitted, capable of holding an assortment of aerial cameras. The aircraft,
redesignated XF-15, flew for the first time on 3 July 1945, with Northrop
test pilot L. A. "Slim" Parrett at the controls. The first
production F-15A was accepted in September 1946. However, the contract was
abruptly canceled in 1947, possibly because the performance of the
aircraft was rapidly being overshadowed by jets, with the last of only 36
examples being accepted by the USAAF in April of that year.
Of the 36 F-15As produced, nine were allocated
to the Air Materiel Command in the Continental US, and the remainder were
issued to just one squadron, the 8th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron
attached to the 35th Fighter Group in Japan. These aircraft served in the
American occupation of Japan, and several of them participated in the
Post-Hostilities Mapping Program, in which extensive photographs were
taken of beaches, villages, road networks, and cultural centers. Included
in this job was the mapping of the Korean Peninsula, which proved
invaluable when the Korean War broke out in 1950. A few also served in the
Philippines and Celebes. Included in their mission was the mapping of the
route of the Bataan Death March for war crimes prosecutions - Wikipedia |
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