F‑15 STOL via Mike ACS Flickr Page

F-15 STOL/MTD_v_c_o_TPMBK (ca. 1985-89, unnumbered poss. MDC photo)

“The Short Take-Off and Landing/ Maneuver Technology Demonstrator (STOL/MTD) Joint Test Force completed the first phase of F‑15 STOL tests. The goal of the program was to demonstrate that an F-15 fitted with new technologies could land without navigational aid from the ground, on a bumpy field only 1,500 feet in length and 50 feet wide at night, in bad weather, with a 30-knot crosswind.

In 1975, Langley Research Center began to conduct sponsored programs studying two-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzles; government and industry studies of non-axisymmetric two-dimensional (2-D) nozzles in the early 1970s had identified significant payoffs for thrust-vectoring 2-D nozzle concepts. In 1977, Langley started a system integration study of thrust-vectoring, thrust-reversing, and 2-D nozzles on the F-15 with McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MDC). In 1984, the Flight Dynamics Laboratory, the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division awarded a contract to McDonnell Douglas for an advanced development STOL/MTD experimental aircraft. The aircraft used in the STOL/MTD program has flown several times since the successful STOL/MTD program completion in 1991 that used thrust vectoring and canard foreplanes to improve low-speed performance. This aircraft tested high-tech methods for operating from a short runway. This F-15 was part of an effort to improve ABO (Air Base Operability), the survival of warplanes and fighting capability at airfields under attack.

The F-15 STOL/MTD tested ways to land and take off from wet, bomb-damaged runways. The aircraft used a combination of reversible engine thrust, jet nozzles that could be deflected by 20 degrees, and canard foreplanes. Pitch vectoring/reversing nozzles and canard foreplanes were fitted to the F-15 in 1988. NASA acquired the plane in 1993 and replaced the engines with Pratt & Whitney F100-229 engines with Pitch/Yaw vectoring nozzles. The canard foreplanes were derived from the F/A-18's stabilators. Prior to August 15, 1991, when McDonnell Douglas ended its program after accomplishing their flight objectives, the F-15 STOL/MTD plane achieved some impressive performance results:

- Demonstrated vectored takeoffs with rotation at speeds as low as 42 mph

- A 25-percent reduction in takeoff roll

- Landing on just 1,650 feet of runway compared to 7,500 foot for the standard F-15

- Thrust reversal in flight to produce rapid deceleration

Above paraphrased from:

www.aftc.af.mil/News/On-This-Day-in-Test-History/Article-...

Credit: Air Force Test Center (AFTC) website

Since it’s cool, there are plenty of other sites regarding this, nearly all regurgitating the same content though.

Check out what’s going in the image, like the one coming in for a landing…I think. It’s completely vertical! Like the crazy shit the Russian bastards used to demonstrate at air shows. Then there’s the starboard quarter elevator/platform, or whatever it’s called…in a vertical position…with an F-15 STOL/MTD attached! Huh? And…is the approaching aircraft coming in to land on the similarly vertical port elevator/platform??? I mean, it looks to be headed right for it. If so, I suppose the arresting cable acts like the wire on the back of wall art. 😉

As if all of that crazy stuff wasn’t enough, this beautiful work is apparently by the hand of a female artist, Tricia Martin. Outstanding! Possibly a McDonnell Douglas artist? Unfortunately, I’ve found nothing on her. I just hope it’s not a male artist who decided to lead with his middle name.