Oregon International Air Show 2016: OANG 75th Anniversary Screaming Eagles

Oregon is truly Eagle Country with Oregon Air National Guard McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle air superiority fighters based at both the 142nd Fighter Wing, Portland Air National Guard Base which is home to the 123rd Fighter Squadron Redhawks and at the 173rd Fighter Wing, Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base (Klamath Falls) which is home to the 114th Fighter Squadron which is an ANG interceptor training unit (their insignia is appropriately an eagle and their motto is “The Land of No Slack“). Aircraft from both fighter wings were on static display at the 2016 Oregon International Air Show (Hillsboro Airport near Portland) and a pair of F-15C’s from the Redhawks took part in the flying display.

142nd FW OANG Redhawks F-15C (AF 84-021) make a slow high pass Oregon International Air Show 2016 — 142nd FW OANG Redhawks F-15C (AF 84-021) make a slow high pass

USAF OANG F-15C Oregon International Air Show 2016 — 142nd FW OANG Redhawks F-15C (AF 78-479) comes in lower than its counterpart on a slow high pass

To me the F-15 Eagle is the most graceful looking of all the fourth generation fighter aircraft (I may be a little biased there as it is one of my favourite modern fighters!). The Eagle has dominated the skies since the F-15A was first introduced in USAF service in 1976 and with successive avionics, radar and weapons systems upgrades to the F-15C variant (built 1979-1985) still remains a true deadly beauty.

142nd Fighter Wing OANG Redhawks F-15C from the Portland base Oregon International Air Show 2016 — 142nd Fighter Wing OANG Redhawks F-15C from the Portland base

142nd Fighter Wing OANG Redhawks F-15C markings (AF 78-470) Oregon International Air Show 2016 — 142nd Fighter Wing OANG Redhawks F-15C markings (AF 78-470)

The jewel in the crown of the static displays was a magnificently painted 114th Fighter Squadron F-15C that features the huge head of a screaming bald eagle on either side of the forward fuselage, feathers on the upper and lower wings, and tail surfaces plus special tail markings to commemorate 75 years of Oregon Air National Guard (ORANG) service to Oregon and the United States. She’s a beauty but unfortunately it was located in a rather cluttered area so it was a bit tricky to get photos of the full livery but the ones I have include here give you the idea of how great it looks (that location also meant you could get up close and walk around the Eagle, so all good really)!

Screaming Eagle! 173rd Fighter Wing Oregon Air National Guard (Klamath Falls) F-15C Eagle OANG 75th Anniversary livery at the Oregon International Air Show 2016

173rd Fighter Wing Oregon Air National Guard F-15C Eagle OANG 75th — Scream for me Oregon!

173rd Fighter Wing Oregon Air National Guard F-15C Eagle OANG 75th Oregon International Air Show 2016 — What a stunning beauty!

OANG 75th Anniversary 1941-2016 173rd FW F-15C Klamath Falls — OANG 75th Anniversary 1941-2016

173rd Fighter Wing Oregon Air National Guard (Klamath Falls) F-15C Eagle OANG 75th Anniversary livery Oregon International Air Show 2016 — 173rd Fighter Wing Oregon Air National Guard (Klamath Falls) F-15C Eagle OANG 75th Anniversary livery

173rd Fighter Wing Oregon Air National Guard (Klamath Falls) F-15C Eagle OANG 75th Anniversary livery Oregon Interational Air Show 2016 — 173rd Fighter Wing Oregon Air National Guard (Klamath Falls) F-15C Eagle OANG 75th Anniversary livery

OANG 75th Anniversary Screaming Eagle F-15C Oregon International Air Show 2016 — OANG 75th Anniversary Screaming Eagle

173rd Fighter Wing Oregon Air National Guard - Klamath Falls F-15C markings and M61 Vulcan 20mm rotary cannon head on! — 173rd Fighter Wing Oregon Air National Guard – Klamath Falls F-15C markings and M61 Vulcan 20mm rotary cannon head on!

The M61 Vulcan 20mm rotary cannon is wing root mounted in the F-15C Eagle

The power of the F-15 is 2 x Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-200 afterburning turbofan engines producing up to 25,000 lb of thrust! Cost? A cool $3.1M USD each!

F-15 is 2 x Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-200 afterburning turbofan engines — Pratt & Whitney power!

A big disappointment was that this mighty ORANG 75 Eagle did not fly on the Saturday session that I attended and apparently only flew on departure on the Sunday. Those fortunate enough to be there at the end of the show on Sunday saw it briefly fly in formation with the Breitling Jet Team but I don’t believe it did a solo pass on the way out? They could have done a fantastic USAF Heritage Flight with the Heritage Flight Museum North American P-51D Mustang “Val-Halla” that was on static display right next to the F-15C. Oh what could have been!

USAF Heritage - F-15C Eagle and P-51D Mustang "Val-Halla" Oregon International Air Show 2016 — USAF Heritage – F-15C Eagle and P-51D Mustang “Val-Halla”

In my mind it should have been the star of both days of flying – a missed opportunity to promote the OANG in the best way possible. Regardless of this it was still great to take a close look at the OANG 75 F-15C and also see some Eagles soar over the Hillsboro Airport, albeit just a short display making us wish for more (unfortunately military budgets are not what they used to be)!