F-15 Beaver tail

[FNHP35]

I am currently building an old ESCI F-15A/C 1/72 scale model and I was looking at it and reference photos and noticed that the model has a small beaver tail between the nozzles that seems to be absent in many of the later images of both A and C models. I searched and I couldn't find much on when they started removing the beaver tail and I am not even sure what it did. Was it removed during Msip2?  When did they start removing them and why?   Just wondering if I need to perform some surgery on the model to make it more correct. Thanks.

[CT7567]

What you call a "beaver tail" is an aerodynamic fairing that primarily acted as a cover for the end of the emergency tailhook (the hook end fit into a recess in the underside of the fairing).  To the best of my knowledge these were present on all A-D model Eagles as built, but done away with on the F-15E model.  At some point well after the Strike Eagle entered service, the fairings were removed from at least most of the fighter airframes as well.

 

I don't believe the deletion of the fairing was related to the MSIP upgrades, however in practice those updates were rolled out in varied portions at different times due to various maintenance & procurement factors, so there isn't a single universal configuration for all the updates (abd there were other changes to the airframe that happened more or less concurrently that were unrelated to the MSIP refits). I can say definitively from references that the early MSIP birds serving in Desert Storm still had the fairing, but can't place a specific timeframe on how long after that they were retained.  At a minimum, if it was still in the Compass Ghost scheme the fairing was almost certainly still there, but past the mid-90s you'd have to check references.

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by CT7567

[f111guru]

The below picture were taken in the mid 90's at an airshow from Cannon AFB New Mexico. The first image is an F-15E from the 366th FW Mountain Home Idaho. As with all E models it does not have the fairing for the tail hook.

The next photo is from an F-15E Seymour Johnson AFB and as with all E models does not have the fairing.

This bottom picture was taken about the same time frame in the mid 90's. It is an F-15C from the 366th FW Mountain Home Idaho. It does not have the fairing for the end of the tail hook.

I do not know when the fairing was removed or which production block deleted the fairing. This last image is a F-15C? at Dyess AFB Abiline Texas.

So if anything, I hope this helps and if anyone knows for sure chime in.

 

All The Best,

Ron VanDerwarker

[Silverkite]

this one should be an A

 

 

this one too as saber drains are present and there are only two antennas up front

 

 

this is a C also notice wing plating

 

 

Another A I think

 

 

Luigi

 

[Murph]

On 2/6/2021 at 12:22 AM, FNHP35 said:

I am currently building an old ESCI F-15A/C 1/72 scale model and I was looking at it and reference photos and noticed that the model has a small beaver tail between the nozzles that seems to be absent in many of the later images of both A and C models. I searched and I couldn't find much on when they started removing the beaver tail and I am not even sure what it did. Was it removed during Msip2?  When did they start removing them and why?   Just wondering if I need to perform some surgery on the model to make it more correct. Thanks.

 

The arresting hook fairing was removed in the early to mid 90s (basically the 93/94 timeframe).  Additionally, the prominent drains underneath the engine compartment were removed, much to the relief of the maintainers; I saw one crew chief get an impressive gash on his back as he hurriedly preflighted a jet when I had to hop to a spare.  Finally, the grate on the JFS exhaust was removed as part of the same mod.

 

 

On 2/6/2021 at 1:42 AM, CT7567 said:

I don't believe the deletion of the fairing was related to the MSIP upgrades...

 

Totally unrelated.  MSIP started in the mid-80s, but the airframe mods discussed here took place in the mid-90s.

 

Regards,

Murph

Edited March 15, 2021 by Murph