Lieutenant Colonel Ed Mcdowell (1 results)
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Royal Saudi Air Force - USAF: McDonnell Douglas F-15 Fighter Peace Sun roll-out and training / AFFTC B-1 testing [32 photos + 10 duplicates]
US Air Force (USAF); Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF); McDonnell Douglas; Lieutenant-Colonel Ed McDowell
Language: English
Published by USAF; McDonnell Douglas, US Air Force Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base; St Louis, 1975
- Hardcover
- Photo
Seller: Dendera, London, United KingdomDendera
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
£ 1,650.00
£ 25.00 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Very Good. A unique collection of 32 test pilot and manufacturer photos (+10 duplicates) relating primarily to "F-15 Peace Sun" 1975-97. Colour and b/w @26x21cm with some variation, mostly Kodak Paper with printed or ms captions or blank to the backs. Presented in clear pockets in a gilt-titled blue Gulfstr…eam Aerospace ringbinder with brass corners and ms spine label "F-15 Program / Data Aircraft" 27x30cm. Generally very good. "Peace Sun" was core to the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) - USAF relationship. The McDonnell Douglas F-15 air superiority fighter entered service in 1976. RSAF ordered 60 in 1977. The sale was extremely sensitive domestically and in the Middle East. The Carter Administration committed to it on assurances the Saudis would not attack Israel with them. McDonnell Douglas began training Saudi personnel in 1980, formally heralded the roll-out in August 1981, and delivered in 1982-83 with capability degraded to a more defensive role. Thus in 1985 the CIA assessed RSAF's overall capacity as follows: "Although the Air Force is capable of defending Saudi Arabia against air attacks from Iran, North Yemen, and South Yemen, it cannot sustain high intensity combat against a major regional power such as Israel or Iraq. Nor will it be capable of operating effectively outside of Saudi Arabia in the near term. Facilities needed to support Saudi Air Force operations over Jordan, Iraq, or Syria are inadequate and vulnerable to Israeli airstrikes". Under subsequent Peace Sun phases, the RSAF ordered 12 in 1987 (delivered by 1992), separately received 24 from USAF European bases in 1990, and in 1991 ordered 72 (delivered mid-late 1990s). PHOTOS: The earliest feature Lt-Col Ed McDowell as a test pilot at Edwards AFB and apparently as a RSAF trainer at McDonnell Douglas. McDowell (1933-2025) joined USAF in 1958 and flew over 200 F-4 combat missions during the Vietnam War. Familiar with at least 16 different aircraft, he worked as an Experimental Test Pilot and trainer, joining McDonnell Douglas and Boeing in this capacity, and was the main test pilot for the Rockwell B-1 bomber. PHOTOS 1-3: at Edwards AFB show the B-1 Flight Crew including McDowell (AFFTC), Rockwell pilot Charlie Bock and others (1 Apr 76); McDowell and Bock disembarking the B-1 (13 Jun 75); and McDowell in front of the B-1 (c1975-76) // PHOTO 4: Uncaptioned but McDowell pictured centrally dining in canteen with colleagues, probably a Saudi group on the table behind, suggesting during training 1980-81 // PHOTOS 5-8: "Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 Roll-Out, McDonnell Douglas, St Louis Aug 81" (from banner and caption to verso). The event is in a hangar with F-15 in Saudi livery partially visible. McDowell is clearly identifiable in one. Another uncaptioned shows an exchange of documentation. // PHOTOS 9-10: a pair of uncaptioned group photos with large Saudi military and RSAF delegations and US military in front of a RSAF liveried F-15. One figure in traditional Saudi dress may be a Government official. They likely relate to training at McDonnell Douglas. // PHOTOS 11-24: a business suited Saudi delegation of 4 on a tour of the McDonnell Douglas facility, taking turns seated in a cockpit presumably an F-15, and group photos in front of a USAF-liveried F-15. Uncaptioned but possibly about contemporary with Photos 9-10. // PHOTOS 25-26: close-up views of an opened F-15 nose cone revealing its radar system (uncaptioned). // PHOTOS 27-31 (+10 Duplicates): 5 different images of unliveried F-15s taking off at McDonnell Douglas St Louis, printed captions to the backs, one painted in desert camouflage dated 6/95, the rest 7/95. // PHOTO 32: a crashed F-15 (lighter paper, uncaptioned). (References: Global Security website; CIA, "Saudi Air Force Modernization: The Emergence of a Regional Power - A Research Paper (Secret), May 1985 - Sanitized copy approved for release 2010/09/20"; McDowell's obituary, McCullough Funeral Home website).
