A little addendum to the Fox story. The F-15 from the Oregon Air Guard with the distinctive paint job has a tail number beginning with the number “79” That means it rolled off the former McDonnell-Douglas (now Boeing) assembly line in 1979, so it’s been in operational service for 39 years.
The cool art doesn’t mitigate an important fact: that’s a very old jet which should have been retired long ago. But thanks to the procurement holiday of the 90s; the decision to halt F-22 production at 187 jets and recent budget cuts, the Oregon F-15 will likely see 40 years of service as an operational fighter—something unthinkable when it joined the inventory during the last year of the Carter Administration.
Additional thoughts on the impact of a shriking (and aging) Air Force on national security:
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2016/05/wiped-out.html
That is quite interesting. Thanks for the update.