Northrop F-15 Reporter

what is it?

The Northrop F-15 Reporter (later RF-61) was an American unarmed photographic reconnaissance aircraft. Based on the Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter, it was the last piston-powered photo-reconnaissance aircraft designed and produced for the United States Air Force. Though produced in limited quantities, and with a relatively short service life, the F-15's aerial photographs of the Korean Peninsula would prove vital in 1950, when North Korea invaded the south.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · shoulder wing · 20.1 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 708 km/htop speed
• size 12.7 tmax take-off weight
• built 36made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 81 years ago, in 1945.
• 🏎️Top speed is 5.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 20.1 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1945-07-03

retired

1968

status

retired

number built

36

role

photographic reconnaissance

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Northrop

engines

2× Pratt & Whitney R-2800-C Double Wasp

length

15.3 m

wingspan

20.1 m

height

2.8 m

max take-off weight

12.7 t

top speed

708 km/h

range

—

ceiling

10,668 m

wings

shoulder wing

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.