Mountain Home Strike Eagle news
As a 366th Fighter Wing Strike Eagle emerges from the shadows, two quartets of MO coded F-15Es arrive in the UK bound for the Middle East.
At the beginning of October 2024, F-15E Strike Eagle 91-0323 completed a successful functional check flight at Mountain Home AFB (ID). At first glance nothing special, but "323" returned to operational status after being grounded for more than four years.
Now again operated by the 391st Fighter Squadron "Bold Tigers", Strike Eagle "323" was non-flyable since a landing gear incident approximately 1,500 days ago.
The rebuild of "323" the past years faced numerous challenges, particularly with reinstalling the landing gear and addressing damage to critical components. The team had to fabricate custom parts, including bulkheads made from titanium. Technical difficulties further compounded the processen, such as a damaged wire harness in the right-wing that required complete rewiring.
While the above mentioned F-15E did its functional check at Mountain Home, the "Thunderbolts" were made ready for their journey to the Middle East. On 7 October 2024, two cells of four 366th Fighter Wing MO coded aircraft arrived at RAF Lakenheath (UK) before transiting towards the Sandpit to become the 389th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron.
The following MO coded F-15Es are now present at RAF Lakenheath; 87-0173 (389th FS), 87-0182 (389th FS), 87-0183 (389th FS), 87-0198 (389th FS), 87-0202 (389th FS), 87-0210 (389th FS), 88-1667 (389th FS) and 90-0245 (391st FS).
At this moment it is unknown if more F-15Es are heading towards the UK and for how long they will stay at Lakenheath.
Edit: On 9 October 2024, the following additional MO F-15Es arrived at Lakenheath: 87-0204 as '366OG', 89-0506, 90-0227 and 90-0241.
Credit photo 91-0323 at RAF Lakenheath in 2017: Matt Varley (On Flickr)