Smithsonian receives F-15 jet with a special history

Airpower, Military History, Pop Culture

By Alex Hollings

August 22, 2025

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The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum just received its first-ever F-15 Eagle – and this particular aircraft comes with quite the story.

Air-to-air kills have been exceedingly rare for American fighter pilots since Vietnam, but this particular Eagle saw two kills against Iraqi MiGs in 1991. Its pilot, Cesar “Rico” Rodriguez, then went on to secure a third air-to-air victory – albeit with a different F-15 – against a Yugoslavian MiG-29 in 1999. This made him one of just four American fighter pilots to score three air-to-air kills in the past half-century.

But this Eagle’s first win didn’t come with a missile or even with the fighter’s cannons. No, Rico straight-up outflew the Iraqi MiG-29 he squared off again, making his first-ever air-to-air victory a maneuver kill.

Just three days into Operation Desert Storm, Rico and his F-15C Eagle, aircraft number 85-0114, found themselves in a close-quarters scrap with an Iraqi MiG-29 – a 4th generation fighter sourced from the Soviet Union that was designed specifically to stand and swing with America’s F-15 and F-16. The MiG-29 entered service a full five years after the Eagle, and Rico knew that he was in for a good fight.

The two fighters soon entered into a descending scissors pattern, with both pilots turning into one another aggressively and repeatedly to try to get into a good firing position. Pulling nine Gs in his Eagle, Rico tried to lock onto the MiG with his AIM-9 Sidewinder, but they were approaching the ground so quickly that the missile couldn’t differentiate the Iraqi jet from the hot desert sand below. As they reached about 1,000 feet off the ground, Rico knew his aircraft and what it was capable of. He switched to guns, fully confident in his ability to pull up out of the dive and send the MiG a 20mm care package – but the Iraqi pilot and his MiG were not nearly as good.

As Rico pulled the nose of his Eagle up toward the MiG-29 for a gun kill, the Iraqi pilot panicked and went into an inverted dive to avoid Rico’s shot, but he misjudged his altitude, and ended up flying straight into the ground. Rico didn’t even have to pull a trigger to score his first kill.

His second kill came just a week later, and with a lot less drama. In the Air Force, you don’t always fly the same aircraft, and Rico didn’t actually even realize that he was piloting the same F-15C he’d scored the maneuver kill with a week earlier. As a pair of MiG-23s closed with Rico and his wingmen, the Eagles launched three AIM-7 Sparrow semi-active radar-guided air-to-air missiles at them. Two of the three, including one launched by Rico, found their targets and brought the MiGs down, and Rico found out he’d scored a second kill in the same aircraft when he got back and saw the crew chief painting two kill markings under the canopy rail.

Rico’s third air-to-air win against another MiG-29 came eight years later, this time in a different F-15 and over Yugoslavia. By then, the much more advanced radar-guided AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile was in service, and Rico’s third victory would be among the missile’s first uses in combat.

Now, Eagle number 85-0114 will be demilitarized for its new home at the museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center and Sandboxx News can’t wait to see it.

Feature Image: An F-15C is delivered to the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA, as Cesar “Rico” Rodriguez –who shot down two MiGs in the aircraft – looks on. Rodriguez is embraced by Col. Adam “Axe” Gaudinski, commander of the 173rd Fighter Wing., who flew the jet in for permanent display. (Photo by Douglas Birkey)