Delete comment from: Elements Of Power
The problem with this analogy, if that is indeed what you are alluding to with 'unknowable unknowns' between F-35 and 'forgotten unknowns' of the F-15, is that the F-15 had a workable margin of superiority to justify it's handling eccentricities (and these were indeed well known back in the early 70s such that an 'In Action' public domain book by Lou Drendel commented upon buffeting when crossing the Mach in gun-tracking a T-38). The F-35 does not.
And while it would be reasonable to assume that the F-15 has no active control surfaces perse, it would be an informed understanding that looked at the conical camber of the LE as a permanently deployed LEF.
Indeed, the F-15 accelerates better in a turn than straight and level because of this fabrication. It is one of the many reasons why F-15 pilots openly admit that the Eagle is not a Foxbat killer and in fact never was one because they simply can't put moves on the jet sufficient to cut a MiG-25 off except in stacked walls which must happen to deflect the Bat driver into trouble (see: Bekaa 1981-82 when F-15s drove a Syrian MiG-25R into a HAWK WEZ after the latter had been specially airlifted forwards).
That said, if you buy some of the older publications on the Eagle, (the one I am think of has an ace of spades on the cover) there are multiple configurations of the F-15 -without- the complex 'stir me up some vortices!' wing configurations, including one which included a thrust vectoring paddle arrangement that I can only describe as an in-plane USB surface.
All of which features were identified, analyzed and rejected based on the early state of CCV/RSS technology and the fact that combat experience suggested the the F-15 had to keep pointy end forward with the CAS channels knocked out, at least long enough to leave the jet.
In the aforementioned book, there is a graph which shows the various speed/maneuverability/stability/nmmanufacturing emphasis that were mixed and matched to come up with a suitable configuration. Most of which had nothing to do with aerodynamics at all.
Nov 30, 2013, 8:43:41 AM
Posted to The F-35: What Will Happen While Exploring ‘High Angle-of-Attack’, Part 4