page_title: Northrop F-15 Reporter
section_title: Variants
hierarchical_section_title: Northrop F-15 Reporter / Variants
caption_attribution_description: F-15A Reporter (P-61 Black Widow variant)
context_page_description: The Northrop F-15 Reporter 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.
context_section_description: XF-15
  The first prototype, converted from the first XP-61E.
  XF-15A
  The second prototype, converted from a P-61C (number 43-8335).
  F-15A Reporter
  Photoreconnaissance variant with a new center pod with pilot and camera operator seated in tandem under a single bubble canopy, and six cameras taking place of radar in the nose. Powered by the same turbosupercharged R-2800-73 engines as the P-61C. The aircraft had a takeoff weight of 32,145 lb (14,580 kg) and a top speed of 440 mph (382 kn, 708 km/h). Only 36 of the 175 ordered F-15As were built before the end of the war. After formation of the United States Air Force in 1947, F-15A was redesignated RF-61C. F-15As were responsible for most of the aerial maps of North Korea used at the start of the Korean War.
  RF-61C Reporter
  USAF designation for the F-15C from 1948 onwards.
caption: F-15A
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