In 1983, during mock aerial combat between two Israeli Air Force F-15Ds and four A-4Ns in the skies over Nahal Tzin in the country's Negev desert, one of the Eagles collided mid-air with one of the Skyhawks. The F-15D #957, nicknamed "Markia Shchakim" and boasting 5 killmarks, was being used to train a new pilot named Zivi Nedivi
As explained in a piece by John Easley entitled No Wing F-15, Zivi didn’t immediately realize what had happened. He felt a big jolt and saw a huge fireball caused by the A-4 explosion, followed by radio communications which said the Skyhawk pilot had successfully ejected.
He realized that the F-15 was badly damaged when the aircraft fell in a very tight spiral after a huge fuel leak from its right wing.
After regaining control of the aircraft, Nedivi was ordered to eject but decided not to bail out since he was confident he could land the plane at the nearest airfield, 10 miles away — even thought the F-15 was flying on vapors. He began to reduce speed but the missing right wing — a situation the Israeli pilot wasn't even aware of — caused a new spin.
Then just before ejecting, Nedivi decided to light the afterburners, gaining speed and managing to somehow regain control of his F-15.
Once he reached the air base, he lowered the tail hook and touched down at about 260 knots, twice the speed recommended for a standard landing. He managed to stop the plane about 10 meters before it engaged the Safeland Airfield Arrester Barrier.
As told by Easley, it was only after he turned back to shake his instructor’s hand that Zivi discovered he had flown and landed without a wing.
After the mishap, McDonnell Douglas asserted that it was impossible for an F-15 to with one wing only. But once the company received the photo of the Eagle flying without one wing, they said that, pilot skills aside, the damaged aircraft had been able to return to the base thanks to the lift generated by both its engine intakes and its fuselage.
After two months the Eagle received a new wing and returned to fly, as you can see in the picture below.
In the following video you can hear Zivi Nedivi himself explaining how he was able to land the plane without its right wing.
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