This is an F-15C Eagle belonging to the 173rd Fighter Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard at Klamath Falls. The paint scheme mimics a WWII B-17 bomber — olive drab camouflage, black and white invasion stripes, Army Air Corps markings. It looks like it was built in 1944. It wasn't. The reason it looks that way is the point.
On June 23, 1944, over the Romanian oil fields at Ploesti — one of the most heavily defended targets in Europe — 2nd Lieutenant David R. Kingsley was flying as bombardier on a B-17 named Sandman. His aircraft was heavily damaged by flak and then attacked by three ME-109s. The tail gunner, Sergeant Michael Sullivan, was severely wounded in the attack. His parachute was damaged.
When the pilot gave the order to bail out, Kingsley removed his own parachute and strapped it onto the wounded Sullivan.
Kingsley went down with the aircraft. Sullivan survived.
Kingsley was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The airfield in Klamath Falls, Oregon — where the 173rd Fighter Wing operates today — was named in his honor. The Bureau Number of his B-17 is still stitched on the unit's flight suits. In 2020 the 173rd painted their F-15C flagship in exact replication of Sandman's WWII markings — olive drab, invasion stripes, Army Air Corps roundels. The portrait on the tail is Kingsley himself, set over Oregon's Crater Lake.
The 173rd Fighter Wing flies F-15s. Their home is named for a B-17 bombardier who gave a crewman his parachute. That connection, maintained and honored for 80 years, is what the paint scheme is about.