The Air Force raced F-15s across the Atlantic to pull off a tricky 'tail swap' with...

A pair of F-15E Strike Eagles sprinted across the Atlantic in early April, not because they were called to war, but because they were in dire need of a tune-up all the way back in the United States.

And maintenance crews at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, were able to get the pilots back in the air with a new set of twin-engine fighters, plus an additional F-15C Eagle, in just three days flat.

Four pilots from the 48th Fighter Wing at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in England — Europe's only F-15 fighter wing — took off for the Warner Robins Logistics Complex at Robins on April 3 for a "tail swap," according to an Air Force news release.