u/EODOtter

Everyone knows fighter jets are tough, but the Israeli F-15 that collided with an A-4 during a training exercise in 1983 lost almost its entire right wing. The pilot still managed to land it. Engineers apparently didn’t believe it happened until they saw the wreckage.
What actually kept it in the air? Was it just raw thrust-to-weight ratio, or is there more to the aerodynamics here? Curious what people who understand flight dynamics better than me think.