Posted: 6/18/2017 7:08:34 PM EDT
The F-117 made its first flight on this date in 1981.
The F-117 Nighthawk, the world’s first attack aircraft to employ stealth technology, retired after 27 years of U.S. Air Force service. The aircraft made its first flight at the Tonopah Test Range, Nevada on June 18, 1981, just 31 months after full-scale development was authorized. The Nighthawk program remained classified until November 1988, when a photo of the jet was first unveiled to the public. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Aaron D. Allmon II/Released) VIRIN: 030321-F-0000J-111 A larger, high-res version can be viewed or downloaded here: https://media.defense.gov/2008/Mar/10/2000646320/-1/-1/0/030321-F-0000J-111.JPG 
In the early 1980s, the Air Force Flight Test Center teamed with Lockheed to complete the development test and evaluation of the F-117A stealth fighter. (U.S. Air Force photo/Released) VIRIN: 071202-F-9999J-026 A larger, high-res version can be viewed or downloaded here: https://media.defense.gov/2008/Jan/09/2000415010/-1/-1/0/071202-F-9999J-026.JPG 
Staff Sgt. Robin Walker (left) and Staff Sgt. Greg Slavik, crew chiefs from the 49th AMXS at Holloman AFB, prepare an F-117A Nighthawk during a Red Flag exercise. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald/Released) VIRIN: 050308-F-6911G-009 A larger, high-res version can be viewed or downloaded here: https://media.defense.gov/2005/Mar/21/2000584177/-1/-1/0/050308-F-6911G-009.JPG 
An F-117 Nighthawk sits in its hangar at Holloman AFB after being repainted. The aircraft, assigned to the 53rd TEG’s Det 1 here, was repainted gray as part of a test to determine whether the F-117 can have a role in daytime combat operations. Normally painted black, the stealth fighters are used for night missions. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Vanessa LaBoy/Released) VIRIN: 031209-F-0000S-001 A larger, high-res version can be viewed or downloaded here: https://media.defense.gov/2003/Dec/09/2000596044/-1/-1/0/031209-F-0000S-001.JPG http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/100years/stories/f-117.html Kelly Johnson had seen enough. The brilliant but irascible pioneer of Lockheed’s famed Skunk Works division grabbed the blueprint he’d been studying—specs for an alien-looking, diamond-shaped aircraft—walked over to his successor, Ben Rich, and promptly booted him in his rear end. “Have you lost your mind?” Johnson barked, throwing the crumpled blueprint at Rich’s feet and fuming that the design would “never get off the ground.” Johnson valued sleek designs—highly aerodynamic aircraft. The blueprint offered neither. http://www.aerotechnews.com/blog/2016/10/21/now-it-can-be-told-the-10percent-rule-about-the-f-117-stealth-fighter/ Together in one place, they represented a magnificent seven -– plus or minus one or two -– who tested the first operational stealth “fighter,” the F-117 Nighthawk. The F-117 was really a small bomber or attack aircraft more than a fighter, but that, also, was part of its mystique. So secret that its existence was denied, the program emerged as a Cold War deception to keep the main adversary in the dark. The pilots who gathered recently to share a few stories about their Cold War mission were the ones who helped change air warfare in the biggest way in the half century since the radar was introduced to defeat the Nazi Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. At the recent annual gala dubbed the “Gathering of Eagles,” these half-dozen “Bandits” were inducted into the Order of the Eagle, an elite group of pilots renowned for their daring. Even above that, for their judgment and competence in the cockpit. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnsH7TMeyA0[/youtube] First Flight |
| The Wobblin Gobblin. A good friend I work with was AF firefighter assigned to an F117 squadron I guess? Where he was assigned was mainly F117. He tells good stories. I was so in love with this plane back then. I saw it close up(sort of) at the Carswell AFB air show back in the 80's. |
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i've always liked the early daylight camo patterns that were supposed to make it harder for Soviet satellites to see details https://s14-eu5.ixquick.com/cgi-bin/serveimage?url=https:%2F%2Fc2.staticflickr.com%2F4%2F3470%2F3780960989_0f40ba2d66_z.jpg%3Fzz%3D1&sp=a551932405ff1eb555fe70afd95ed897 |
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First saw it at an air show in 1990, just a bit after Panama.
Cool as hell. Attached File Yeah, it is a picture of a picture. It's in a scrapbook. |
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I know. It was a development aircraft that led to the F117 https://s16-us2.ixquick.com/cgi-bin/serveimage?url=http:%2F%2Fwww.airvectors.net%2Favf117_1_2.png&sp=70c4eeeec5f980200c55ab2d5b9de2ce 
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I remember the first time I saw the 117 like it was yesterday.
It was January of 1982, and I had just stepped off the red and white when one taxied by, I looked at my escort and said "What the fuck is that". BTW, it was never called the Woblin Goblin by anyone on base. |
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The Wobblin Gobblin. A good friend I work with was AF firefighter assigned to an F117 squadron I guess? Where he was assigned was mainly F117. He tells good stories. I was so in love with this plane back then. I saw it close up(sort of) at the Carswell AFB air show back in the 80's. 
On the old board, I had a different screen name. When it was replaced with the new site, I changed to Wobblin-Goblin because of that aircraft. |
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When I was a kid we were stationed at Nellis, AFB. My dad would fly up to Tonapah to work with the F-117. At the time we didn't know what he was doing for work, only that he would be gone for a few days at a time.
When they declassified the plane it flew down to Nellis to be put on display for everyone. Dad drove us there and said "Now you know what I do". Thought it was so neat. |
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If anyone hasn't read it, stop what you're doing and get it now. Great read about Lockheed's Skunk Works and the amazing feats they pulled:
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed |
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They have a cockpit replica from an f117 that you can sit in at the Space museum in Alamagordo, NM. Pretty cool. I can only imagine what it must have been like flying over baghdad in one of those in 91. |
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Bosnia would like to have a conversation about stealth. |
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Even though they are officially retired, there is a small number of them still flying around the desert. Apparently they've been seen around Nellis. I've read that some aviation enthusiasts believe they fly with newer stealth designs as a sort of comparison... Who knows? |
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It was Russian radar operated by Russians, and recovered by speznatz as soon as they could parachute in in the airfield after we JDAM'd the entrance to the underground facility they were operating it from. Didn't even bring food and water. |
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I've heard that. Apparently they've been seen around Nellis. I've read that some aviation enthusiasts believe they fly with newer stealth designs as a sort of comparison... Who knows? |
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Neat!
Makes a ton of sense. Thanks for the link. |
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1989 or 1990 IIRC, air show at MCAS El Toro.
Announcement was made that a Nighthawk would be there, flying in sometime within a specific date range prior to the show. So, a bunch of aviation nuts and media photogs camped out in the surrounding hills. They wanted to get it on film coming in. Two days and nights, nothing. Then, as the sun came up on the third day.... the damn thing was sitting there on the tarmac. Talk about a mind job 
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It's funny that before it was released to the public it was thought to be rounded with almost no angles at all in all the aviation magazines, Popular Science and even the "Frisbee" described in Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising. There was even a model (Revell maybe?) of it and another of a supposed Soviet stealth fighter that turned out to be a lot closer to the real thing.
Found. 
The Soviet model concept. 
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First saw it at an air show in 1990, just a bit after Panama. Cool as hell. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/3053/IMG-0097-233848.JPG Yeah, it is a picture of a picture. It's in a scrapbook. I knew a guy at Lockheed who got to crawl all over the F-117 in 1986 or so to reuse the tech on what would later become F-22. |
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The Nighthawk was the first plane I ever guarded as an Air Force Security Policeman. I was also there for the Nighthawks last deployment when I was stationed at Osan AB, ROK. I loved working around that bird even though it meant long nights closed up in hangars and hardened aircraft shelters. The pilots and ground crews were great folks who always treated us right, unlike many other maintainers.
I hated to see the old girls leave service but they earned their retirement. |
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It was Russian radar operated by Russians, and recovered by speznatz as soon as they could parachute in in the airfield after we JDAM'd the entrance to the underground facility they were operating it from. Didn't even bring food and water. |
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https://ibb.co/iEDLF5 Can anyone explain why this one flew over me the other evening in south eastern Kentucky, if they are retired? Oh wait, you fail at image posting 
Massive fail without the following questions being answered. Who? What? Where? Why? When? How? |
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I still have my F117 coffee cup from the GE Aircraft Engines store when I worked there in the 80's on the project. It was neat... Had a heat sensitive paint on it. When you poured in hot coffee, the F117 disappeared off the cup. I also had one of the "Don't B-2 sure, Hussein" T-shirts with a worried looking Saddam in front of a sky filled with B-2s. |
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https://image.ibb.co/eOjSv5/IMG_5634.png Can anyone explain why this one flew over me the other evening in south eastern Kentucky, if they are retired? The bigger and more interesting questions might be "who" and "where" as far as where the F-117 was going to or coming home from. |