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March 18, 2008
Air Force's F-117 Stealth Fighters Making Final Flights
Air Force buffs, prepare to salute a true American hero as it makes it way into the annals of military history: the F-117 stealth fighter. The planes -- one of the most enigmatic members of the military's arsenal -- will be making their final trip on April 21st from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico to Tonopah Test Range Airfield in Nevada, the home of their first flight. The aircraft is being replaced by a newer model, the F-22 Raptor, and the government says it has no plans to bring the radar-dodging planes out of retirement. In all, there have only been 59 F-117s that have rolled off the assembly line, 37 of which have already been taken out of the skies, and another seven which have crashed. We'll miss you, F-117, and all the totally awesome, completely secret stuff you did.
DAYTON, Ohio
(AP)
The world's first attack aircraft to employ stealth technology is slipping quietly into history.
The inky black, angular, radar-evading F-117, which spent 27 years in the Air Force arsenal secretly patrolling hostile skies from Serbia to Iraq, will be put in mothballs next month in Nevada.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, which manages the F-117 program, will have an informal, private retirement ceremony Tuesday with military leaders, base employees and representatives from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
The last F-117s scheduled to fly will leave Holloman on April 21, stop in Palmdale, California, for another retirement ceremony, then arrive on April 22 at their final destination: Tonopah Test Range Airfield in Nevada, where the jet made its first flight in 1981.
The government has no plans to bring the fighter out of retirement, but could do so if necessary.
"I'm happy to hear they are putting it in a place where they could bring it back if they ever needed it," said Brig. Gen. Gregory Feest, the first person to fly an F-117 in combat, during the 1989 invasion of Panama that led to the capture of dictator Manuel Noriega.
The Air Force decided to accelerate the retirement of the F-117s to free up money to modernize the rest of the fleet. The F-117 is being replaced by the F-22 Raptor, which also has stealth technology.
Fifty-nine F-117s were made; 10 were retired in December 2006 and 27 since then, the Air Force said. Seven of the planes have crashed, one in Serbia in 1999.
Stealth technology used on the F-117 was developed in the 1970s to help evade enemy radar. While not invisible to radar, the F-117's shape and coating greatly reduced its detection.
The F-117, a single-seat aircraft, was designed to fly into heavily defended areas undetected and drop its payloads with surgical precision.
A total of 558 pilots have flown the F-117 since it went operational. They dub themselves "bandits," with each given a "bandit number" after their first flight.
Feest, who is Bandit 261, also led the first stealth fighter mission into Iraq during Desert Storm in 1991. He said the fire from surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns was so intense that he stopped looking at it to try to ease his fears.
"We knew stealth worked and it would take a lucky shot to hit us, but we knew a lucky shot could hit us at any time," he said.
Incredibly, not one stealth was hit during those missions, he said
Posted by Wild Thing at March 18, 2008 02:55 AM
Comments
They are a beauty to behold. Living so close to Offutt AFB, we constantly see the Bombers and other military jets flying over our house. We saw Air Force 1 fly over on 9-11 when Bush headed for Offutt after the bombings.
So we've kind of gotten spoiled on seeing them all the time.
Posted by: Lynn at March 18, 2008 04:18 AM
My gosh, it seems like just yesterday those things came into the inventory.
Posted by: BobF at March 18, 2008 09:13 AM
A question for Veterans and Active Duty readers: Does anyone know how the F-117 received its designation, and where the F-112, F-113....up to F-116 went?
I know that in 1962 the Defense Department standardized the way military equipment was classified, and "restarted the counters". As I understand it, before that the Navy/Marines had one system and the Army/Air Force another. Was the F-117 in the development pipeline that many years?
That would explain all of those "UFO sightings" in the Southwest which were claimed in the 1960's and the 1970's when I was a kid. :-)
Posted by: Nick Byram at March 18, 2008 12:48 PM
Lynn that is so neat, I love to see them flying like that.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 18, 2008 12:49 PM
Bob, yes it does. So much has happened and time sure goes fast too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 18, 2008 12:50 PM
Hi Nick Byram, good to see you. I can't answer your questions.
I did live for a few years in Las Vegas and Area 51 was close by.Which is on topic of your question. I do know that there was a plane that was at the airport in Vegas and would pick up and drop off the employees that worked at Area 51 every day.
They are very protective of Area 51 even if a person drives along the road near it there will be 3 or 4 white Govoernment SUV's surrounding the passing car. I know because it happened to Nick and I. hahaha Very weird feeling when that happened. LOL We were glad to get back to our place in Summerlin ( a residential area of Las Vegas).
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 18, 2008 05:44 PM
