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Highly unlikely the F-117 shot down in 99 over Serbia was because of the bomb doors being open. Is it possible the plane was located over target due to this yes, but the doors wouldn’t be open long enough for the missile to track on the F-117. Likely all that was needed were multiple mobile radars moved to general carelessly repeated flight path locations, in this way they could “burn through” the stealth advantage both being knowingly close to the aircraft heard flying overhead - (remember they knew fairly accurately the timing and heading of the flight so they can roughly know where in the sky the jet is from sound. f-117 are still loud especially overhead as they flew over where I lived in NM frequently in the 90s). therefore if they know audibly where in the sky the radar can be focused to that area, multiple close radar’s especially pointed at rear of F-117 where its not as stealthy as the front, and they can get more frequent blips through raw power of closer radar scans. Even close by the radar might not be able to get consistent track but launching multiple SAMs, very close, at least one SAM would be close enough its own tracking radar would get consistent enough return as its radar energy is too powerful to be fully redirected away. Another plausible case that still requires having accurate prediction of timing and flight path of the F-117 was the rumor that even though the Serbs shot it down with a older SAM system, the Serbs added a more modern IR and optical manual sigting capability that might not work against the F117 further out due to it having reduced IR, however again knowing where to look especially in comms with other listening teams, train the IR sight on known small area of the sky and its plausible on even the F-117 to spot a small heat plume of turbulent air behind the exhausts, and this could also aid inlaunching multiple SAMs, while those SAMs would still require being launched close to thr aircraft so that they can get strong radar return. The key to all of this is rumors being true that NATO command carelessly had F-117 pilots fly same routes in and out many nights repeatedly, and even dramatically worse another rumor stating that some nights EA-6 prowler jammers were not tasked to cover F-117s which they were used in addition to the stealth of the F-117 in very high threat dense radar areas. Also the Serbs tied low frequency approach warning radar to SAM systems, which can enable tracking somewhat on the F-117 but not able to target lock the plane, but again it could aid in getting IR or taeget radar aimed manually. Overall point is complacency away from normal F-117 tactics of planning constantly changing routes and timing is a problem especially combined with further rumors of a lot of spies/plane spotters at Aviano AB seeing F-117s take off and the timing of this being communicated to the Serbs! There are reports hinted at by an F-117 pilot from that war stating that on a certain mission an F-117 co-flight was successfully hit by SAM a second time though that plane made it back to base damaged. There are interviews posted if you search for second F-117 shot over Serbia. The state paraphrased is a nighthawk pilot saw several SAMs launch right in the target area a fellow nighthawk pilot was on timing to be flying and he saw one of the SAMs exlpode. He suspected trouble. Later on the egress both pilots were suposed to meet up at the same tanker but only the interviewed pilot got there on time. After fueling he told the tanker he’d stay with the tanker to wait for thr other F-117. After a long wait a somewhat slow F-117 made it up to tank. It seemed as though the F-117s comms where down or not allowed ro radio at all but should communicate wpwith tanker when plugged in to thr fuel probe, yet supposedly no comms with tsnker either when plugged in. The nighthawk seemed to have great difficulty lining up and plugging in to the tanker as well and then when flying away, again looked slightly unstable like there was some flight control damage or systems damage even if not external, a close explosive concussion might damage the actuator mechanisms/motors in the wing or tail control surfaces. The interviewed pilot however never heard a confirmation which is odd in a small F-117 community, unless the supposed shot at pilot was not allowed to discuss the incident. The interviewed pilot didn’t reveal anything either, he simply stated what he saw both the missile exploding and also the facts about his friend showing up late to tanker and struggling to get to the tanker boom, it was more or less hinting at it without directly stating. Handland I believe is the last name of thr pilot interviewed.
Remembering how secret this thing was when it came out, it's almost unbelievable to me that you can now actually sit in the cockpit of one. This was a real treat.
I was just about to say the same thing. I saw it at an airshow back then and it was surrounded by armed guards. My dad said "son they'll shoot you if you cross that line."
A lot of it is still secret, and I bet a lot of foreign agencies will be seeing this video too, just in case they could learn something, its worth the try XD Still feels crazy to have access to this kind of footage.
I remember seeing one at an airshow in the UK. It was the only plane that had armed guards. At the time, I remember wondering if it was misdirection as it did look a bit like a plywood mockup.
@@reggieziet A lot of them wouldn't be able to gain much. The aircraft fly by wire is nothing new, and anyone with some expertise can create the overall design of the F-117. Perhaps not as effective. Her real prize is the coating that was used on her which none of the museum craft will have, The eternal tech such as radar and other US computer systems which likely would be highly advanced even now, The Engine performance of course. The material used that assisted with the coating. I pointed out overall shape but its very unlikely any current power except maybe Japan and some in Europe could recreate the designs of the F-117 and replicate it. The Stealth fighter was designed based on years of testing of other designs before her. As a result the fighter has a very unique design and choices that would be difficult to replicate and more importantly the fighter is so unstable you need a top of the line computer system to keep her in stable flight. I believe the Chinese stealth bomber the H-20 suffers from this given that it was supposed to be a flying wing but its overall design from concepts and models seen indicates that it has stability issues and that its severe enough they had to give it a hybrid design that gave it a tail in certain times in flight indicating a flight issue.
I really want to thank you for taking your time to post this. My boyfriend was a senior engineer who worked on this plane. He passed away in 2019 and I can't ask him about it anymore. I'm glad you took the time for this so I can learn more about this plane after my boyfriend's death. He was very proud with his involvement in this project and he lives on through this.
I visited the USAF museum at Wright-Patterson AFB a few years ago. The F-117 there has an interesting story told to me by one of the museum curators. A group of Russian "tourists" were visiting the Museum. Some one was watching their actions and very close inspection of the F-117. After the group had gone, they noticed the wings had scrap marks on them. Someone had tried to get a sample of the special coatings used on the F-117. The curator chuckled and said the coatings had been removed and replaced with a coat of rustoleum flat black paint. I'm sure they were disappointed with their samples when they were inspected in a Russian lab....LOL
I truly never expect such a close up and personal tour. I had seen the stealth back in its operational days at an AF Open House. There was no getting even close to the plane at that time. Now here we are close enough touch and inspect nearly every nuance of the planes airframe. Not only that but in the drivers seat look at the systems. Incredible job Paul. Every time you post I watch. It doesn’t matter old or new I love everything about aviation.
I stumbled upon this video as a RUclips recommendation. Great work! My father worked on the F-117 as maintenance officer in the 'black" times and on through Desert Storm and the relocation to New Mexico.Two notes: RAM is is radar absorptive material, not absorbent. Dad always stressed that for whatever reason haha. And yes, the putty was a huge pain for the maintenance crews. The F-117 shared a large number of parts with other aircraft. That served two purposes. To reduce costs, as you note. But more importantly, it buried the purchases in the Air Force logistics system and help conceal the black project from notice. Thanks for the great video! The F-117 will always be my hero aircraft too. It was strange not knowing a thing about what Dad was doing growing up. But knowing he worked on one of the coolest projects in the world at the time always fills me with pride for him.
It's such a perfect representation of the aerospace engineering practices of the time. Just a bit early for computational fluid dynamics, just modern enough for real "off the shelf" economics, and a good first try for iterative development
This always annoyed me being on the flightline. Official rule is you can't photograph aircraft taking off or landing, sounds good? Except for the plane spotters 30 ft outside the fence taking high quality photos on their big fancy cameras...😅
I had the F-117 poster too! I still remember around the first Gulf War (90/91) when the Stealth Fighter was revealed. It was a big deal at the time. At airshows they were heavily guarded and you couldn't get remotely close to it. I actually got a couple of Blacksheep patches and a baseball cap from the guys visiting from Holloman AFB. Now it's possible to walk around, sit in it, and film the whole thing! It makes me feel old! From what I've read, the F-117 has been certified to refuel from the KC-46 now. So "retired"... makes one wonder.
They’re retired buuuuut yet still maintained in climate controlled hangers and are still actively flown. Seriously an incredible aircraft even if it’s decades old at this point. Stealth design has advanced significantly since its construction and yet the USAF keeps them easily accessible so one must wonder if there’s more to the story than we know - perhaps they’ve undergone significant upgrades to reduce their RCS.
@@cruisinguy6024 They have better coatings now. And with how much Russia has shown themselves to be a paper tiger I think it's worth it to keep some of them around for a total war situation. They may be obsolete compared to a few other aircraft but they are obviously not obsolete compared to our adversaries so why not keep a few of them around just in case? Imagine a few of them up the butt of this current Kursk breakthrough... I'm generally the type who detests war and wants spending to go down but I'm also a realist and know a bit about warfare so it's hard to blame them for keeping these birds in the air. Even after all these years, they're still effective.
One of these landed at RAF lakenheath when I was stationed there crewing F-15E’s. It was guarded by the MP’s and we couldn’t even get within 50 ft of the thing. Crazy to see it so up close and personal on RUclips of all things. What a world.
In the Spring of 1990, after it had been officially unveiled, one was put on static display at (then) NAS Atlanta. It was roped off and there were armed Navy Master at Arms personnel posted inside. One had a 12 gauge shotgun! Little did I know that less than a year later it would be involved in combat in Operation Desert Storm....
Same here, albeit on C64 and Amiga, not to mention bulding the Italeri plastic model kit when everyone still thought it was called the F-19 and had a vastly different shape. I'm kinda sad there are virtually no flight simulator comparable to the Microprose and Novalogic ones, just pure arcade stuff like Ace Combat or in depth sims like DCS but nothing in between.
One of these came to my base in Korea in 93', I worked w/a guy that came from that program when it was black. We crew chiefs got to get a look at it and I remember when i looked in the cockpit thinking...."this is so old and analog" reminiscent of the "A" model F-16's I used to crew. Amazing we made this tech way back when we did and kept it so secret.
Two things of interest about the angles of the surfaces and how they deflect a radar signal. If you toss a tennis ball anywhere at the fuselage, the ball will never bounce back to you. Also, though bats aren’t completely blind, they do rely on the return of high frequency signals, to navigate. I have seen bats fly into the F-117 because their signals are deflected away.
I went to the dayton airshow in 1991 or 2. There were F14 and 15 demos, which were my absolutely favorite marks of the day, but in fact: an F117 did a flyover to include a few laps, and a "knife edge" pass There was one on the ground as well, but no one could even get within 50 yards of the airframe. didn't stop a giant school circle crowd though. No one was obviously going to put one of these unstable guys at 90 degrees 500 feet off the deck but they did about 60 or 70 degrees and it was an incredible view as a 9 year old kid. So many never forget moments. :)
The engineering and development of this thing is so neat. It's a great representation of several shifting paradigms in aerospace - complex computer modeling, the use of "off the shelf" solutions, and early hints of iterative development.
My brother was in the USAF security forces at Hill AFB in Ogden, UT, and in 1986 he and his whole squadron had to 19:49 go pickup all the mangled pieces of a crashed F-117 north of Bakersfield, CA. I was a Navy Ordinance man and we talked regularly, but he was required to sign and NDA because he'd handled the materials and we only talked about it much later. He also told me that they would blackout the base and a strip of Ogden's streetlights for F-117 approach and landing.
The exact specs were on my Commodore 64 stealth fighter game. This plane was a leap that is vital in today's planes. Shoutout to Ian. My mate from tamborine. He loves that B2
wow I had to do a double-take when I saw the video title! I've never seen such a close-up video of the F-117 and thought this was some other jet! Thanks for putting this together and the museums for letting you film it!
Remember seeing a couple of these come in to land at Ramstein during NATO's Operation Allied Force in 99. Only reason I even looked up for the first one was they sounded so different from the usual heavy lifter traffic. One of the coolest things I ever saw.
Travel pods are generally mounted on the external wing hardpoints of other aircraft. It must be aerodynamically shaped to alleviate unnecessary fuel costing drag. Everything about the Nighthawk was repurposed from existing hardware including those travel pods.
Oh, and then there are the training bomb pods. The F-117 carries two bombs. Big bombs. They may hit hard, but you won't get a lot of value in training your pilots if they can only drop twice while out on the training range. So, there's a pod in which you can install multiple 25-pound training bombs in the underbelly and have them drop out one at time. When this pod is mounted in the bomb bay, it will impart the same aerodynamic effect of a full-sized bomb, but you get to do more than one training shot on the range.
Thanks for the tour! The Nighthawk has been my favorite plane since I was a boy. Its strange shape dazzled me like no other, a perfect flying gem with no sparkle whatsoever. How cool to now be able to experience one so intimately.
When coming out of southern Arizona heading back to Omaha I'd come thru Alamogordo NM. I'd swing in to the Walmart parking lot with the truck and watch the F-117's do touch and goes at Holloman AFB. There were usually 4-5 running patterns at the same time. Cool stuff!!!
You can intuit just how much Kelly Johnson’s Skunk Works philosophy influenced this aircraft’s development by the borrowing of proven existing components from other aircraft. Excellent video, Paul. 👍👍👍
While Kelly Johnson was present during the aircraft’s development, all the shots were called by Ben Rich who took over from Kelly, and this was his first new project
My first Airframe when I was a young airman. Remember seeing one flying with a t-38 next to it when I started my drive down into the Alamogordo basin from the mountains. I was a weapons troop. It’s nice to see a detailed video of the old jet. 1998 was the last time I got to be around them before I went to the reserves. Thank you for your video.
This was one of my childhood favorites as well. In the early 90s I lived in the desert outside of El Paso, TX, which isn't too far away from where these were based, at Holloman AFB in NM. My father and I frequently spotted them in the air around dusk, and I always thought it was cool that we couldn't really hear them very well until they had passed overhead. Thanks for the great close-ups!
Im originally from St Louis Missouri. One early evening in 1989 (around Christmas time) I was walking home from work headed south through Tower Grove Park. The Sun had just set, the sky was crystal clear and violet black with fine pinpoint stars above. I heard the distinct sound of military jet engines approaching behind me from the north. I looked up and back and saw something very peculiar. Four aircraft flying wingtip to wingtip. The two outer planes had their anti collision lights on. They were easily identifiable by their silhouettes against the sky as F-15 Eagles. The others however, were not. They had no lights on at all. However their pitch-black color scheme against the deep violet night sky revealed their diamond shapes. Hmm, I thought. It was only a short while later that the F-117 was unveiled to the public, which when I saw it, understood. They apparently took off from Lambert Airport in St Louis County and were being escorted by the Eagles while flying in blacked out conditions. Ive often wondered how people waiting on board passenger flights at the airport looked out their window to watch the F-15's take off, and saw two black aircraft with no lights taking off as well.🤔
Wow! I can't believe how well kept the cockpit is! It barely looks used. Super cool opportunity to see the cockpit of such an illustrious and secretive beast.
The military took unused spare parts with anything sensitive and removed and installed those parts as you can see the second most flown plane wouldn't have shiny parts lol. It looks so nice because it was just finished being restored so they took all the wear marks from thousands of hours and painted them. And those shiny screens are identical to different fighter aircraft screens so easy swap. This one was restored at the SAC museum in Nebraska and I saw it. All the coating was removed and it was shiny like you get a glimpse of here.
Great job yet again Paul! There are a few details that are wrong, but not worth quibbling about honestly. Here's a fun little fact about 833 most people don't know, it once had a hydraulic failure on landing that caused the right brake to lock up , causing the tire to blow and the wheel to be ground down flat. Surprisingly, the magnesium the wheel is made of didn't ignite, otherwise it would have been one hell of a hot fire. It also, destroyed the right main landing gear follow-up door on that side as well. The last time I signed off any major maintenance on her was during the 10 hr inspections that came from missing fasteners on the inboard elevon that required a fleet wide grounding and inspection, as well as speed and g limits for the pilots to follow. Pretty sure I was the one who signed off on her final servicing pre flight inspections as well, since I was the only 7 level on mid-shift as we began retiring them. Best fact about the F-117A that other fighter crew chiefs will hate and deny. During 2006-2008 we had the highest FMC rate of all ACC aircraft. Not an easy feat to accomplish with a dwindling budget, shortage of personnel, parts and the smallest fleet out of them all. I have to Presidential Outstanding Unit awards to prove it. I still love my beautiful bundle of mismatched parts from all over the military parts bins.
@ninus17 FMC=Fully Mission Capable. Essentially, it had nothing mechanically wrong that affected its ability to perform its mission. You also have others code such as PMC=Partially Misson Capable which are inop sub systems that may affect some aspects of the plane but is still overall flyable and the worst which is NMC=Not Mission Capable which means the planes broke. We base maintance statistics based off several factors but we strive to have a high FMC rate across a fleet. ACC=Air Combat Command. It's the MAJCOM (Major Command) responsible for Air Combat Operations.
@@C-L-A-W Thanks for explaining what I should have done. Regardless of age, once you've been in the military (especially the US military) Acronyms become such a common thing that you don't even notice you use them. Even when talking to current friends who work professionally in general aviation maintenance don't always get them.
Awesome stories, thanks for sharing. Fun to see the maintenance parallels from the stealth world and mine as a former 7 level on AFSOC on birds. Cheers.
At some point in the F-117's development it was found that a lavender or pinkish color would make the aircraft least visible against a typical night sky. But the top brass took one look at that, shook their heads and said, "Just make it black."
Just yesterday I visited the F-117 at the Palm Springs Air Museum as seen in the video. It is well worth the tour. I kind of wish I watched this first. Great informative video.
I got to see these (and probably this exact jet) growing up on Holloman AFB in New Mexico as a kid. Running track and field at the middle school these would land right over my head.
Awesome...... really do love your aircraft tours. The mention of the design being 40 yrs old, you can still see what is used today in the F22 and F35 with the jagged edge of the canopy, as an example. Oh, and at around 14:00 right next to a Vulcan too!!
Ha! I knew that wing root looked familiar. I'd love to visit this museum, but due to the current political circumstances, I doubt I'll be visiting the US anytime soon. :-\
In toronto, one of my favorite memories was seeing the annual air show. I believe it was the 90's when I saw the F117 - it did a single pass and flew away, this intrigued me because every other plane took its time with 10-15 passes and lots of hosting.
Out on the range, the F-117s used 55-gallon drums with the tops cut off as targets! True! It was easy to thread the needle without initially tipping over the drum!
I was assigned to the Senior Trend program from 1986-89 while the program was still "black". I worked with the COMSEC custodian (keeper of the codes to scramble the radios, etc) and every 6 months we had to go sit in the cockpits and check the serial numbers on the encryption devices to make sure the airplanes had the ones they were supposed to have. An interesting assignment, no doubt, but the time away from home (fly up on Mon and come home Thur) was a deal breaker for a lot of marriages. Upon my retirement, I was presented a flag flown on the first daylight flight by Col Anthony Tolin.
Nice retirement present. I was assigned to them just after they arrived at Holloman, so sadly I missed the TTR shenanigans. However, those maintainers who transferred down there with the aircraft were the ones who gifted me with their knowledge on the systems of that jet. Some were the beyond definition of "subject matter experts" in the things they new. They are still among the best group of maintainers I've ever met and worked with.
@@LRRPFco52 I worked in base communications centers my first 6+ years at McClellan, George, Udorn, NKP, and Don Muang AB's (Thailand). After that, I spent a year at Shaw working in plans and programs in tactical communications. Spent a few years on flying status at Keesler and Hickam, 2 years in North Dakota as a contract monitor before going to TTR. 11 PCS moves in 20 years made for an interesting career but I think my family hated all the moves.
the F-117 that was shot down was detected for several reasons. 1. They flew without EA-6B Prowler jamming support, despite being warned not to. 2. They flew the EXACT SAME ROUTE that had been previously flown. This is a tactical no-no as EVERYONE is taught to vary your approach to a target to make it harder to shoot you down. 3. The plane was wet - it turns out this was an issue with this aircraft, in that when it was wet, it's radar signature increased to the point where it was detectable at longer ranges. 4. The plane opened its bomb-bay doors, and due to all those items previously mentioned, it made the 1960's era GOA SAM system able to shoot it down. That was AFTER the SAM battery fired a salvo and it shot the plane down because it flew that same route, and was hit not by being tracked, but by launching it and having it detonate near the jet due to the proximity fuse working as designed. They detected it, they were NOT able to track it. That doesn't help when, again, you fly the exact same route. So it wasn't a simple one-cause shootdown. There were multiple factors. What isn't widely known is that the USAF was READY to destroy the wreckage, but because there were Russian, Chinese, and other foreign national intelligence people there, they delayed that. The Chinese embassy took it inside, and THAT is why it got bombed later, although the bombing failed to destroy the wreckage. They hit the embassy after hours when it was not manned; that's why they did that vs. hitting the crowds of fools around it after the shootdown.
Taking a tour of the Boneyard in 2006 I got very annoyed when one of the guides called out an F-117 "stealth fighter" on the opposite side to where I was looking. I spun around to see an empty concrete slab with a plaque near it. I was 16, a nerd, and very gullible. Glad you can see them up close for real now! Amazing tech.
I was at the crash site as a young airman . They had us spraying mop and glo on the plane to keep the particles from blowing around. You could see how the exhaust gasses were diffused at the back of the wing because the aircraft skin was burned away
I was fortunate enough to see one at the Hamilton international airshow in the 90's. What an amazing piece of technology. It was cordon off just enough that you wouldn't be able to touch it. Also there were no guards stationed around it. So if someone wanted to they could sneak under the red rope and touch it lol!.
I grew up in Palmdale Ca. Near Edwards and Skunkworks. Seeing this and the SR-71 fly over would stop everyone in their tracks like a pretty woman walking by and all guys shut up for a second. 😂 I miss that
Just shared this video with my 4450th TG Facebook friends group. I had the honor of working on this aircraft back in the black world days and really miss it.
The L/R displays are directly out of that era F-18. The HUD with a modified combiner is also borrowed from the F-18. The development of these displays and the software development support equipment was performed at Kaiser Electronics under a "Logistics Trainer" cover story. I first saw an F-117 on the assembly line in Burbank; at first glance hard to see how it could fly. Those were exciting days.
First time I saw one of these in person was at an air show when I was a kid. It was literally cordoned off and surrounded by armed military guards. Funny to see you sitting in the cockpit.
Microprose has been bought by a former employer and has already published a few smaller titles. Not quite where they have been, but if they play their cards right, they might get back to publishing premium sims.
I was fortunate enough to see one of its very first airshow performances in the early 90’s… was an awesome experience to witness it. It flew right over me at the end of the runway several times. Thank you for this video.
13:40 - Correction, it's three times *an insect.* It's about _one third_ a small bird! (That diagram just puts animals first.) Even the F-35 (according to that diagram) has a radar visibility about half that of a small bird!
F-35 since Lot 4 frontal RCS is smaller than F-117A. F-117A has certain aspects that spike its return values. They were always looking for ways to reduce its signature though, so it isn't a set of static values. It went through 3 different iterations of RAM upgrades, for example. Its final RAM was similar to what was used on F-22A and was easier to maintain, more durable. Only a few got it though, with the grey paint scheme.
One of the greatest stories about the F-117A is not about the aircraft but Lockheed program lead Ben Rich whose wife suddenly passed away from a heart attack in the middle of development (1980). Rich only took off two days for bereavement and burial, his Lockheed colleagues and two children were a little concerned about his state of mind but he explained the best way for him to cope with losing his wife was to get back into the tenacious technical challenges of his work. Rich's work ethic and commitment to the Skunk Works and the tremendous advances they made which brought Lockheed back into the tactical aircraft business.
Yeah he also gave a speech at UCLA where he told everyone there that "we have the means to take et home but it's locked behind black projects and it would take an act of God to release them to benefit humanity".. funny that someone in the shadows seems to be doing exactly that when it comes to all the uap hearings..
Back in the late 90's a F117 crashed in Essex Maryland that was taking off from a local ANG base. The pilot safely ejected, but police and military completely locked down our neighborhood until every surviving piece of the aircraft could be recovered.
I got to see one of these beauties at my local airport when she had a technical issue and had to land....the amount of security around her was insane!!!
Thanks -- a rare bird to get this much of a close-up view. It's still so alien looking. That engine is relatively tiny, and it's amazing those exhaust ports could allow those things to get off the ground!
It's awesome you got access to the one being restored at the Strategic Air Command Museum. I live near by. Also I see that Avro Vulcan hiding on the side!
I just saw that plane in Nebraska a month ago. Not gonna lie, I’m pretty jealous you got to sit in it. I always wish I could go in the planes in the museum.
What an amazing dream to fulfill!!! I am truly jealous. I never thought I would see one fly, let alone two! That was in Alaska during exercise season...2023.
Honestly, there's nothing in there that's particularly noteworthy. It's the same set of instruments that you'd see in any other aircraft except maybe the dedicated screen for the IR/Targeting equipment. I think the only really "unusual" thing that I noticed is the lack of a RWR instrument. Whilst many aircraft of that generation did have it integrated into the MFD's there would usually be a backup display. This lead me down a bit of a rabbit hole as to if the F-117 even had radar warning receiver equipment. So it turns out that it quite likely did not. At least in the usual sense. It did have something called RLS (Radar Location Sensor) which were two pop out sensor arrays on either wing which would allow for radar direction finding. But this system was more of an attack sensor array rather than a defensive system. Its use on the aircraft is in some doubt as it was suggested that it was part of a secondary DEAD functionality for the aircraft that was dropped from the program and some airframes had the equipment missing and the panels blanked off.
Crazy. I remember seeing one of those for the first time at an airshow in Alaska. I was just a kid, but loved jets and aircraft and we got to go see an F117 parked. It was roped off with probably like 50 or so yards of space between the roped perimeter and the jet. Armed guards with M16s. I think a couple K-9 units, and lots of signs and people walking around saying that there were no pictures to be taken. Digital cameras didn't exist back then, much less any kind of smartphone. It's wild that we get to see stuff like this.
3:52 it was also to hide the fact that this existed theres a good video with F-117 pilots from i believe the Airzoo in Michigan that talks about everything and one of the points was that they used parts from other planes so it looked like they were just buying parts not building a plane
People give that Soviet mathematician way too much credit. Even Lockheed themselves said it’s way over blown and they stumbled upon his book after they had already started working on the the F-117.
It's one of those tidbits the Russian fan boys online have picked up on to distract from the fact that Russia still can't build a proper stealth aircraft. Combine that with the fact that one F117 got shot down by sheer luck and that somehow compensates for the SU57's shortcomings.
@@frankdatank5002 Agreed. Many guys who LOVED T-72 and MiG-25 give Ufimtsev most of the credit yet Denys Overholser (Lockheed), Bill Schroeder (using much of James Clerk Maxwell's work), Arnold Sommerfeld and Alan Brown and a dozen other Lockheed engineers did the heavy lifting from theory to applied.
A couple of these were here in Fresno a year or so ago for some sort of training. All kinds of people were out at the airport getting pics and video. Was cool to see in the sky over town
I was an air traffic controller at Holloman AFB tower. Spent years working the stinkbugs around the pattern but I was never permitted to be anywhere near these jets. Over 20 years later I get an up close look at it.
I am still impressed at what the engineers were able to do with this plane, when they did it. The fact that it is still one of the stealthiest designs out there, and remains to be used... Albeit off the books... Is just really cool. I've always been enamored by the view from the cockpit, so I can't imagine how cool it would be to actually experience that in person! Great video of what I would have to consider my childhood hero plane, too. Didn't have a poster, but I did have a model kit.
Good onya Paul. Great vid post listening to the "Fighter Pilot Podcast" Ep 72. It's interesting why it was designated a Fighter and the Pilot's nickname for the F117 is brilliant! 😳
At 2:27 you reference the pitot tube on the YF-23 and then the our ports as replacing the pitot tube. Aren't those four flush holes the static ports used for measuring barometric pressure? Pitot is ram air for airspeed, static ports for barometric readings.
So, historically, the reason they put the pressure sensors for measuring airspeed out on pitot tubes is because they needed a way to place the sensor out away from the wake of the airplane, which would disturb the measurements. However, the way the wake disturbs things is predictable (at least for areas without turbulant flow), and with modern computers, it's possible to take measurements on the skin of the aircraft and infer what speed the aircraft must be traveling at to produce the observed measurements.
Neat video on the 'frizbee'. That slab sided stealth technology went on to effect automobile and motorcycle design for decades (that cool stealth look.) Thanks for the nice video.
I remember being on a a airshow back in days, it was guarded by 6 soldiers with loaded rifles. Today we can see every knob in the cockpit on youtube. Time is flying :)
Wonderful video. I'm extremely lucky living in Washington State not too far from Seattle and the Boeing Museum Of Flight. In the Museum is the only surviving set of the M-21 / D-21 BlackBird's. Also there is a recovered cockpit from a crashed SR-71A - you can sit in the cockpit. The Museum also has a survivng Concorde SST's and you can walkthrough it. Going through the museum is a wonderful way to spend a day or two.
The skunk works team absolutely shamelessly raiding parts bins of various contractors. In the cockpit you got stuff from A-10, F-5, F-18, F-15. Yoink Yoink
Good job describing all the off the shelf parts on the airplane. You are correct on the ECS system coming off a C-130. There was even a part on the ECS that came off a Fiat G.91 😉
@@Jim-i2y Lol, they damaged two more and possibly downed B-2, for small country under years of sanctions vs biggest, most modern alliance EVER, that was great success and more than enough to shatter U.S. stealth myth...
@@greengoo4575They literally knew exactly where the plane was flying and locked it when it had it's bomb bay doors open. Serbia got unbelievably lucky with their shot, and fired several missiles, with the first missing. They never shot down a b-2, in fact, they only shot down 2 planes for the 38,000 sorties flown over serbia by NATO planes and the f117 went on to fly many more missions successfully after one was lost. Serbia had an outstandingly awful performance during the kosovo war, as i stated earlier their air defense had a success rate of i believe .00005% which obviously shows the awesome power of Serbia!
@@gp33music41 Kid, bb door where open for 2 sec, 3rd division was 20km away from F-117 target (Straževica). When hit, F-117 was 25 Km away from pos. where bb doors was open, that story is for morons, bb door have nothing to do with downing. Two more F-117 where damaged in another event, all that with ancient S-125. For B-2 i said possibly, bc something BIG where downed in Croatian forests (Spačvanske šume) near YU border, that location was under NATO blockade for days, also bear in mind that even the heavily damaged planes could exit YU airspace just to crash near border, width of Serbia is just 150-200 Km...so i will repeat....for small country under years of sanctions vs biggest, most modern alliance EVER, that was great success and more than enough to shatter U.S. stealth myth...
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@@PaulStewartAviation May the algorithm be with you
cheers :D
thanks!
Highly unlikely the F-117 shot down in 99 over Serbia was because of the bomb doors being open. Is it possible the plane was located over target due to this yes, but the doors wouldn’t be open long enough for the missile to track on the F-117. Likely all that was needed were multiple mobile radars moved to general carelessly repeated flight path locations, in this way they could “burn through” the stealth advantage both being knowingly close to the aircraft heard flying overhead - (remember they knew fairly accurately the timing and heading of the flight so they can roughly know where in the sky the jet is from sound. f-117 are still loud especially overhead as they flew over where I lived in NM frequently in the 90s). therefore if they know audibly where in the sky the radar can be focused to that area, multiple close radar’s especially pointed at rear of F-117 where its not as stealthy as the front, and they can get more frequent blips through raw power of closer radar scans. Even close by the radar might not be able to get consistent track but launching multiple SAMs, very close, at least one SAM would be close enough its own tracking radar would get consistent enough return as its radar energy is too powerful to be fully redirected away.
Another plausible case that still requires having accurate prediction of timing and flight path of the F-117 was the rumor that even though the Serbs shot it down with a older SAM system, the Serbs added a more modern IR and optical manual sigting capability that might not work against the F117 further out due to it having reduced IR, however again knowing where to look especially in comms with other listening teams, train the IR sight on known small area of the sky and its plausible on even the F-117 to spot a small heat plume of turbulent air behind the exhausts, and this could also aid inlaunching multiple SAMs, while those SAMs would still require being launched close to thr aircraft so that they can get strong radar return. The key to all of this is rumors being true that NATO command carelessly had F-117 pilots fly same routes in and out many nights repeatedly, and even dramatically worse another rumor stating that some nights EA-6 prowler jammers were not tasked to cover F-117s which they were used in addition to the stealth of the F-117 in very high threat dense radar areas. Also the Serbs tied low frequency approach warning radar to SAM systems, which can enable tracking somewhat on the F-117 but not able to target lock the plane, but again it could aid in getting IR or taeget radar aimed manually. Overall point is complacency away from normal F-117 tactics of planning constantly changing routes and timing is a problem especially combined with further rumors of a lot of spies/plane spotters at Aviano AB seeing F-117s take off and the timing of this being communicated to the Serbs!
There are reports hinted at by an F-117 pilot from that war stating that on a certain mission an F-117 co-flight was successfully hit by SAM a second time though that plane made it back to base damaged. There are interviews posted if you search for second F-117 shot over Serbia. The state paraphrased is a nighthawk pilot saw several SAMs launch right in the target area a fellow nighthawk pilot was on timing to be flying and he saw one of the SAMs exlpode. He suspected trouble. Later on the egress both pilots were suposed to meet up at the same tanker but only the interviewed pilot got there on time. After fueling he told the tanker he’d stay with the tanker to wait for thr other F-117. After a long wait a somewhat slow F-117 made it up to tank. It seemed as though the F-117s comms where down or not allowed ro radio at all but should communicate wpwith tanker when plugged in to thr fuel probe, yet supposedly no comms with tsnker either when plugged in. The nighthawk seemed to have great difficulty lining up and plugging in to the tanker as well and then when flying away, again looked slightly unstable like there was some flight control damage or systems damage even if not external, a close explosive concussion might damage the actuator mechanisms/motors in the wing or tail control surfaces. The interviewed pilot however never heard a confirmation which is odd in a small F-117 community, unless the supposed shot at pilot was not allowed to discuss the incident. The interviewed pilot didn’t reveal anything either, he simply stated what he saw both the missile exploding and also the facts about his friend showing up late to tanker and struggling to get to the tanker boom, it was more or less hinting at it without directly stating. Handland I believe is the last name of thr pilot interviewed.
Is that a Vulcan wing at 14:37?
Remembering how secret this thing was when it came out, it's almost unbelievable to me that you can now actually sit in the cockpit of one. This was a real treat.
I was just about to say the same thing. I saw it at an airshow back then and it was surrounded by armed guards. My dad said "son they'll shoot you if you cross that line."
A lot of it is still secret, and I bet a lot of foreign agencies will be seeing this video too, just in case they could learn something, its worth the try XD Still feels crazy to have access to this kind of footage.
I saw one at an air show in the late 90s or early 2000s and you couldn’t get close or take pictures.
I remember seeing one at an airshow in the UK. It was the only plane that had armed guards. At the time, I remember wondering if it was misdirection as it did look a bit like a plywood mockup.
@@reggieziet A lot of them wouldn't be able to gain much. The aircraft fly by wire is nothing new, and anyone with some expertise can create the overall design of the F-117. Perhaps not as effective.
Her real prize is the coating that was used on her which none of the museum craft will have, The eternal tech such as radar and other US computer systems which likely would be highly advanced even now,
The Engine performance of course.
The material used that assisted with the coating.
I pointed out overall shape but its very unlikely any current power except maybe Japan and some in Europe could recreate the designs of the F-117 and replicate it.
The Stealth fighter was designed based on years of testing of other designs before her. As a result the fighter has a very unique design and choices that would be difficult to replicate and more importantly the fighter is so unstable you need a top of the line computer system to keep her in stable flight.
I believe the Chinese stealth bomber the H-20 suffers from this given that it was supposed to be a flying wing but its overall design from concepts and models seen indicates that it has stability issues and that its severe enough they had to give it a hybrid design that gave it a tail in certain times in flight indicating a flight issue.
I really want to thank you for taking your time to post this. My boyfriend was a senior engineer who worked on this plane. He passed away in 2019 and I can't ask him about it anymore. I'm glad you took the time for this so I can learn more about this plane after my boyfriend's death. He was very proud with his involvement in this project and he lives on through this.
Thank you for sharing. I hope this video helps you to feel closer to your boyfriend.
is he still your boyfriend if he is dead?
@tom5051666 As stated in my post above he passed away.
I visited the USAF museum at Wright-Patterson AFB a few years ago. The F-117 there has an interesting story told to me by one of the museum curators. A group of Russian "tourists" were visiting the Museum. Some one was watching their actions and very close inspection of the F-117. After the group had gone, they noticed the wings had scrap marks on them. Someone had tried to get a sample of the special coatings used on the F-117. The curator chuckled and said the coatings had been removed and replaced with a coat of rustoleum flat black paint. I'm sure they were disappointed with their samples when they were inspected in a Russian lab....LOL
I dunno....might wanna check and see if there was a spike in orders Rustoleum flat black paint going to unusual destinations a few months after.
Wow 😂
I truly never expect such a close up and personal tour. I had seen the stealth back in its operational days at an AF Open House. There was no getting even close to the plane at that time. Now here we are close enough touch and inspect nearly every nuance of the planes airframe. Not only that but in the drivers seat look at the systems. Incredible job Paul. Every time you post I watch. It doesn’t matter old or new I love everything about aviation.
I stumbled upon this video as a RUclips recommendation. Great work! My father worked on the F-117 as maintenance officer in the 'black" times and on through Desert Storm and the relocation to New Mexico.Two notes:
RAM is is radar absorptive material, not absorbent. Dad always stressed that for whatever reason haha. And yes, the putty was a huge pain for the maintenance crews.
The F-117 shared a large number of parts with other aircraft. That served two purposes. To reduce costs, as you note. But more importantly, it buried the purchases in the Air Force logistics system and help conceal the black project from notice.
Thanks for the great video! The F-117 will always be my hero aircraft too. It was strange not knowing a thing about what Dad was doing growing up. But knowing he worked on one of the coolest projects in the world at the time always fills me with pride for him.
To add to that. RAM in my experience did not need to be temperature controlled. FYI
The RAM was a carcinogen and the birth defect rate of babies born to maintenance personnel at Holloman AFB skyrocketed due to exposure to RAM.
@@MC.4that started at TTR. Yes it was indeed.
The F-117 is literally low poly stealth, and its an icon worthy of preservation
4-bit textures suitable for downloading over 7200 baud modems.
It's such a perfect representation of the aerospace engineering practices of the time. Just a bit early for computational fluid dynamics, just modern enough for real "off the shelf" economics, and a good first try for iterative development
A radical design. Such a beauty. I'm sure they are working on a modernized F-117 right now.
the reason for the low-poly-ness was that the computers optimizing the shape couldn't process much geometry.
Actually is a small B2.
Me in the Air Force while working on the flightline and an F-117 flies in: "don't look!"
Paul Stewart on RUclips: "Check this out boys!"
🤣
This always annoyed me being on the flightline. Official rule is you can't photograph aircraft taking off or landing, sounds good?
Except for the plane spotters 30 ft outside the fence taking high quality photos on their big fancy cameras...😅
@@myst8817
"Common sense and logical thinking will NOT be tolerated.
I had the F-117 poster too! I still remember around the first Gulf War (90/91) when the Stealth Fighter was revealed. It was a big deal at the time. At airshows they were heavily guarded and you couldn't get remotely close to it. I actually got a couple of Blacksheep patches and a baseball cap from the guys visiting from Holloman AFB. Now it's possible to walk around, sit in it, and film the whole thing! It makes me feel old! From what I've read, the F-117 has been certified to refuel from the KC-46 now. So "retired"... makes one wonder.
They’re retired buuuuut yet still maintained in climate controlled hangers and are still actively flown.
Seriously an incredible aircraft even if it’s decades old at this point. Stealth design has advanced significantly since its construction and yet the USAF keeps them easily accessible so one must wonder if there’s more to the story than we know - perhaps they’ve undergone significant upgrades to reduce their RCS.
@@cruisinguy6024 They have better coatings now. And with how much Russia has shown themselves to be a paper tiger I think it's worth it to keep some of them around for a total war situation. They may be obsolete compared to a few other aircraft but they are obviously not obsolete compared to our adversaries so why not keep a few of them around just in case? Imagine a few of them up the butt of this current Kursk breakthrough...
I'm generally the type who detests war and wants spending to go down but I'm also a realist and know a bit about warfare so it's hard to blame them for keeping these birds in the air. Even after all these years, they're still effective.
I remember that time. First time I saw the 117 was just after the Gulf war. I couldn't believe they sent one up to my neck of the woods for display.
The more people think they're "retired" the better.
One of these landed at RAF lakenheath when I was stationed there crewing F-15E’s. It was guarded by the MP’s and we couldn’t even get within 50 ft of the thing. Crazy to see it so up close and personal on RUclips of all things. What a world.
In the Spring of 1990, after it had been officially unveiled, one was put on static display at (then) NAS Atlanta. It was roped off and there were armed Navy Master at Arms personnel posted inside. One had a 12 gauge shotgun!
Little did I know that less than a year later it would be involved in combat in Operation Desert Storm....
In 1993 I used to play Microprose's F19 stealth fighter sim on the Amiga 500 which featured the F117. It's amazing you can sit in a real F117.
I have that very game new in the cellophane yet for my Apple IIe :) Good stuff!
Awesome tour! I logged many, many hours on the MircoProse F-117A simulator in my youth.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This. Me, on a lowly 386 running 40 MHz i believe. Pretty basic at the time. My buddy had a 486 and a soundcard!
Same here, albeit on C64 and Amiga, not to mention bulding the Italeri plastic model kit when everyone still thought it was called the F-19 and had a vastly different shape.
I'm kinda sad there are virtually no flight simulator comparable to the Microprose and Novalogic ones, just pure arcade stuff like Ace Combat or in depth sims like DCS but nothing in between.
One of these came to my base in Korea in 93', I worked w/a guy that came from that program when it was black. We crew chiefs got to get a look at it and I remember when i looked in the cockpit thinking...."this is so old and analog" reminiscent of the "A" model F-16's I used to crew. Amazing we made this tech way back when we did and kept it so secret.
@jumpingjeffflash9946 I was a load toad at Kunsan in '86.
Two things of interest about the angles of the surfaces and how they deflect a radar signal. If you toss a tennis ball anywhere at the fuselage, the ball will never bounce back to you. Also, though bats aren’t completely blind, they do rely on the return of high frequency signals, to navigate. I have seen bats fly into the F-117 because their signals are deflected away.
I went to the dayton airshow in 1991 or 2.
There were F14 and 15 demos, which were my absolutely favorite marks of the day, but in fact: an F117 did a flyover to include a few laps, and a "knife edge" pass
There was one on the ground as well, but no one could even get within 50 yards of the airframe. didn't stop a giant school circle crowd though.
No one was obviously going to put one of these unstable guys at 90 degrees 500 feet off the deck but they did about 60 or 70 degrees and it was an incredible view as a 9 year old kid.
So many never forget moments. :)
Wow what a treat seeing inside the F-117! This was certainly off limits only a few years ago.
That was my office back in the day. Beings back good memories! Happy to see them still flying out of TTR! Love the TR tailcode.
You’d have a few stories I’m sure! 😃
The engineering and development of this thing is so neat. It's a great representation of several shifting paradigms in aerospace - complex computer modeling, the use of "off the shelf" solutions, and early hints of iterative development.
My brother was in the USAF security forces at Hill AFB in Ogden, UT, and in 1986 he and his whole squadron had to 19:49 go pickup all the mangled pieces of a crashed F-117 north of Bakersfield, CA. I was a Navy Ordinance man and we talked regularly, but he was required to sign and NDA because he'd handled the materials and we only talked about it much later. He also told me that they would blackout the base and a strip of Ogden's streetlights for F-117 approach and landing.
fascinating!
Utah streetlights are non existent as is lol
I remember that well. Helicopters from Edward AFB and China Lake NAS were controlling the airspace above. Big news here at the time.
The exact specs were on my Commodore 64 stealth fighter game. This plane was a leap that is vital in today's planes. Shoutout to Ian. My mate from tamborine. He loves that B2
wow I had to do a double-take when I saw the video title! I've never seen such a close-up video of the F-117 and thought this was some other jet! Thanks for putting this together and the museums for letting you film it!
Glad you liked it!
Remember seeing a couple of these come in to land at Ramstein during NATO's Operation Allied Force in 99. Only reason I even looked up for the first one was they sounded so different from the usual heavy lifter traffic. One of the coolest things I ever saw.
Seeing this thing no longer a secret tells this old guy the secret stuff today is truly mind-blowing.
I like how it comes with custom luggage shaped like a bomb for the pilot.
Travel pods are generally mounted on the external wing hardpoints of other aircraft. It must be aerodynamically shaped to alleviate unnecessary fuel costing drag. Everything about the Nighthawk was repurposed from existing hardware including those travel pods.
Oh, and then there are the training bomb pods.
The F-117 carries two bombs. Big bombs. They may hit hard, but you won't get a lot of value in training your pilots if they can only drop twice while out on the training range.
So, there's a pod in which you can install multiple 25-pound training bombs in the underbelly and have them drop out one at time. When this pod is mounted in the bomb bay, it will impart the same aerodynamic effect of a full-sized bomb, but you get to do more than one training shot on the range.
Thanks for the tour! The Nighthawk has been my favorite plane since I was a boy. Its strange shape dazzled me like no other, a perfect flying gem with no sparkle whatsoever. How cool to now be able to experience one so intimately.
When coming out of southern Arizona heading back to Omaha I'd come thru Alamogordo NM. I'd swing in to the Walmart parking lot with the truck and watch the F-117's do touch and goes at Holloman AFB. There were usually 4-5 running patterns at the same time. Cool stuff!!!
You can intuit just how much Kelly Johnson’s Skunk Works philosophy influenced this aircraft’s development by the borrowing of proven existing components from other aircraft. Excellent video, Paul. 👍👍👍
While Kelly Johnson was present during the aircraft’s development, all the shots were called by Ben Rich who took over from Kelly, and this was his first new project
My first Airframe when I was a young airman. Remember seeing one flying with a t-38 next to it when I started my drive down into the Alamogordo basin from the mountains. I was a weapons troop. It’s nice to see a detailed video of the old jet. 1998 was the last time I got to be around them before I went to the reserves. Thank you for your video.
Thanks!
Thank you!
This was one of my childhood favorites as well. In the early 90s I lived in the desert outside of El Paso, TX, which isn't too far away from where these were based, at Holloman AFB in NM. My father and I frequently spotted them in the air around dusk, and I always thought it was cool that we couldn't really hear them very well until they had passed overhead. Thanks for the great close-ups!
Im originally from St Louis Missouri.
One early evening in 1989 (around Christmas time) I was walking home from work headed south through Tower Grove Park. The Sun had just set, the sky was crystal clear and violet black with fine pinpoint stars above.
I heard the distinct sound of military jet engines approaching behind me from the north. I looked up and back and saw something very peculiar.
Four aircraft flying wingtip to wingtip.
The two outer planes had their anti collision lights on. They were easily identifiable by their silhouettes against the sky as F-15 Eagles. The others however, were not. They had no lights on at all. However their pitch-black color scheme against the deep violet night sky revealed their diamond shapes.
Hmm, I thought.
It was only a short while later that the F-117 was unveiled to the public, which when I saw it, understood.
They apparently took off from Lambert Airport in St Louis County and were being escorted by the Eagles while flying in blacked out conditions.
Ive often wondered how people waiting on board passenger flights at the airport looked out their window to watch the F-15's take off, and saw two black aircraft with no lights taking off as well.🤔
Back when McDonnell Douglas was still around.
@@PhilipMReeder Excellent story.
Nice story... there are really beautiful and modern planes
❤
Wow! I can't believe how well kept the cockpit is! It barely looks used. Super cool opportunity to see the cockpit of such an illustrious and secretive beast.
The military took unused spare parts with anything sensitive and removed and installed those parts as you can see the second most flown plane wouldn't have shiny parts lol. It looks so nice because it was just finished being restored so they took all the wear marks from thousands of hours and painted them. And those shiny screens are identical to different fighter aircraft screens so easy swap.
This one was restored at the SAC museum in Nebraska and I saw it. All the coating was removed and it was shiny like you get a glimpse of here.
Great job yet again Paul! There are a few details that are wrong, but not worth quibbling about honestly. Here's a fun little fact about 833 most people don't know, it once had a hydraulic failure on landing that caused the right brake to lock up , causing the tire to blow and the wheel to be ground down flat. Surprisingly, the magnesium the wheel is made of didn't ignite, otherwise it would have been one hell of a hot fire. It also, destroyed the right main landing gear follow-up door on that side as well.
The last time I signed off any major maintenance on her was during the 10 hr inspections that came from missing fasteners on the inboard elevon that required a fleet wide grounding and inspection, as well as speed and g limits for the pilots to follow. Pretty sure I was the one who signed off on her final servicing pre flight inspections as well, since I was the only 7 level on mid-shift as we began retiring them.
Best fact about the F-117A that other fighter crew chiefs will hate and deny. During 2006-2008 we had the highest FMC rate of all ACC aircraft. Not an easy feat to accomplish with a dwindling budget, shortage of personnel, parts and the smallest fleet out of them all. I have to Presidential Outstanding Unit awards to prove it. I still love my beautiful bundle of mismatched parts from all over the military parts bins.
Thats awesome. Excuse my ignorance but what is the FMC and ACC at the end you are referring to?
@ninus17 FMC=Fully Mission Capable. Essentially, it had nothing mechanically wrong that affected its ability to perform its mission. You also have others code such as PMC=Partially Misson Capable which are inop sub systems that may affect some aspects of the plane but is still overall flyable and the worst which is NMC=Not Mission Capable which means the planes broke. We base maintance statistics based off several factors but we strive to have a high FMC rate across a fleet. ACC=Air Combat Command. It's the MAJCOM (Major Command) responsible for Air Combat Operations.
@@C-L-A-W
Thanks for explaining what I should have done. Regardless of age, once you've been in the military (especially the US military) Acronyms become such a common thing that you don't even notice you use them. Even when talking to current friends who work professionally in general aviation maintenance don't always get them.
Awesome stories, thanks for sharing. Fun to see the maintenance parallels from the stealth world and mine as a former 7 level on AFSOC on birds. Cheers.
@@C-L-A-W thanks 😊
At some point in the F-117's development it was found that a lavender or pinkish color would make the aircraft least visible against a typical night sky. But the top brass took one look at that, shook their heads and said, "Just make it black."
Batman would agree.
It was difficult enough to get fighter pilots to fly it as is, no pilot is signing up to fly a lavender or pink airframe.
@@razorbackblood06 Yeah, I've read that when pilots got their first look at it, most of them weren't exactly enthusiastic.
WW2 British SAS have entered the chat.
They drove pink range rovers in the North African desert and gave Rommel hell.
Pink RAF attack aircraft were used in Desert Storm.
Salut de France 👋🏻🇫🇷👋🏻. Il y a 30 ans, j'avais les magazines et j'ai fabriqué la maquette du Nighthawk. Maintenant il est au musée, C incroyable.
Just yesterday I visited the F-117 at the Palm Springs Air Museum as seen in the video. It is well worth the tour. I kind of wish I watched this first. Great informative video.
I got to see these (and probably this exact jet) growing up on Holloman AFB in New Mexico as a kid. Running track and field at the middle school these would land right over my head.
Awesome...... really do love your aircraft tours. The mention of the design being 40 yrs old, you can still see what is used today in the F22 and F35 with the jagged edge of the canopy, as an example. Oh, and at around 14:00 right next to a Vulcan too!!
Yep. Why "fix" the parts that don't matter for aerodynamics? Use the computer power to make the aerodynamics-important parts aerodynamic.
Ha! I knew that wing root looked familiar.
I'd love to visit this museum, but due to the current political circumstances, I doubt I'll be visiting the US anytime soon. :-\
In toronto, one of my favorite memories was seeing the annual air show. I believe it was the 90's when I saw the F117 - it did a single pass and flew away, this intrigued me because every other plane took its time with 10-15 passes and lots of hosting.
Fantastic video. Always fantasized about these as a kid. Incredible aircraft; had no idea so much of it came from other systems! Thank you!
Love all you do Paul, cant say thank you enough.
Keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
Out on the range, the F-117s used 55-gallon drums with the tops cut off as targets! True! It was easy to thread the needle without initially tipping over the drum!
I was assigned to the Senior Trend program from 1986-89 while the program was still "black". I worked with the COMSEC custodian (keeper of the codes to scramble the radios, etc) and every 6 months we had to go sit in the cockpits and check the serial numbers on the encryption devices to make sure the airplanes had the ones they were supposed to have. An interesting assignment, no doubt, but the time away from home (fly up on Mon and come home Thur) was a deal breaker for a lot of marriages. Upon my retirement, I was presented a flag flown on the first daylight flight by Col Anthony Tolin.
You had me at "COMSEC". Great story all around. Thank you👍🙂
Nice retirement present. I was assigned to them just after they arrived at Holloman, so sadly I missed the TTR shenanigans. However, those maintainers who transferred down there with the aircraft were the ones who gifted me with their knowledge on the systems of that jet. Some were the beyond definition of "subject matter experts" in the things they new. They are still among the best group of maintainers I've ever met and worked with.
I was there at the same time you were.
@@billirvin9057 What did you do prior to working up at Tonopah?
@@LRRPFco52 I worked in base communications centers my first 6+ years at McClellan, George, Udorn, NKP, and Don Muang AB's (Thailand). After that, I spent a year at Shaw working in plans and programs in tactical communications. Spent a few years on flying status at Keesler and Hickam, 2 years in North Dakota as a contract monitor before going to TTR. 11 PCS moves in 20 years made for an interesting career but I think my family hated all the moves.
Loved watching these things take off from El Paso International REALLY low over Ft. Bliss all the time back in the day.
the F-117 that was shot down was detected for several reasons.
1. They flew without EA-6B Prowler jamming support, despite being warned not to.
2. They flew the EXACT SAME ROUTE that had been previously flown. This is a tactical no-no as EVERYONE is taught to vary your approach to a target to make it harder to shoot you down.
3. The plane was wet - it turns out this was an issue with this aircraft, in that when it was wet, it's radar signature increased to the point where it was detectable at longer ranges.
4. The plane opened its bomb-bay doors, and due to all those items previously mentioned, it made the 1960's era GOA SAM system able to shoot it down. That was AFTER the SAM battery fired a salvo and it shot the plane down because it flew that same route, and was hit not by being tracked, but by launching it and having it detonate near the jet due to the proximity fuse working as designed. They detected it, they were NOT able to track it. That doesn't help when, again, you fly the exact same route.
So it wasn't a simple one-cause shootdown. There were multiple factors. What isn't widely known is that the USAF was READY to destroy the wreckage, but because there were Russian, Chinese, and other foreign national intelligence people there, they delayed that. The Chinese embassy took it inside, and THAT is why it got bombed later, although the bombing failed to destroy the wreckage. They hit the embassy after hours when it was not manned; that's why they did that vs. hitting the crowds of fools around it after the shootdown.
This was a long time coming video for me to watch about the F-117! I learned a ton and it was fun to watch. Thank you for this tour.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I saw one of these at an airshow once. Before you knew it, it was on top of you at low altitude. So, yes, they are quiet.
fun to see lots of A-10, F-16 and F/A-18 components!
And the B-52 parts.
Taking a tour of the Boneyard in 2006 I got very annoyed when one of the guides called out an F-117 "stealth fighter" on the opposite side to where I was looking. I spun around to see an empty concrete slab with a plaque near it. I was 16, a nerd, and very gullible. Glad you can see them up close for real now! Amazing tech.
I was at the crash site as a young airman . They had us spraying mop and glo on the plane to keep the particles from blowing around. You could see how the exhaust gasses were diffused at the back of the wing because the aircraft skin was burned away
I was fortunate enough to see one at the Hamilton international airshow in the 90's. What an amazing piece of technology. It was cordon off just enough that you wouldn't be able to touch it. Also there were no guards stationed around it. So if someone wanted to they could sneak under the red rope and touch it lol!.
Awesome! I was so obsessed with this aircraft when i was younger. Thank you for the walk thru!
My pleasure!
A beautiful machine. Nothing will come close to the new upcoming f35 upgrade, but the nighthawk was a big step towards perfecting the technology.
Hard to believe this was conceptualized in 1976. The Skunk Works story is a fascinating one.
I grew up in Palmdale Ca. Near Edwards and Skunkworks. Seeing this and the SR-71 fly over would stop everyone in their tracks like a pretty woman walking by and all guys shut up for a second. 😂
I miss that
Just shared this video with my 4450th TG Facebook friends group. I had the honor of working on this aircraft back in the black world days and really miss it.
I used to have one of those patches.
The L/R displays are directly out of that era F-18. The HUD with a modified combiner is also borrowed from the F-18. The development of these displays and the software development support equipment was performed at Kaiser Electronics under a "Logistics Trainer" cover story. I first saw an F-117 on the assembly line in Burbank; at first glance hard to see how it could fly. Those were exciting days.
Who remembers the movie Executive Decision when they docked a F-117 to a 747 ventral hatch while in flight?
When the killed off segaul
I still cut bags in the x pattern they cut open canvas suitcas carries in the fuselage
I was mesmerized by the nighthawk as a kid. I heard it was a real challenge to fly.
First time I saw one of these in person was at an air show when I was a kid. It was literally cordoned off and surrounded by armed military guards. Funny to see you sitting in the cockpit.
Pretty cool, Paul.
It's great that's been declassified, so we can all get to see some of this beauty !😊
Oh no, the good old days in the late 80´s and 90´s when Microprose made wonderful flight sims. No more Microprose.
Microprose has been bought by a former employer and has already published a few smaller titles. Not quite where they have been, but if they play their cards right, they might get back to publishing premium sims.
I was fortunate enough to see one of its very first airshow performances in the early 90’s… was an awesome experience to witness it. It flew right over me at the end of the runway several times. Thank you for this video.
13:40 - Correction, it's three times *an insect.* It's about _one third_ a small bird! (That diagram just puts animals first.)
Even the F-35 (according to that diagram) has a radar visibility about half that of a small bird!
F-35 since Lot 4 frontal RCS is smaller than F-117A. F-117A has certain aspects that spike its return values. They were always looking for ways to reduce its signature though, so it isn't a set of static values. It went through 3 different iterations of RAM upgrades, for example. Its final RAM was similar to what was used on F-22A and was easier to maintain, more durable. Only a few got it though, with the grey paint scheme.
Insects are animals.
What about the F22?
Thanks for this, like other have said, didn't think I'd ever see it this close even on video... much less than sit in the cockpit as well!
One of the greatest stories about the F-117A is not about the aircraft but Lockheed program lead Ben Rich whose wife suddenly passed away from a heart attack in the middle of development (1980). Rich only took off two days for bereavement and burial, his Lockheed colleagues and two children were a little concerned about his state of mind but he explained the best way for him to cope with losing his wife was to get back into the tenacious technical challenges of his work. Rich's work ethic and commitment to the Skunk Works and the tremendous advances they made which brought Lockheed back into the tactical aircraft business.
Sounds like Mr. Rich enjoyed stealth aircraft more than his own wife.
avoidant attachment style as one would expect from a top engineer ;-)
Not sure the sacrifice will be honored soon
Yeah he also gave a speech at UCLA where he told everyone there that "we have the means to take et home but it's locked behind black projects and it would take an act of God to release them to benefit humanity".. funny that someone in the shadows seems to be doing exactly that when it comes to all the uap hearings..
Gotta keep the military industrial complex, endless wars, and waste of taxpayer money going!
I believe that the small holes at 2:30 are the static ports, which, along with the pitot tubes, make up the pitot-static system
Back in the late 90's a F117 crashed in Essex Maryland that was taking off from a local ANG base. The pilot safely ejected, but police and military completely locked down our neighborhood until every surviving piece of the aircraft could be recovered.
I got to see one of these beauties at my local airport when she had a technical issue and had to land....the amount of security around her was insane!!!
I used to fly this in the gulf war on my computer simulator. Go Microprose - What a dream to see one in person. Thanks for sharing.
You had us in the first half not gonna lie :D
Played that game a lot too.. but we were attacking Iran, not Iraq.
Thank you for your service 😂
I miss old school mircroprose flight sims. Gunship 2000 was my favorite.
@@erics8192 a great game, I played on the c64 in the early 80’s then the remake on the pc. They don’t make em like that anymore.
Thanks -- a rare bird to get this much of a close-up view. It's still so alien looking. That engine is relatively tiny, and it's amazing those exhaust ports could allow those things to get off the ground!
It's awesome you got access to the one being restored at the Strategic Air Command Museum. I live near by. Also I see that Avro Vulcan hiding on the side!
Gracias Amigo, exelente la explicación del f117.
Salu2 dsd San Luis, Argentina 🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷
Greetings neighbour! 🇫🇰
I just saw that plane in Nebraska a month ago. Not gonna lie, I’m pretty jealous you got to sit in it. I always wish I could go in the planes in the museum.
The Horten Ho-229 also has no tail.... or any other significant retro-reflective structures.
What an amazing dream to fulfill!!! I am truly jealous. I never thought I would see one fly, let alone two! That was in Alaska during exercise season...2023.
Cheers I'm very lucky :) (sorry the previous comment was in response to another post)
how did they manage to fit Steven Segal and everyone else in this plane in the movie "Executive Decision"?
Memories from my old days at Lockheed - ADP: 1980 to 1989. I definitely have a lot of interesting memories from those old days on the N program
i would of guessed the cockpit would still be classified. this is a treat!!
Honestly, there's nothing in there that's particularly noteworthy. It's the same set of instruments that you'd see in any other aircraft except maybe the dedicated screen for the IR/Targeting equipment.
I think the only really "unusual" thing that I noticed is the lack of a RWR instrument. Whilst many aircraft of that generation did have it integrated into the MFD's there would usually be a backup display. This lead me down a bit of a rabbit hole as to if the F-117 even had radar warning receiver equipment.
So it turns out that it quite likely did not. At least in the usual sense. It did have something called RLS (Radar Location Sensor) which were two pop out sensor arrays on either wing which would allow for radar direction finding. But this system was more of an attack sensor array rather than a defensive system. Its use on the aircraft is in some doubt as it was suggested that it was part of a secondary DEAD functionality for the aircraft that was dropped from the program and some airframes had the equipment missing and the panels blanked off.
Classified? Serbs had a good peek at the cockpit like 30 years ago lmaoo.
You should see the F-117 at the Museum of Aviation, Robins AFB, GA. It has all of the RAM removed and is fascinating to study.
A product of some very intelligent and creative people....
Crazy. I remember seeing one of those for the first time at an airshow in Alaska. I was just a kid, but loved jets and aircraft and we got to go see an F117 parked. It was roped off with probably like 50 or so yards of space between the roped perimeter and the jet. Armed guards with M16s. I think a couple K-9 units, and lots of signs and people walking around saying that there were no pictures to be taken. Digital cameras didn't exist back then, much less any kind of smartphone. It's wild that we get to see stuff like this.
3:52 it was also to hide the fact that this existed theres a good video with F-117 pilots from i believe the Airzoo in Michigan that talks about everything and one of the points was that they used parts from other planes so it looked like they were just buying parts not building a plane
Awesome! Bravo! Thanks for the tour! It was my favourite plane when I was a child too. Kind regards from Argentina!
People give that Soviet mathematician way too much credit. Even Lockheed themselves said it’s way over blown and they stumbled upon his book after they had already started working on the the F-117.
It's one of those tidbits the Russian fan boys online have picked up on to distract from the fact that Russia still can't build a proper stealth aircraft. Combine that with the fact that one F117 got shot down by sheer luck and that somehow compensates for the SU57's shortcomings.
@@frankdatank5002 Agreed. Many guys who LOVED T-72 and MiG-25 give Ufimtsev most of the credit yet Denys Overholser (Lockheed), Bill Schroeder (using much of James Clerk Maxwell's work), Arnold Sommerfeld and Alan Brown and a dozen other Lockheed engineers did the heavy lifting from theory to applied.
It might be because of Ben Rich's book. I read it a few years ago and I think he suggests it was the russian thing that was the breakthrough
@@barronvonmarlon The Russkies are famous for convincing westerners they can make ice cream out of dog 🐶 doo.
A couple of these were here in Fresno a year or so ago for some sort of training. All kinds of people were out at the airport getting pics and video. Was cool to see in the sky over town
🎖️🏆⭐🙏
Thank you to Lt col Ken Dyson for being a test pilot for the Have Blu for the F-117 to come about.
I was an air traffic controller at Holloman AFB tower. Spent years working the stinkbugs around the pattern but I was never permitted to be anywhere near these jets. Over 20 years later I get an up close look at it.
I am still impressed at what the engineers were able to do with this plane, when they did it. The fact that it is still one of the stealthiest designs out there, and remains to be used... Albeit off the books... Is just really cool. I've always been enamored by the view from the cockpit, so I can't imagine how cool it would be to actually experience that in person! Great video of what I would have to consider my childhood hero plane, too. Didn't have a poster, but I did have a model kit.
They used parts from other aircraft not only to keep costs down but also to maintain secrecy. Pretty cool
Good onya Paul. Great vid post listening to the "Fighter Pilot Podcast" Ep 72. It's interesting why it was designated a Fighter and the Pilot's nickname for the F117 is brilliant! 😳
At 2:27 you reference the pitot tube on the YF-23 and then the our ports as replacing the pitot tube. Aren't those four flush holes the static ports used for measuring barometric pressure? Pitot is ram air for airspeed, static ports for barometric readings.
My understanding is that those small holes can be used for a lot now. The B-2 has them located in multiple locations and no pitot.
So, historically, the reason they put the pressure sensors for measuring airspeed out on pitot tubes is because they needed a way to place the sensor out away from the wake of the airplane, which would disturb the measurements. However, the way the wake disturbs things is predictable (at least for areas without turbulant flow), and with modern computers, it's possible to take measurements on the skin of the aircraft and infer what speed the aircraft must be traveling at to produce the observed measurements.
Neat video on the 'frizbee'. That slab sided stealth technology went on to effect automobile and motorcycle design for decades (that cool stealth look.) Thanks for the nice video.
I remember being on a a airshow back in days, it was guarded by 6 soldiers with loaded rifles. Today we can see every knob in the cockpit on youtube. Time is flying :)
Guarded by 6 airmen you mean?
The Airmen with loaded weapons were very polite to us tax payers while at Andrews AFB's Joint Forces Day years ago.🫡
Wonderful video. I'm extremely lucky living in Washington State not too far from Seattle and the Boeing Museum Of Flight. In the Museum is the only surviving set of the M-21 / D-21 BlackBird's. Also there is a recovered cockpit from a crashed SR-71A - you can sit in the cockpit. The Museum also has a survivng Concorde SST's and you can walkthrough it. Going through the museum is a wonderful way to spend a day or two.
Absolutely! I’ve filmed a few videos at the Museum of Flight as well
The skunk works team absolutely shamelessly raiding parts bins of various contractors. In the cockpit you got stuff from A-10, F-5, F-18, F-15. Yoink Yoink
AWESOME video. Crazy to think this thing was flying in the 80's. Makes one wonder what is flying around groom lake today.
Absolutely!
This has such a futuristic design for its time, up until today's standards.
Good job describing all the off the shelf parts on the airplane. You are correct on the ECS system coming off a C-130. There was even a part on the ECS that came off a Fiat G.91 😉
Sorry we didn't know it was invisible 😬 from Serbia with Love 😁💥🛬
Why did you only shoot down one in the entire war?
@@Jim-i2y Lol, they damaged two more and possibly downed B-2, for small country under years of sanctions vs biggest, most modern alliance EVER, that was great success and more than enough to shatter U.S. stealth myth...
@@greengoo4575They literally knew exactly where the plane was flying and locked it when it had it's bomb bay doors open. Serbia got unbelievably lucky with their shot, and fired several missiles, with the first missing. They never shot down a b-2, in fact, they only shot down 2 planes for the 38,000 sorties flown over serbia by NATO planes and the f117 went on to fly many more missions successfully after one was lost. Serbia had an outstandingly awful performance during the kosovo war, as i stated earlier their air defense had a success rate of i believe .00005% which obviously shows the awesome power of Serbia!
@@gp33music41 Kid, bb door where open for 2 sec, 3rd division was 20km away from F-117 target (Straževica). When hit, F-117 was 25 Km away from pos. where bb doors was open, that story is for morons, bb door have nothing to do with downing. Two more F-117 where damaged in another event, all that with ancient S-125. For B-2 i said possibly, bc something BIG where downed in Croatian forests (Spačvanske šume) near YU border, that location was under NATO blockade for days, also bear in mind that even the heavily damaged planes could exit YU airspace just to crash near border, width of Serbia is just 150-200 Km...so i will repeat....for small country under years of sanctions vs biggest, most modern alliance EVER, that was great success and more than enough to shatter U.S. stealth myth...
@@greengoo4575 Ok then, explain how exactly the radar system locked onto the plane, when it couldn't?