As a former F-117 maintainer from TTR Im SO HAPPY to see these not just flying, but actively training new systems. And even more happy to see the old TR tailcode. Brings back some of the best days of my youth. Thank you to everyone of our Bandits past, present and future and all maintainers past, present and future!
@@PpAirO5 they were taken to Holloman AFB after TTR, then retired. But are once again flying as test aircraft for new systems. Not sure how many but I assume there are a few. Many ended up on static displays and in museums.
Hey!... I am curious about something.. how many times are those drag chutes used before deemed unsuitable for use on the F-117?... those F-117 are crazy looking!
They have at least twelve F-117s on static display in American museums already! If watching them on RUclips isn't enough for you -- they've been spotted regularly for the last 14 years since "retirement" -- you can find the closest museum to you that has an F-117 on display.
As a very little kid in the early 90s I used to plane watch at Langley Air Force base and I knew every military airplane there was by heart. One day I looked at something in the sky like the when the first South Americans saw Spanish Ships. Being so little I had absolutely NO mental concept of what shape I was looking at. I screamed in terror for my Dad and said "WHAT IS THAT!!" I remember his voice like it was yesterday say... "Son....I...don't...know...."
I grew up in newport news and my mom lived on base! Px! Lol we jse to drive by the hamgers with the doors open with these.chilling in there. The crazy one was the b2 flying over at tree top level!
Bunch of oldtimers watching this getting all excited! lol. I gotta say wathching the flight controls go through the start up routine got me a little... Miss that jet.
Ever since I was a kid and the world first saw the 117 in dessert storm I was obsessed. To this day it’s my favorite aircraft. It kicked open the door on an entirely new generation of jets
Loved the look of the F117 ever since I saw it in the museum in Belgrade. I know its not really that great for today's standards, but it always looked like the coolest stealth jet.
They had some of these come to Korea when i was stationed there in 1992/93, I worked w/a guy that came from them when they were black projects at TTR and he knew some guys that came over w/them so he arranged us crew chiefs a sneak peek (this would be in the "tree" area at Kunsan) Anyway, my memory is faded but I do remember going up the ladder and seeing a very old analog cockpit that wasn't unlike the Block 15 A/B model F-16's I started on. Cool aircraft however and I'm so glad I was in the USAF, our technology is incredible and fearsome for the people on the receiving end of it.
Seeing an F-117 in person doing a pattern or just landing is something else, forget F-22 35 whatever those are cool too and powerful but 117 stands out!
Just something about that paint being black like the SR-71 makes it mesmerizing. Top Aircraft in my books is: 1)SR-71 2)F-22 3)F-16 4)F-35 5)F-117 only cause it looks cool😂😂 I was did depot level service/overhaul on rotary wing. HH-60Pavehawk,UH-60 blackhawk, AH-64 Apache, OH-58 Kiowa, UH-1N Huey. Learned alot and thank you to those that showed me the ropes. Learned the pavehawk from Top to bottom FWD & AFT. Seen some crazy things on those aircraft. Thank you to all the Men/Women past, present and future for your service.
DSLR? Every time your shutter activates it jiggles the camera at the beginning as the 117 taxied in. Did your shots come out alright? Best Regards and Best Wishes!
Can you imagine what it was like for the first pilots who were chosen to fly the F-117 when they saw it in person for their first time? They weren’t told what they would be flying. Just offered a new posting and very few details.
and then imagine being told it is inherently unstable on all axis of flight and requires 100% computer augmentation to control🤣 might as well be in a helicopter.
The F-117 is an absolutely beautiful aircraft. Unique and pushed the limits of airframe design. As a teen loved that airplane so much when it came out because to me no one really pushed the limits with the design. Every other fighter jet shares common design characteristics however the F-117 doesn’t. It’s like the Skunkworks threw the design manual out the door and said we’re gonna show you something new. Unfortunately they should have made it a tad bigger for bigger internal weapons bay, made it able to carry air to air weapons and thrown bigger engines in it giving it the ability to fly a bit faster and carry a bigger payload.
The thing about the Nighthawk is that it was a product of an era where stealth technology was in its infancy, and trying to make a stealthy platform with aerodynamics that can actually fly was a massive technical hurdle. Modern stealth aircraft like the F-35 are able to use more "conventional" aerodynamics while still retaining stealth characteristics due to the lessons learned from the F-117. Hell, the F-35 already has the qualities you want, having a larger weapons bay able to carry more weapons, can carry air-to-air weapons, and is capable of supersonic flight.
@@StrikeNoir105E yep exactly! The only problem with the F-35 is it follows the same practical design standard. It’s claimed the by some the RCS on the F-117 is still smaller because the airframe itself was designed to be stealthy. Whether it is or isn’t no-one really knows because that kind of data is obviously very classified. The only other modern or shallow we say semi modern airframe that was actually built that tired to push the limits of airframe design to its limits for a fighter was the YF-23. In all honesty if it went into production today the YF-23 airframe would be a very advanced airframe when compared to 99% of the fighters in the world today. Of course with modern computers/avionics. I just like it when I see the manufacturers push the limits of design and not follow the same old standard design profile. The SR-71 was an amazing technological achievement and absolutely beautiful especially seeing it was initially designed in the late 50’s with nothing more than a slide ruler. They pushed the limits! Nothing else like it existed! All these other countries are building their new fighters and they all have one thing in common. They all either look similar to the F-22 or a combination of the F-22 and F-23. I want to see the U.S. come out with something that bring that wow and shock factor the same way the F-22 and especially the YF-23 did when foreign nations saw them for the first time. It really surprised me how many countries tried obtaining the rights to build the YF-23.
@@magnatarbeing8749 Actually YES! I would build a museum and sell TICKETS for $10. I Guess on getting 300 visitors aday on average(School visits, Military holidays, walkins, etc). that's $3000.00 times 365 days equaling $1,093,000.00....Plus I would create some SIMULATED 3D animations of the FIGHTER in Flight and in Battle complete with Explosions and HOW I FLEW over BAGHDAD ....you know ..just to get the VISITOR entertained! hahahahahaha .Not bad!..here are some of my 3D animations...ruclips.net/video/VzaudmUaLdw/видео.html
With our military shifting away from Counter Terrorism combat, the relevance of these fighters has come back, they still are good at being Stealth and can strike targets planes like the F-15 can't and it won't cost as much as sending the F-35, these were Retired because we had no use for a Stealth Fighter Bomber in the skies of Iraq or Afghanistan but now the Russian threat is back and they have advanced radars that call for all the Stealth craft we can get our hands on.
O i love flying into SAV . Side note if you look at SAV on google earth runway 10/28 about mid field. You can see the grave markers head stones for the graves they were not allowed to move when the airport was built.
the fact you got to work on a F4E makes me jealous let alone load weapons for the 117, both are such awesome aircrafts. Thank you for your service keeping these birds in the air during the time you did, its much appreciated by people like me.
Heck bring the F-117s out of storage... While they are at it, bring out the SR-71. F-4s, F-104s, the F-14.... Just charge it on our four trillion dollar + bar tab hahaha....
Ah, brings back memories from TTR. Surprised to see the RAM coating is still maintained. F-117's on display have it removed. Also the reflector is gone from the side.
…for those of us that worked in aerospace I salute you. Few people know how much effort went into every stinking part of those planes…….and I’m proud of it…..
Anybody have any information on if these aircraft have ever been flown around the Raleigh, NC area? I think it was....2019? 2020? In maybe april? Mayish? We had for several consecutive days of military jets flying low and fast over our house, usually in the mid to late morning. I was never able to get a look at them except for one time, I briefly saw two jets from side on, they looked black with twin tails. For a lot of reasons I may have perceived the color being darker than it was. But for the briefest moment I saw those jets, they did resemble a f117. My buddy told me that is prolly f-15's or maybe even f22's and I agree, that is more likely, but I still can't fully shake what I saw. In all likelihood I didn't see an f117 but it doesn't hurt to ask. Does anyone have any more information about the aircraft and what exercise they were participating in doing if any?
When you so far a head of the game that you need to use a nearly 50 year old design to simulate the emerging stealth capabilities of your "near peers".
F-22 Rapture is by far the most advanced fighter jet ever known. No doubt. I play the flight simulator in DCS. Like it seams so, so real I would assume if this is really what it is like flying without flying if that makes sense. If you guys never tried this Combat Simulator I implore you to go try DCS on pc.
If the f-117 was a combat soldier on the ground it would be a sniper a really good one too. It has two rounds laser-guided I wouldn't say bombs more like a rocket it sneaks in it sets up one or two rounds hits its Target and gets the f*** out of there before anyone knows what happened we have the raptor and all that but honestly I liked the roll these planes played in Baghdad in the early nineties they did really good and we never replaced them
Yes everything about the F-117 is about deception. F is obviously deceptive. 117 is deceptive as is it not a century series fighter. It is really a light attack airplane or light bomber. It is a surprisingly BIG airplane. Longer than an F-15. Also they recruited only the best fighter pilots in the 80s to first fly the NightHawk. And the best fighter pilots only want the F designation lol
Correct there are no schools to familiarize active duty on this jet. Even subsystems maintainers still need training as its very unique. But what folks need to know even back in the day Lockheed still had civilian representatives working alongside active duty forces. I miss these days but will always still be a Nighthawk from TTR.
As a former F-117 maintainer from TTR Im SO HAPPY to see these not just flying, but actively training new systems. And even more happy to see the old TR tailcode. Brings back some of the best days of my youth. Thank you to everyone of our Bandits past, present and future and all maintainers past, present and future!
But wasn't they retired ?
@@PpAirO5 they were taken to Holloman AFB after TTR, then retired. But are once again flying as test aircraft for new systems. Not sure how many but I assume there are a few. Many ended up on static displays and in museums.
@@kinch613 .. Okay, thanks.
Beautiful and something "alien" about this aircraft. Lucky you, for having worked on it 😊
@@PpAirO5 it was an honor and thanks. Definitely some great folks in this program through the years
Hey!... I am curious about something.. how many times are those drag chutes used before deemed unsuitable for use on the F-117?... those F-117 are crazy looking!
They really need to get Knighthawks back on the airshow circuits to preserve its history so today's generation can see it.
They have at least twelve F-117s on static display in American museums already!
If watching them on RUclips isn't enough for you -- they've been spotted regularly for the last 14 years since "retirement" -- you can find the closest museum to you that has an F-117 on display.
the previous generation didn't see it either
Do you have any idea how expensive it is to maintain these planes just for an airshow?
It looks like they have been put back into operation and are being used to test new tech
We need a F117 demo team!
As a very little kid in the early 90s I used to plane watch at Langley Air Force base and I knew every military airplane there was by heart. One day I looked at something in the sky like the when the first South Americans saw Spanish Ships. Being so little I had absolutely NO mental concept of what shape I was looking at. I screamed in terror for my Dad and said "WHAT IS THAT!!" I remember his voice like it was yesterday say... "Son....I...don't...know...."
I grew up in newport news and my mom lived on base! Px! Lol we jse to drive by the hamgers with the doors open with these.chilling in there. The crazy one was the b2 flying over at tree top level!
They need to have a Stealth heritage flight program for airshows next year.
The stuff avgeek wet dreams are made of
now this is a great idea. these planes are too iconic to end as museum pieces only
There are certainly more modern and more powerful LO platforms out there today, but none will ever have the mystique of the Nighthawk!
checkout the guy who saw a ufo in a jungle as soldier and they were trafficking stuff
No more problems in the air.
anyone else notice the guys holding the wings and working on the plane have skunk works t shirts on.. amazing
THE NIGHTHAWKS ARE LEGENDARY AND NEED TO BE HONORED AND PRESERVED!!!
Still look pretty darn good. It's amazing what the engineers can come up with using crude tools to design this beast! An engineering marvel!
amazing aircraft spotting and the engine sound is really cool
Bunch of oldtimers watching this getting all excited! lol. I gotta say wathching the flight controls go through the start up routine got me a little... Miss that jet.
Ever since I was a kid and the world first saw the 117 in dessert storm I was obsessed. To this day it’s my favorite aircraft. It kicked open the door on an entirely new generation of jets
Loved the look of the F117 ever since I saw it in the museum in Belgrade. I know its not really that great for today's standards, but it always looked like the coolest stealth jet.
They had some of these come to Korea when i was stationed there in 1992/93, I worked w/a guy that came from them when they were black projects at TTR and he knew some guys that came over w/them so he arranged us crew chiefs a sneak peek (this would be in the "tree" area at Kunsan) Anyway, my memory is faded but I do remember going up the ladder and seeing a very old analog cockpit that wasn't unlike the Block 15 A/B model F-16's I started on. Cool aircraft however and I'm so glad I was in the USAF, our technology is incredible and fearsome for the people on the receiving end of it.
That's a beauty right there - with Steve's Irwin voice
GOOD TO SEE FLYING AGAIN.
The Return of F-117
VERY COOL !! I love the Nighthawk 😎💜💜
The Grandad of stealth is back !!
The Wobblin Goblin! Love it!
Note the tail number "828" on the bomb bay door at 4:12
No "tail" number? Not advertising how many are in service??
35 yrs later & the F-117 still looks like a lethal alien death machine.
I really love F-117 ❤💙🤍 THX USAF
Great videos. Thank you.
117 and 22 are just so beautiful and alienlike
Great shots, Mike!
Very cool. I love F117!!!
Seeing an F-117 in person doing a pattern or just landing is something else, forget F-22 35 whatever those are cool too and powerful but 117 stands out!
I love this jet...f117 glad to see it flying again, although as a training one but still...great news.
Just something about that paint being black like the SR-71 makes it mesmerizing.
Top Aircraft in my books is:
1)SR-71
2)F-22
3)F-16
4)F-35
5)F-117 only cause it looks cool😂😂
I was did depot level service/overhaul on rotary wing.
HH-60Pavehawk,UH-60 blackhawk, AH-64 Apache, OH-58 Kiowa, UH-1N Huey. Learned alot and thank you to those that showed me the ropes. Learned the pavehawk from Top to bottom FWD & AFT. Seen some crazy things on those aircraft.
Thank you to all the Men/Women past, present and future for your service.
still looks sleek and agressive.thank you to all of our military personel who stand in the defence of our great country.
DSLR? Every time your shutter activates it jiggles the camera at the beginning as the 117 taxied in. Did your shots come out alright? Best Regards and Best Wishes!
fanatstic i first saw one fly & in the static park at Raf Mildehall Airfete in 1992 mazing piece of engineering & design
Can you imagine what it was like for the first pilots who were chosen to fly the F-117 when they saw it in person for their first time? They weren’t told what they would be flying. Just offered a new posting and very few details.
and then imagine being told it is inherently unstable on all axis of flight and requires 100% computer augmentation to control🤣 might as well be in a helicopter.
They should have never stopped using these. Such an amazing plane.
Who says they stopped? 😉
The F-117 is an absolutely beautiful aircraft. Unique and pushed the limits of airframe design. As a teen loved that airplane so much when it came out because to me no one really pushed the limits with the design. Every other fighter jet shares common design characteristics however the F-117 doesn’t. It’s like the Skunkworks threw the design manual out the door and said we’re gonna show you something new. Unfortunately they should have made it a tad bigger for bigger internal weapons bay, made it able to carry air to air weapons and thrown bigger engines in it giving it the ability to fly a bit faster and carry a bigger payload.
The thing about the Nighthawk is that it was a product of an era where stealth technology was in its infancy, and trying to make a stealthy platform with aerodynamics that can actually fly was a massive technical hurdle. Modern stealth aircraft like the F-35 are able to use more "conventional" aerodynamics while still retaining stealth characteristics due to the lessons learned from the F-117. Hell, the F-35 already has the qualities you want, having a larger weapons bay able to carry more weapons, can carry air-to-air weapons, and is capable of supersonic flight.
@@StrikeNoir105E yep exactly! The only problem with the F-35 is it follows the same practical design standard. It’s claimed the by some the RCS on the F-117 is still smaller because the airframe itself was designed to be stealthy. Whether it is or isn’t no-one really knows because that kind of data is obviously very classified. The only other modern or shallow we say semi modern airframe that was actually built that tired to push the limits of airframe design to its limits for a fighter was the YF-23. In all honesty if it went into production today the YF-23 airframe would be a very advanced airframe when compared to 99% of the fighters in the world today. Of course with modern computers/avionics.
I just like it when I see the manufacturers push the limits of design and not follow the same old standard design profile. The SR-71 was an amazing technological achievement and absolutely beautiful especially seeing it was initially designed in the late 50’s with nothing more than a slide ruler. They pushed the limits! Nothing else like it existed!
All these other countries are building their new fighters and they all have one thing in common. They all either look similar to the F-22 or a combination of the F-22 and F-23. I want to see the U.S. come out with something that bring that wow and shock factor the same way the F-22 and especially the YF-23 did when foreign nations saw them for the first time. It really surprised me how many countries tried obtaining the rights to build the YF-23.
I still think that is the most beautiful plane ever made! I want one!
@@magnatarbeing8749 Actually YES! I would build a museum and sell TICKETS for $10. I Guess on getting 300 visitors aday on average(School visits, Military holidays, walkins, etc). that's $3000.00 times 365 days equaling $1,093,000.00....Plus I would create some SIMULATED 3D animations of the FIGHTER in Flight and in Battle complete with Explosions and HOW I FLEW over BAGHDAD ....you know ..just to get the VISITOR entertained! hahahahahaha .Not bad!..here are some of my 3D animations...ruclips.net/video/VzaudmUaLdw/видео.html
The design is something like sonic the hedgehog would fly
F22 always steals the show
Interesting tail assembly ... for different assignments!
that is a LOOOOT of money sitting on that tarmac..also hard to believe that the newest F-22A is over 10 years old now.
That's some legit Independence Day sh*t going on there.
I'm 48, hard to believe this thing first flew on June 18th, 1981, summer break before going into the 1st grade.
With our military shifting away from Counter Terrorism combat, the relevance of these fighters has come back, they still are good at being Stealth and can strike targets planes like the F-15 can't and it won't cost as much as sending the F-35, these were Retired because we had no use for a Stealth Fighter Bomber in the skies of Iraq or Afghanistan but now the Russian threat is back and they have advanced radars that call for all the Stealth craft we can get our hands on.
Outstanding jet" and well ahead of its time, 💯👌
They’re not even pretending anymore. “Retired” I don’t think so. It’s awesome that they’re still flying.
O i love flying into SAV . Side note if you look at SAV on google earth runway 10/28 about mid field. You can see the grave markers head stones for the graves they were not allowed to move when the airport was built.
Awesome. I heard the F-22 Canopy alone cost like 6 million ?
Epic video broo
Got to still love the F22
US will achieve victory upon all challenges by using this Air Power ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thanks for sharing video 🇺🇲 , fuckin things are so badass looking
This was a great video, I like how it ends with the Ch-47 prop wash on the stealth planes lol (I know it was far away and was no danger)
Prop wash ?
I love America because they have always had all the best cool military hardware and this plane being one example
In my 20 years in the USAF as a Weapons loader the F117 was my second favorite (and easiest) Aircraft to work favorite...F4E.
the fact you got to work on a F4E makes me jealous let alone load weapons for the 117, both are such awesome aircrafts. Thank you for your service keeping these birds in the air during the time you did, its much appreciated by people like me.
Talk about a Lockheed bird farm!
Heck bring the F-117s out of storage...
While they are at it, bring out the SR-71. F-4s, F-104s, the F-14....
Just charge it on our four trillion dollar + bar tab hahaha....
Did he say 48 flyable?? That's interesting
they have to reattach the wings first, the rest are on poles at museums, couple were cut up
If you look really close you can see the shock diamonds on the F-16’s.
Diamonds? Where?
Wow that is incredible. they are so much smaller than i thought.
I want the black Nighthawk t-shirt!
They using them for aggressors in Red Flags? I've heard that was the case.
Still the most beautiful looking her ever made. 🥰👍
The "Wobblin' Goblin"
Ah, brings back memories from TTR. Surprised to see the RAM coating is still maintained. F-117's on display have it removed. Also the reflector is gone from the side.
The S200 watching the F117: 😚
Maybe it's just me, but I like the engine sound of the 117 better than the 22. I think it has a higher pitch zingy sound.
Project Have Blue
Ya never see close up shots of the trailing edge of the wing root even at air shows when it's on display not that I've seen ' wonder why ?
I don’t know the location of this airbase but it’s definitely not former RAF Coltishall. Jeez there’s a lot of aircraft there!
Great video.
Looks Sci Fi! Next we might see one boosting into space.
Man just beautiful😎
…for those of us that worked in aerospace I salute you. Few people know how much effort went into every stinking part of those planes…….and I’m proud of it…..
Anybody have any information on if these aircraft have ever been flown around the Raleigh, NC area? I think it was....2019? 2020? In maybe april? Mayish? We had for several consecutive days of military jets flying low and fast over our house, usually in the mid to late morning. I was never able to get a look at them except for one time, I briefly saw two jets from side on, they looked black with twin tails. For a lot of reasons I may have perceived the color being darker than it was. But for the briefest moment I saw those jets, they did resemble a f117.
My buddy told me that is prolly f-15's or maybe even f22's and I agree, that is more likely, but I still can't fully shake what I saw. In all likelihood I didn't see an f117 but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Does anyone have any more information about the aircraft and what exercise they were participating in doing if any?
When you so far a head of the game that you need to use a nearly 50 year old design to simulate the emerging stealth capabilities of your "near peers".
Once again we are truely sorry, we didn't know it was a stealth airplane. - Serbs
Sorry, we didn't know it was invisible 😂
Serbian PVO got u HAHAHAHAHAHA
i just had to make another comment. there is a lot of airpower at this one airport.
God bless usa , and all of you
F-22 Rapture is by far the most advanced fighter jet ever known. No doubt. I play the flight simulator in DCS. Like it seams so, so real I would assume if this is really what it is like flying without flying if that makes sense. If you guys never tried this Combat Simulator I implore you to go try DCS on pc.
I like this powerful fastest planes
Lovely chemicals in that sky
Look like Lamborghini with wings
Love them all but for me the Viper ( I actually prefer Falcon ) is King and she's still going.
Even though retired... The US still uses this plane for training.
If the f-117 was a combat soldier on the ground it would be a sniper a really good one too. It has two rounds laser-guided I wouldn't say bombs more like a rocket it sneaks in it sets up one or two rounds hits its Target and gets the f*** out of there before anyone knows what happened we have the raptor and all that but honestly I liked the roll these planes played in Baghdad in the early nineties they did really good and we never replaced them
Does anyone know why they chose to give it the F fighter designation? Its obviously more bomber/recon than fighter.
Yes everything about the F-117 is about deception. F is obviously deceptive. 117 is deceptive as is it not a century series fighter. It is really a light attack airplane or light bomber. It is a surprisingly BIG airplane. Longer than an F-15. Also they recruited only the best fighter pilots in the 80s to first fly the NightHawk. And the best fighter pilots only want the F designation lol
Kill AWACS aircraft
If you do some searching on the web it does talk to why there are a few documentaries that explain why mainly for secrecy
Younger i though it was a brand new plane, only saw it like 20 years ago on tv
Was that an F-22 or 35?
Maybe it's just perspective, but buddy in the black shirt at 5:22 came extremely close to getting 3000 psi of aluminum to the spine.
I’m just glad not many people remember the original name for the 117…the Wobbly Goblin. 😂
That was never its name, just a media invention.
If only it had bigger engines !!! Speed if life !
People still use DSLR's?
O my god night hawk jets has been retired from the military base...now it is a ghost jet
Interesting how the ground crew for this jet are all wearing civilian clothing ad one has a Skunk Works t-shirt
They are likely retired flight crews that worked on them in the 2000s, no current Airmen would be familiar with it
Correct there are no schools to familiarize active duty on this jet. Even subsystems maintainers still need training as its very unique. But what folks need to know even back in the day Lockheed still had civilian representatives working alongside active duty forces. I miss these days but will always still be a Nighthawk from TTR.
Civilian maintenance on the 117
They are probably retired flight crews that worked on them in the 2000s
@@rubenlopez3364 Agreed. Also possible they are employees directly from Lockheed.
It only carried 2 bombs but youd never see it coming
Landed KSAV rwy 19 while these boys were taxiing. Nothing in the NOTAMs about Sentry Savannah. Kept the controllers busy!
I wish my ride wuz That...Jazzy !
How about that mach .99 through Star wars canyon?
How about I fly through Star Wars Canyon again? And again. And again…
ruclips.net/video/gmdt2Q8BULo/видео.html
@@MikeKillian This was pre hornet mishap?
@@JSFGuy nope, that no-fly BS is only for active military planes, it doesn’t apply to privately owned & operated jets
@@MikeKillian Right, didn't know if that extended, sounds good.