Author | Message |
seadog96 |
2012-08-05 GMT-5 hours |
This is a sad scene to look at even in picture form.
http://gizmodo.com/5052279/f+117-stealth-fighter-%252B-caterpillar-crusher--pile-of-sadness Regards |
Author | Message |
RutTomcatSee my 1 Photos |
2014-08-29 GMT-5 hours |
Shameful. I hope they saved some of them for museums.
|
Author | Message |
stinger198 |
2014-12-16 GMT-5 hours |
what the heck it can still be used at airshows and museums look at the p-51 and the sr-71 they're in museums and some still fly.
|
Author | Message |
sailingdutchmanSee my 6,134 Photos |
2014-12-17 GMT-5 hours |
Five aircraft were placed in museums including the first 4 YF-117As and some remains of the F-117 shot down over Serbia. Through 2009, one F-117 has been scrapped. F-117 AF Ser. No. 79-0784 was scrapped at the Palmdale test facility on 26 April 2008. It was the last F-117 at Palmdale and was scrapped to test an effective method for destroying F-117 airframes.
Although officially retired, the F-117 fleet remains intact and photos show the aircraft carefully mothballed.F-117s have been spotted flying in the Nellis Bombing Range as recently as 2013. source: Wikipedia |
Author | Message |
seadog96 |
2014-12-21 GMT-5 hours |
The U.S. Air Force has done the same with the C-5 at ARMAC some years ago. The end result was a savings to the tax payers in the use of recycled parts from those aircraft.
|
Author | Message |
absorber |
2021-10-20 GMT-5 hours |
The thing is, while officially retired, the majority of the 51-strong F-117 fleet was never scrapped. Demilitarizing the aircraft is costly and requires dousing them in chemicals to wash off radar-absorbent materials, as well as gutting the airframe and replacing avionics, engines and other classified elements with elaborate mockups. While it was done on a number of occasions for airplanes destined to be transferred to museums, others remained in long-term storage, ready to be either destroyed or repaired and flown again. In 2017 a Congressional mandate to start scrapping them came, saying that four units per year are to be disposed of. But the intention never turned into action.
While at the same time it was stated that a small number of Nighthawks – four, perhaps – will remain airworthy for experimental purposes, later developments show that a lot more of them were flying. Why? Experimentation, of course. It was confirmed in 2019, at the height of speculation, when an Air Force spokesperson admitted to The Drive that yes, the supposed destruction of the fleet is not happening, and that an undisclosed number of F-117s are undertaking undisclosed research activities. Nighthawk is a perfect platform to do that, mostly because its capabilities are well known. The military will not have to close down the entire state if it crashes in a random nature preserve, and its presence at one or another airbase does not have to be kept in secret. Meanwhile, radar-absorbing coatings, newer and stealthier engine exhausts and other gadgets can be swapped on and off, without the fuss that some yet-unseen X-plane would create. This might explain the extraordinary appearance of some Nighthawks, such as the one with white wings, photographed by the Combat Aircraft Journal. They are back and used in a real training mission against USAF pilots If you think you got a disease, go medical. Do not wait! |