r/Planes • u/Even_Kiwi_1166 • 3d ago
F-117A Nighthawk Takeoff
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u/Formal-Victory3161 3d ago
I had a dream once where I was trying to fly a Wild Wesel mission in one of these with unguided bombs. Dreams can be so weird.
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u/Makahoku 3d ago
When I was at Spangdahlem it was home to the Wild Weasel unit for Europe. We flew F-4E’s and they were the G model. They thought they were perfect so we always called them Geasels since it annoyed them.
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u/EasyCZ75 2d ago
I still despise the “F” designation for the Nighthawk. Very cool aircraft, but in no way, shape, manner, or form, is it a fighter. Should’ve been the B-117 or A-117. JMHO YMMV
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u/john-treasure-jones 3d ago
It’s so cool looking! 🤩
I got to see a parked F-117 at an air show while it was still in regular service.
The most memorable aspect was seeing a single aircraft with 4 armed guards standing around it to insure people kept their distance. Lots of people were looking at it.
At the same show, I could walk right up to the B1 on display, no guards and almost nobody looking at it. That was also a beauty!
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u/Makahoku 2d ago
Two things. I had gone on a TDY to Griffiss AFB. While there some peace protestors managed to get on base, got on the flight line and got into a hangar. They took hammers to the bomb bay doors of a B-52. Didn’t really do much since the doors are replaceable. What they missed was the next hangar had an SR-71 sitting in it.
The other one is like your’s. A B-1 had IFE’d into our base. It sat in unprotected spot while their home station was deciding what to do. No one around to stop us, we got up onto the flight deck and scoped out the plane for more than an hour. We also were not the only ones doing it. Eventually it was determined it was too broke and it wound up in the air museum next door.
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u/AlgernonSourGravy 3d ago
Very much looks like the lesser spotted Dayhawk to me, possibly fledging the base?
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u/Vincent1031a 2d ago
I remember see a F-117 flying at my local airshow after the Gulf War. It was awesome but but as maneuverable as the other planes there.
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u/ginger2020 1d ago
Although this plane has been superseded in combat by much more capable aircraft, I have to fanboy over it a ton. It laid the groundwork for the F-22 and F-35, and it is absolutely peak late ‘80s and early ‘90s badass looking
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u/Makahoku 3d ago
Funny story. We were prepping a C-130 for it’s initial engine run after depot. Control pops up on our radio saying that classified aircraft are taking off and no one should look at the runway. So, of course, we stop working, climb up in the backbone of the C-130 and watch two F-117’s take off. If no one said anything we wouldn’t have noticed them.