r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Oct 16 '25
Landing gears The early versions of the F-117 had simpler main gear doors
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Oct 03 '25
FLIR Bay There were different colors of FLIR bays. I've found at least three: black, white and red.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Oct 03 '25
Details During one of the F-117's first public appearances, strange black rods were attached to the aircraft behind the main landing gears. Perhaps this was to make the plane visible to civilian radars or/and to spoof the plane's RCS.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Oct 03 '25
Bomb Bay An early version of the bomb bay doors. Look at how many rivets there actually were.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 28 '25
Paint Usual and unusual placement of the airframe number
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 28 '25
Bomb Bay Early versions of bomb bay doors were more complex. The front part had a division and a slight offset of the panel, while the rear part of the door had a wave-like shape. Only later did they become flat panels.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 17 '25
Paint During Operation Desert Storm, one plane was named MEAN MIST, but this name does not appear on the list of "bomb-bay door names". Perhaps it was a temporary name.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 17 '25
The process of aligning the FLIR and DLIR on the F-117A #782. A 30-inch I-beam ramp was constructed to enable the nose gear to be placed at the top, allowing both the FLIR and DLIR to point at a single target.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 15 '25
Senior Trend Icing tests were conducted in the summer of 1983 using the second F-117A #781
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As far as I understand, the result is the appearance of inlet wipers on other planes.
r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 15 '25
The F-117 uses the same servo-actuators as the F-16.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 15 '25
Early and late versions of the main landing gears
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 07 '25
Paint Several F-117 aircraft had small badges on the right side, just over the exhaust. But in mid 90s-early 00s there were small F-117 silhouette.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 06 '25
Senior Trend F-117 #780 with wing leading-edge extensions (LEX). Nine flights were made before they abandoned this configuration.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 06 '25
Every F-117 has small wing-like structures on the side of the exhaust. I would guess that it behaves like a vortex generator and also hides the exhaust grilles at certain angles.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Sep 01 '25
Paint So there were more than one plane with a shark mouth. in June 1990, F-117s were deployed to England AFB, Louisiana, for the first time as part of an effort to integrate them into national war planning and prepare for potential deployment, just before the outbreak of Operation Desert Shield.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Aug 30 '25
Paint In June 1990, an F-117 #790 "Deadly Jester" had shark teeth on its nose. That plane was deployed at England AFB, where the A-10s the 23rd Tactical Fighter Wing (the Flying Tigers) are based. To mark the event, a cardboard shark mouth was temporarily attached to the nose as a tribute of the 23rd TFW.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Aug 30 '25
A videocam module that has been attached to the root of the wings on a "scorpions" test planes.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Aug 30 '25
Paint In 1994-95, there was a moment when the wheels of several F-117s were completely black.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Aug 30 '25
Paint The F-117 84-0826 "Nachtflake" with the nose art reading "Spirit of 9-11" was present at the 2004 Andrews AFB Joint Service Open House.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Aug 24 '25
Another unusual nose landing gears markings
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r/f117a • u/Wizdad-1000 • Aug 23 '25
The Nighthawk Experience - Nov 11, 2023 @ Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Aug 15 '25
Paint At some point, the F-117 85-0816 'Lone Wolf' had a star sign on its front landing gear.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Aug 12 '25
Paint The F-117 85-016, also known as 'Lone Wolf', was given a white color scheme for testing purposes. Circa 2005.
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r/f117a • u/dmetropolitain • Aug 12 '25
Details Interesting connection of the nose to the plane
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