"Just a nice Picture...!"
On 4 May 2022, one TR coded Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk was seen arriving at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP (GA), as "Knight11".
Far from being retired, the single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack F-117A, with serial number 84-0828, arrived at the Savannah Air Dominance Center to take part in the exercise Sentry Savannah 2022-1.
Strikingly, now being used as an adversary for F-16C Fighting Falcons, F-22A Raptors and F-35A Lightning IIs, at the beginning of the nineties, "828" was the "37TFW" flagship. During that time, after its secret was revealed to the general public, the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing operated out of Tonopah (NV).
In September 2021, two TR coded F-117A Nighthawks visited California's Air National Guard 144th Fighter Wing.
The F-117 was based on the Have Blue technology demonstrator. The Nighthawk's maiden flight took place in 1981 at Groom Lake (NV) and the aircraft achieved Initial Operating Capability (IOC) status in 1983. The aircraft was shrouded in secrecy until it was revealed to the public in 1988. Of the 64 F-117s built, 59 were production versions, with the other five being prototypes.
The US Congress had ordered all the F-117s mothballed from 30 September 2006 onwards, were to be maintained "in a condition that would allow recall of that aircraft to future service" as part of the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act. By April 2016, lawmakers appeared ready to "remove the requirement that certain F-117 aircraft be maintained in a condition that would allow recall of those aircraft to future service", which would move them from storage to the aerospace maintenance and regeneration yard in Arizona, to be scavenged for hard-to-find parts, or completely disassembled.
On 11 September 2017, it was reported that in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, signed into law on 23 December 2016, "the Air Force will remove four F-117s every year to fully divest them — a process known as demilitarizing aircraft". However, not a single Nighthawk has appeared at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), also known as the Boneyard, near Tucson (AZ).
Misael Ocasio also made a nine minute video compilation of the Nighthawk appearing at the Sentry Savannah exercise. Enjoy watching this rare aircraft being put through its paces!
Photo by Misael Ocasio