Stunning Video And Photos Of Skunk Works Preparing An F-117 For The Reagan Library
The stealth Nighthawk named Unexpected Guest flew more combat sorties than any other and will now sit alongside an F-14 Tomcat at the Reagan Library.
Lockheed Martin's video confirms shows the F-117 heading to the Skunk Works facilities at Plant 42 in southern California on a flatbed truck. This truck, as well as the orange pickup truck escorting it, is identical to the one that bystanders in that area saw carrying a Nighthawk in mid-August and this all but confirms that the plane they saw was Unexpected Guest.
A picture of an F-117 on a flat bed truck near Plant 42 in mid-August 2019. It is extremely likely that this was Unexpected Guest based on the video Lockheed Martin has released.
When we see the Nighthawk unwrapped in the video, it is "in the white," indicating that its specialized and highly toxic radar-absorbing skin was removed before leaving storage at the secretive Tonopah Test Range Airport. This is where the remaining fleet of 51 F-117s have been in semi-active storage since their official retirement since 2008. As the War Zone first reported in August, this is also where the Air Force has built a new "media blasting" facility to strip this coating from those jets in preparation to destroy them. The service has set aside a dozen jets to go on display in the future in museums, such as the Reagan Presidential Library and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
Though "in the white," Unexpected Guest retained a piece of artwork on one of its main landing gear bay doors bearing its nickname and a depiction of the character Beetlejuice riding a precision-guided bomb through the roof of a building. Beetlejuice first appeared in a movie of the same name in 1988, the same year that the U.S. government officially disclosed the Nighthawk to the public.
We then get to see an interesting time-lapse of personnel reattaching the wings and installing dummy fittings in place of the radar-absorbing composite fairings that originally lined the jet's edges. This type of work would also be necessary to remove these sensitive features from other areas of the aircraft, including the exhaust area and tails.
The entire demilitarization process is complex and time-consuming and also involves stripping out any other sensitive materials and equipment, as well as recovering any parts that might still be useful. You can read more about this in this past War Zone piece.
The video then shows the team at Skunk Works priming and painting the jet. Since the aircraft will be on display outside, the mutliple layers of paint are also necessary to seal it against the elements.
The scheme it is now waring is what it wore when it was assigned to the 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron, the Ghostriders, later known just as the 416th Fighter Squadron, an operational F-117 unit that existed between 1989 and 1993. It also carries the appropriate "TR" tail code for Tonopah Test Range Airport, which is where the unit was based. The 416th was one of the units that brought the F-117 "into the light" after the U.S. government declassified its existence in 1988.
The insignia of the 416th Tactical Fighter Wing, the "Ghost Riders," on F-117 Tail Number 803 following preparations at Plant 42 to send it to the Reagan Presidential Library.
"I was privileged to fly the airplane when the program was classified," retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott Stimpert, who was among the pilots who flew this particular aircraft operationally, said in the Reagan Presidential Foundation's statement. "It was an exciting time, and a vitally important capability, but not something you could share with friends or family. I’m glad the airplane can come out of the dark to take its rightful place in the light, somewhere it can be seen and appreciated by the people it helped to protect."
During its service life, Unexpected Guest was the most active of the F-117s, flying a total of 78 combat missions, more than all other Nighthawks, including taking part in the type's combat debut over Panama in 1989, according to the Reagan Presidential Foundation. You can read more about the Nighthawk's developmental and operational history, as well as about how much of a proponent of the aircraft President Reagan was, in this past War Zone piece.
Unexpected Guest will be on display, barring a change of plans by the Reagan Presidential Foundation, starting Dec. 7. Check out this awesome gallery of images Lockheed shot during its preparation for the F-117's new home:
Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com