Air Force quietly retires one of its most secret jets

After 27 years of service with the US Air Force, the "old school", low-observable, OG Stealth Fighter, the F-117A is being quietly slipped into mothballs next month. Program managers at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH are hosting a private retirement ceremony for the jet today along with officials from Holloman AFB in New Mexico where the fleet of 45 Nighthawks is based. The last flight of F-117s will leave Holloman for Palmdale, CA on April 21 where they will hold another ceremony at the home of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. The Skunk Works team of engineers were the grand wizards of stealth technology in the late 1970s when the now obsolete F-117 technology was created. The last flight of Nighthawks will then continue on to the Tonopah Test Range in Tonopah, NV which was the home of the F-117 flight test program. There they will be mothballed with the (slim) possibility they could come back out of retirement for service if needed. The rush to retirement was in part due to free up funding to field more F-22 Raptors.

This aircraft holds a special place in the hearts and minds of my family as certain members were very involved in the development program for this awesome plane. It's amazing how fast it's time went. Oh well, thanks Nighthawk for your valiant 27 years of service to defending this country!