Last F-117 To Be Retired Next Month

It's hard to believe it's been 27 years since the Air Force put the F-117 into service. The first attack aircraft to employ stealth technology has spent those years patrolling hostile skies from Serbia to Iraq... but the F-117 fleet will soon be making what will likely be its last flights.

While seven of the 59 planes built crashed over the years, the F-117 proved stealth technology works. The plane distinguished itself during Desert Storm by flying numerous missions without ever being hit by enemy fire.

A total of 558 pilots have flown the F-117 over the years. They called themselves "bandits." Each pilot, after his first stealth flight, was given an informal bandit number, making him forever part of a unique group.

Since December 2006, the Air Force has been slowly retiring the F-117 fleet, mothballing the planes at the Tonopah Test Range Airfield in Nevada... ironically, where the jet made its first flight in 1981.

As ANN reported, the first six F-117s based at New Mexico's Holloman Air Force Base headed for retirement in Nevada in March 2007. The last F-117 is slated to arrive at Tonopah next month.

The government has no plans to bring the fighter out of retirement, but could do so if necessary. The stand down will allow the Air Force to devote more funding to modernizing its fleet -- including acquiring more F-22 Raptors, with their updated stealth technology.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, which manages the F-117 program, held an informal, private retirement ceremony Tuesday with military leaders, base employees and representatives from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

Another quiet retirement event will be held in Palmdale, CA on April 21, after which the plane will slip quietly into history... an appropriately stealthy exit.

FMI: www.af.mil