A retired US Air Force F-117 Nighthawk that flew more secret missions than any other of the pioneering stealth aircraft, will be placed on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum for permanent exhibition.
The black, angular Nighthawk, tail number 803 and nicknamed 'Unexpected Guest', will be unveiled at the Simi Valley, California, museum in December, says the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.
Reagan had been a proponent of the then top secret F-117 program when he had set out to rebuild the US military through his 'Peace through Strength', program, and even invited British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to join in on the development of what was to become the world's first stealth fighter jet.
Lockheed Martin released a time-lapse video that shows how Unexpected Guest was rolled out of mothballs on a flatbed truck on its way to the museum in mid-August.
After having its highly-toxic, radar-absorbing skin removed, Unexpected Guest left the secretive Tonopha Test Range Airport in Nevada where it had been stored, bound for the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
The 60-second video shows Unexpected Guest covered in a black tarp without its wings on the road to the Palmdale, California, aircraft development facility.
The plane is to be displayed outside the museum, adjacent to a F-14 aircraft.
The F-117's design allowed it to reflect radar waves, and was bolstered by the use of radar-absorbing material.
The aircraft, intended only to be used at night, were painted black to make it even less detectable, says the foundation in a released statement.
Lockheed made 59 Nighthawks and five developmental prototypes between 1981 and 2008. The planes were quietly entered into service in 1984 during the end of Reagan's first term until they were publicly acknowledged four years later.
Unexpected Guest bares the distinction of having flown 78 combat sorties, more than all other F-117s combined. The aircraft was part of the 416th Tactical Fighter Wing, 'The Ghost Riders.'
'I was privileged to fly the airplane when the program was classified', says retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott Stimpert, who secretly piloted Unexpected Guest when it flew on its secret missions.
'It was an exciting time, and a vitally important capability, but not something you could share with friends or family,' he says in the foundation statement.
'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'.
(Source: Ralph R Ortega, The Daily Mail- 15/11/2019)
