Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft built specifically around stealth technology, its angular, faceted airframe designed using early computer modelling to scatter radar waves away from their source rather than reflecting them straight back. That faceted shape, chosen because smoothly curved stealth shapes were beyond the era's computing power to model accurately, gave it a distinctively angular, almost origami-like appearance. It flew combat missions in the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq invasion, striking heavily defended targets with minimal detection. The US Air Force officially retired it in 2008, though examples have occasionally been spotted flying since.
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Did you know?
The F-117 Nighthawk, the first aircraft built entirely around stealth, struck heavily defended targets undetected in the 1991 Gulf War before its retirement in 2008.
Specifications
| Length | 20.1 m (66 ft) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 13.2 m (43 ft) |
| Height | 3.8 m (12 ft) |
| Persons on board | 1 |
| Crew | 1 |
| Maximum take-off weight | 23.7 t |
| Range | 930 NM (1,722 km) |
| Maximum speed | 561 kt (1,039 km/h) |
| Service ceiling | 45,000 ft (13,716 m) |
| Rate of climb | 10,000 ft/min (50.8 m/s) |
| Take-off distance | 1,000 m (3,281 ft) |
| Landing distance | 1,100 m (3,609 ft) |
| Fuel capacity | 8,300 l |
| Engines | 2x General Electric F404 |
| Units built | 59 |
Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.
In CatchFlights
In CatchFlights the Lockheed F-117 Night Hawk starts as a Legendary catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you. The first catch of a legendary type pays a bonus of its own.
A catch counts for the manufacturer Lockheed, the F-117 Night Hawk family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.
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