Nighthawk makes its final flight

[unhappycamper]

Farewell ceremony
The F-117A goes into storage.


Nighthawk makes its final flight
By Patrick Winn - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 21, 2008 12:50:32 EDT

The U.S. military’s first-ever stealth fighter jet will fly no more.

The last of the Air Force’s F-117A Nighthawks will fly to Nevada’s isolated and heavily fortified Tonopah Test Site today after a farewell ceremony at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.

Maintenance crews will detach the wings and America’s original stealth fighters will retire in climate-controlled storage bays.

Soon the desert skies over Holloman, an outpost in southern New Mexico’s barren dust basin, will belong to the Air Force’s new baby: the F-22 Raptor. Like the Nighthawk, it is stealthy. Unlike the Nighthawk, the Raptor is a lethal gymnast capable of supersonic maneuvers and advanced counterattacks.

It is newer and faster and stronger — and it has nudged the Nighthawk into early retirement. Holloman’s 49th Fighter Wing, home of the Nighthawk, will replace its F-117As with Raptors this summer.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/04/airforce_nighthawk_f117_042108w/