I think the CAF needs to aquire one of these...

[RyanShort1]

In the spirit of the old "rebellion"

See the following link: http://gizmodo.com/5052279/f+117-stealt ... --pile-of-

Ryan

[TAdan]

Glad to see the Govt. found the best way to get it's money out of our tax dollars.

Coming soon, your new Stealth Toaster...

God forbid they donate them to a museum...

[John Dupre]

What a shame. I wonder why this one was scrapped? I thought they were being kept in some sort of ready reserve status?

By the way this is my first post to WIX. I can't imagine why it has taken me so long! I hope to contribute with good information and some pictures. Went to lots of airshows in New England from the 70s to the 90s and Oshkosh twice.

John Dupre'

[daveymac82c]

The pictures from the article really remind me of the Avro Arrow scrapping shots. Both sad, but at least the F-117 got to prove its worth.

Thanks for posting.

Cheers,

David

[Steve Nelson]

Could you imagine this showing up at an airshow...but with a Confederate flag?

SN

[Nathan]

Glad to see the Govt. found the best way to get it's money out of our tax dollars.

Coming soon, your new Stealth Toaster...

God forbid they donate them to a museum...

lol....a 2 Billion dollar steath bomber cut up and made into a $19.95 toaster.

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

Could you imagine this showing up at an airshow...but with a Confederate flag?

SN

That should be an easy one for one of the photo shop experts here!

[Randy Haskin]

Don't take what you see in those "scrapping" photos at face value.

Look at the paint job -- it is one of the gray/blue schemes that the development aircraft had.



I have to suspect that the item being destroyed in the photo is some kind of static mockup, trainer, or something of the like, and not one of the flyable aircraft in storage at Tonopah...which are painted black.

One of the reasons the airplanes are in storage at Tonopah instead of sitting in the desert at AMARC is because of the Radar Absorbing Material -- some nasty, carcinogenic stuff that they need to carefully control exposure to.

Since that's the case, you wouldn't likely see them being broken up "out back" of this hangar complex with a backhoe, where all of that toxic crap will be spewed out into the air with everyone working right there.

Last edited by Randy Haskin on Sun Sep 21, 2008 7:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[RyanShort1]

Randy - is it also possible that it is a regular aircraft with the RAM removed?

Ryan

[Randy Haskin]

Randy - is it also possible that it is a regular aircraft with the RAM removed?

Ryan

No, the RAM is not an all-over blanket like that...and the airplanes certainly are not painted funky camo "underneath".

Again, this is some kind of trainer or mockup. I suspect the facility in the photo is Lockheed Palmdale or Burbank, where that thing was probably used to help fit systems or something. The facility in the photo is definitely NOT Tonopah.

EDIT: Here's a shot of them inside the hangars at TTR:

[hang the expense]

Can you imagine someone walking up on that hangar in 50 years and finding these birds?

[Steve Nelson]

Well, if the movie "Battlefield Earth" was right, a bunch of cavemen could just fire 'em up and fly 'em!

SN