The very first time I saw this beauty was in the movie Executive decision. At first I thought "that's some alien warship" I assumed it was purely a Sci-Fi prop used to incinerate us mere mortals. I was wrong it actually did exist & is called the F-117 Stealth fighter. The inky black, angular, radar-evading beast, which spent 27 years in the Air Force arsenal secretly patrolling hostile skies from Serbia to Iraq, will be put to rest or foster care next month in Nevada. Stealth technology used on the F-117 was developed in the 1970s to help evade enemy radar. While not invisible to radar, the F-117's shape and coating greatly reduced its detection. The F-117, a single-seat aircraft, was designed to fly into heavily defended areas undetected and drop its payloads with surgical precision. Fifty-nine F-117s were made; 10 were retired in December 2006 and 27 since then, the Air Force said. Seven of the planes have crashed, one in Serbia in 1999. The Air Force decided to accelerate the retirement of the F-117s to free up money to modernize the rest of the fleet. The F-117 is being replaced by the F-22 Raptor, which also has stealth technology. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, which manages the F-117 program, will have an informal, private retirement ceremony Tuesday with military leaders, base employees and representatives from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

The last F-117s scheduled to fly will leave Holloman on April 21, stop in Palmdale, California, for another retirement ceremony, then arrive on April 22 at their final destination: Tonopah Test Range Airfield in Nevada, where the jet made its first flight in 1981. The government has no plans to bring the fighter out of retirement, but could do so if necessary. Although the F-22 Raptor does a formidable job in the skies the F-117 will always be on my coolest flying machines list.

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