TARGET 120222

THE SILVER CEREMONY
Honoring the F117 Nighthawk's 25 years of service

Held at Holloman's Heratige Park on Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico

Holloman AFB, Friday, Oct. 27, 2006: The F117A Stealth fighter was the recipient of honor during a silver (25th) anniversary reception for the aircraft. Everyone involved in its creation, maintenance and flight were recognized for their participation. While the ceremony was not open to the general public, it was open to all the military personnel on the base, their families, the people and families of those who had worked on the F117A throughout its 25 years, and the dignitaries being honored.

Note: for those of you who are describing the entire site: There is a park behind the dais, seen in the picture above, that is filled with historic planes that have been flown from Holloman AFB since it was established. There are paved walkways between the planes, gravel under the planes (as seen in the picture below), and there are no restrictions against touching and inspecting the planes. The entire park is surrounded by the flags of the historic military units that have been responsible for the planes.

The Seargent at Arms calls the military personnel to attention
as the base commander and the guest of honor arrive on the dais.

As with all military ceremonies, the event then opened with
the installation of the flags.

The Wing (Air Force military unit) commander welcomed attendees and listed the accomplishments of the personnel who worked and flew
the F117A throughout its 25 years of service. There was also a moment of silence to remember those who
have died during the time it was a top secret project, and during its service in military action.

Current 49th Fighter Wing Commander Brig. Gen. Dave "Fingers" Goldfein, aka Bandit 703, is new to the command. But he said he is very proud to be part of that history.

The guest of honor, Bill Bird, presented little-known information about the history of the F117A, and his part in developing it.

Before the F-117A was an F-117A, it was a top secret Air Force project, kept out of the public eye. One of the visitors to Friday's event was Bob Bird, the man in charge of keeping the secret from the beginning.

In 1976, Air Force Special Agent Bird ordered to keep a project quiet, and he became security director for one of the biggest secrets in the Air Force.

"I was told I was going to travel a lot and keep silent," Bird said. "I had to keep Congress, 122 companies and the Pentagon quiet."

Bird said people he would have to brief on the security of the project couldn't believe the success in keeping the secret.

For four years, Bird kept the security blanket over everything until he was assigned to elsewhere.

He remembers an early model of a stealth plane when it was tested on a pole at White Sands in 1977, the first time the project came to New Mexico. The model was so effective it couldn't be seen by radar.

He helped expand the base at Tonopah Test Range where the F-117A project was carried on in secret in the early 1980s.

"I'm just really proud of what they did," Bird, a retired lieutenant colonel, said of the history he is part of.

Before the ceremony, 25 F117A stealth fighters had taken off in preperation for a flyover.

Before the ceremony began, 25 F117A stealth fighters had taken off in preparatoin for an honorary fly-over. The reason they had taken off beforehand is that they are extremely loud. Most people think that since it is a stealth fighter, it can't be detected by people, as well as by radar. Not so. When a fighter takes off, it can be heard for miles in all directions. When 25 of them take off, it can rattle windows for the same distance. The takeoff, therefore, had to be done before ceremonies began, and the planes had to fly around, waiting for their cue. But when the fly-over came, it was awesome. The F117As are not only loud when taking off, but also in flight. The crowd was spellbound (except the babies, who were startled stiff) by the roar in the sky overhead.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

File footage

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a single-seat, twin-engine stealth ground-attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). A product of Lockheed Skunk Works and a development of the Have Blue technology demonstrator, the F-117 was the first operational aircraft to be designed around stealth technology. The maiden flight for the type was conducted in 1981, and it achieved initial operating capability status in October 1983. The F-117 was "acknowledged" and revealed to the world in November 1988 and officially decomissioned in a classified ceremony on April 22, 2008.

And for those of you doing Phase 6 work.....

FEEDBACK MAP

If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, please take a look at the following web sites for more:

All Things Aero website
Wikipedia
Federation of American Scientists (pictures, diagrams, data)
Air Force Technology website

Note: Although I was in attendance, I did not take any of the photos shown. They are from the Office of Public Affairs, Holloman AFB.