Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk

what is it?

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, subsonic, twin-engined stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was the first operational aircraft to be designed with stealth technology. Work on what would become the F-117 began in the 1970s to counter increasingly sophisticated Soviet surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · delta wing · retractable tricycle gear · 13.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 1,100 km/htop speed
• range 1,722 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 1passengers
• size 23.8 tmax take-off weight
• built 64made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 45 years ago, in 1981.
• 🏎️Top speed is 8.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 13.2 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 4 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 1,722 km: 10× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.6× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1981-06-18

introduced

1983

retired

2008

status

retired

number built

64

role

stealth attack aircraft

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Skunk Works

engines

2× General Electric F404-F1D2 / General Electric F404

crew

1

passengers

1

length

20.1 m

wingspan

13.2 m

height

3.8 m

max take-off weight

23.8 t

top speed

1,100 km/h

cruise speed

1,100 km/h

range

1,722 km

ceiling

13,716 m

wings

delta wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.