The First Stealth Plane #shorts

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[Ryarios]

There is a story told by one of the lead engineers of the f-117 of testing the ‘invisibility’ of the aircraft on radar. I forget who it was, but apparently, they tested it by flying it over a U.S. radar station. There were two aircraft used. 1 f-117 and another standard craft. The radar operators only knew they were testing a new low observable aircraft. The f-117 passed over the radar station and shortly after the regular aircraft did. Of course the normal was was tracked. The radar operator gave his commiserations at the failure of the test aircraft to hide from detection and the engineer just smiled and accepted them.

[hewhoshallnotbenamed]

Fun fact, the de Havilland Mosquito, a World War 2 bomber, had a smaller than average radar cross section despite its size supposedly due to it's wing shaped and the fact that it was constructed mainly out of wood.

[ndautomotive]

'We are sorry, we didn't know it's invisible' - Some Serbs in 99.

[honkbob]

Active missions? You forgot Yugoslavia

[Sir_Cactus]

By the definition you have given the F117 is not the first stealth plane. In WW1 the germans experimented with transparent materials for planes to make them harder to see. It did have quite the opposite effect and the aircraft got more visible as result, but it was still designed to be less visible and therefor is the first stealth plane by the definition given.

[davidbarr]

Actually, the first aircraft to employ stealth technology (by design) was the legendary SR-71 Blackbird.

[DankTheGank]

I remember in elementary school durinf recess once in awhile we'd see these flying overhead. It was always so kool when they did, but this was like in 1999-2001.

[davidrutherford]

Apparently there are a few still flying and they're being used in Aggressor squadrons to simulate foreign stealth fighters.

[PortmanRd]

The world's first stealth bomber was the Mosquito.

[dragonsdynamite]

Wow, every country you’d expect to have amazing radar systems to be tested by

[backyardaviator]

Theyre not actually retired but practically put on Long-term Storage in which they occasionally use them both as a Trainer AC & an Aggressor Simulator

[nuru]

I remember seeing the news coverage about it being revealed to the public when I was a kid and being completely blown away with how cool it looked to an 8 year old lol

[TrangleC]

The German company MBB (which was basically the old Messerschmidt company that built those WW2 fighters) was developing the first stealth fighter at about the same time the Have Blue prototype was developed, which then became the F-117.

Look up "MBB Lampyridae".

The reason I mention that here is that amusingly and ironically, the Germans thought stealth technology was a way of making fighter planes cheaper.

The idea was that a stealthy fighter would not need to be fast or maneuverable or have complicated avionics or even a gun. It could just be a modest jet engine, a cockpit and a stealth hull wrapped around it and it would just sneak up on targets and shoot them with missiles and then slink away again unseen.

Very ironic how stealth fighters have been all but bankrupting the Pentagon since then.

[glenmallory]

Don't forget that part of the motivation for building the Spruce Goose was its low visibility to detection by radar.

[makeracistsafraidagain]

My brother lives in the California desert. On a visit in the early 1980s he pointed out black, triangular shape passing against the stars. I asked what is and he said he didn’t know, and that, whatever it is, it apparently didn’t exist.

[doughinkley]

The SR71 had stealth features long before the D117.

[TheAncientSnack.]

I know it's the best they could do without modern computing and with a pretty bad understanding of RCS, but this plane is hard on the eyes.

[cloudhunter]

You forgot to mention the two nighthawks that were downed over Yugoslavia in 1999. (One shot down and the second one damaged so badly it was decomissioned)

[roadtrip]

1982...insanity...that's what it is. retired 2006 and most other nations have yet to be able to develop anything remotely close to its stealth technology.

[WarblesOnALot]

G'day,

Actually, Factitious Buoy...;

Nope...!

During WW-1,
Pretty early on
1915
I want to say...(?).
The Imperial German
Air Service
Purchased and tested a
High Altitude
Reconnaisance Biplane
(Again, I want to say it was built by the Rumpler Company ?)...; which was a
"Full Gap" design whose Fuselage was tall enough to fill the entire distance between the upper and lower Wings, featuring a fully enclosed Cabin (for 2...?).

The (Tractor-layout) Engine was enclosed in a sheet metal Cowling, and the Cabin's sidewalls and floor were made of Plywood, and the rest of the Structure was conventional Wooden Framed & Wire Braced...;
But it was
ENTIRELY
Covered with a form of strong
Transparent,
Clear
"Cellon"...,
A Synthetic Membrane formed from
Chemically-processed
Cellulose.

The concept was that from 10 or 20 thousand ft, nobody would be able to see the Spars, Ribs, Longerons, Struts, etc..., so if the Covering were to be transparent then
Nobody would notice
Anything...
Especially if they
Throttled back and
Beetled about, quietly
Peering down
To see
What was going on...

Problems encountered
Included, but were not limited to...,
Reflected Sunlight, glinting off the shiny Cellon, as well as Spars and the Propeller Disc all contriving to prevent the Machine from ever actually being un-noticable to anybody who looked in it's direction.

Meanwhile, the Cellon rapidly "yellowed" from exposure to Sunlight, detracting from the desirable theoretical Effect..., and the Membrane became brittle at low temperatures - such as were encountered above 10, 000 ft, where the machine was intended to be operated...

Worst of all, "Cellon" is the same stuff which was used for early Movie Film - which was abandoned as soon as Scientific Advancement allowed the use of other materials - because it was intensely flamable when in good condition (not good for Military Aircraft...) and over time it became Chemically unstable, and it degraded - going gooey and soggy, and then it
Spontaneously
Combusted...

That,
There,
Was the actual
FIRST
"Stealth Aircraft".

Just(ifiably ?) sayin',

Stay safe.

;-p

Ciao !