This image of a Stealth fighter (an F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter, to be accurate) decorated with the Stars and Stripes has been circulating around. At first I suspected it had been photoshopped. After all, painting a Stealth Fighter with bright colors would seem to defeat its purpose. But it's real. Some googling revealed that this Stars-and-Striped Stealth was featured at an Edwards Air Force Base Airshow in 2005 (scroll down almost to the bottom of the page to find it). A caption indicates that "This aircraft has completed its' flight test career and will be relocated to Holloman AFB." The photo was taken by Fred Bruenjes, from whom prints can be bought. Below is a picture of the same plane flying with a few other planes from the show.
Comments
I always assumed that there was something about their shape, the altitudes they fly at, and other radar-avoiding technologies they use that made them stealth. not the paint job.
:eyeroll:
These days, being able to *see* a plane does you very little good in combat - they just fly too fast to fire at without a radar lock. The shooting down of the stealth fighter that *did* happen was basically a stroke of luck the equivalent of winning the lottery. Interestingly enough, there was footage of people cavorting upon the wreckage, taking home bits of it. According to Air Force spolespeople, the radar-absorbing materials used are *highly* carcinogenic, and they were saying it'd be a miracle if any of the people shown were alive five years later...
Oh, and for bad camoflauge, look at Project Zebra: painting the hulls of battleships with confusing angular stripes, makign it hard to tell what direction they were going, making torpedo fire trickier.
I suspect, however, that the airplane was just painted up with some ordinary paint, so that it will look pretty at airshows. This is done often enough; just look at the F-16 in the picture with the F-117.
What always made me wonder, though, was why it's designated as a fighter aircraft. Shouldn't it be a bomber, or at least a ground attack airplane? All I can figure is that's it was intended as some sort of misdirection, sort of a hoax to confuse spies.
I always assumed that there was something about their shape, the altitudes they fly at, and other radar-avoiding technologies they use that made them stealth. not the paint job."
Turns out a shade of grey is much more useful in this aspect. It is why all our fighters are painted as such. While looking up on a clear day, the sky is blue, looking horizontally through haze and clouds grey is much better.
"Well the military gets a lot of money, so I'm sure they could afford a temporary paint job for an air show to inspire patriotism."
Paint is used for corrosion control as well. If this bird was scheduled for an air show, but was about to be retired and still needed a new paint job to prevent corrosion, why not have some fun with it? 😊
"The paint will probably be removed before any active duty happens..."
It was on its way out. Went out in style though...
"These days, being able to *see* a plane does you very little good in combat - they just fly too fast to fire at without a radar lock."
Wow, couldn't disagree with you more. If you can see a plane, you can shoot it down in most cases. This is why the plane is black (it flew exclusively at night for combat missions).
"Oh, and for bad camoflauge, look at Project Zebra: painting the hulls of battleships with confusing angular stripes, makign it hard to tell what direction they were going, making torpedo fire trickier."
I would call that a USEFUL paint job. 😊
"I suspect, however, that the airplane was just painted up with some ordinary paint, so that it will look pretty at airshows. This is done often enough; just look at the F-16 in the picture with the F-117."
The F-16 is painted in a scheme to make it highly visible during testing (you don't want to be testing a bomb and the cameraman can't find the &$%#ing airplane). This is common at Edwards and other test sites.
"What always made me wonder, though, was why it's designated as a fighter aircraft. Shouldn't it be a bomber, or at least a ground attack airplane? All I can figure is that's it was intended as some sort of misdirection, sort of a hoax to confuse spies."
Though the Air Force has never really come clean, it was likely an attempt to get by the treaties we made with the USSR. When we made a new bomber, we had to tell them. By naming it as a fighter, well...
As the story said, the plane was about to be retired, so why not have fun with the repainting? As for using blue as a stealth color, the F-117 was primarily a night bomber so black makes sense. Also the paint used is a radar absorbing paint and it comes in a variety of colors as long as it
The paint usually used on some of these planes is very inexpensive and easily washes off... well not that easily. The normal every day public wouldnt have their cars painted with this particular type of paint.
Some squadrons do use more expensive paint, VX9 and a few others out there.
I remember trying to wash off some desert cammo on some F14s just over 10 years ago and it sucked!
Compared to real paint though, it was relatively easy.
I think the paint was a corn starch based paint so it was harmless to the environment.
Aliterate means a person who can read and write but chooses not to learn from what he or she reads. So is it those who think themselves so literate are really semi-illiterate when they call those who use the word aliterate illiterate and am I being alliterate?
Now don't hurt your brain Charybdis as I did mine. Have a little fun with the words and the form of writing.