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Page 1 of 6  Where? Holloman AFB, NM, USA
When? 26-28/10/2007
2008 will be the last operational year of the unique F-117A Nighthawk. Last year 25 years in service of this remarkable Lockheed construction and an accumulated 250.000 flight hours were celebrated at Holloman AFB, NM in partnership with the X-Prize Foundation. This years Holloman Air and Space Expo (HASE) was most probably the last possibility for the public to see several F-117s before their retirement in April 2008. During the event an estimated crowd of 85.000 visited Holloman AFB.
Scheduled for the week-end of October 26-28, 2007, HASE was build up around the X-Prize Competition at Holloman  AFB and seemed to be the perfect starting point for my trip to the US, of which more will follow later in the 'Trips' section.
The F-117A Nighthawk was the aeronautical highlight for the fans and its presence dominated the show, let alone that a 3-ship formation of this aircraft is surely not a common sight at other airshows. This was unfortunately only presented on Saturday, as only 2 aircraft took off on Sunday for the role demonstration. During this display the aircraft took off, showed several formation fly-bys and then splitted up to cross the show center at exactly the same time from different direction. A tactic commonly applied during combat and an impressive sight to see this precision.
Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk - Static Display & Details
 Compared to aircraft developments nowadays the one of the Nighthawk unbelievable fast. After the contract award to Lockheed Martin in 1978, their Advanced Development Projects, the "Skunk Works," brought an aircraft based on completely new technologies to the first flight after only 31 months on June 18, 1981. Deliveries of 59 aircraft then took place between 1982 and 1990.
The first sorties were flown during operation desert storm, and afterwards it saw action in nearly every other war the USAF was participating in. And its history of action might not have been finished yet, as the airshow commentator mentioned each day during the show that "you never know when this aircraft will strike again for our nation"...
This, however, remains highly unlikely, as the first 10 aircraft have been flown into storage to Tonopah in 2006, and the last ones followed on April, 21st 2008, bringing the Nighthawk's era to an end.
F-117 Flight Display & Role Demonstration
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