Combat aircraft

Above: An F-117A

in the ‘Canyon’ at

Holloman in 2003,

with a T-38A

companion trainer

taking off in the

background.

Jamie Hunter

Below: A pair of

Nighthawks fl ies

near White Sands,

New Mexico, on

a mission from

Holloman.

Jamie Hunter

The move to Holloman

With the F-117’s incredible capabilities

having now been demonstrated to

the world, the aircraft took another

tentative step out of the shadows

when it was decided to relocate the

 eet from Tonopah to Holloman AFB,

New Mexico. Consequently, on July 8,

1992, the now 37th Fighter Wing (FW)

formally disbanded and its assets were

transferred to the 49th FW. The move

to Holloman eradicated the need for

Key Airlines to shuttle more than 2,500

personnel on 75 weekly  ights to and

from their place of work, saving millions

of dollars per year. It also enabled

the F-117 force to be fully plugged

in to operational planning, as well as

allowing its participation in a number of

exercises.

On August 4, 1992, a Holloman-based

F-117A was lost in an accident for the  rst

time. The pilot ejected safely after aircraft

82-0801 entered an uncommanded roll

and caught  re. A crash investigation

identi ed the cause as an improperly

reinstalled bleed air duct, which led to a

hydraulic line malfunction to the  ight

controls and a  re.

Another unit redesignation in July

1993 saw the 415th and 416th Fighter

Squadrons becoming the 9th FS

‘Flying Knights’ and 8th FS ‘Black Sheep’

respectively, followed in December

by the 417th becoming the 7th FS

‘Screamin’ Demons’.

Another Nighthawk from Holloman

was lost on May 10, 1995. Unfortunately

the pilot of 86-0822 was killed and the

subsequent investigation concluded that

pilot disorientation seemed, yet again, to

be the most likely cause.

Trouble in the Balkans

The end of the Cold War triggered the

collapse of European communism

and the subsequent break-up of

Yugoslavia. A series of bloody wars in

the region ensued in 1991 as states

sought independence from Belgrade.

Despite several UN resolutions and a

UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR), sent

to provide humanitarian assistance,

the Serbs continued to gain ground.

This eventually forced UNPROFOR to

withdraw and NATO to launch Operation

‘Deliberate Force’ on August 30, 1995.

A series of precision air strikes over 20

days against selected targets in Serb-

held areas led to the so-called Dayton

FEATURE ARTICLE // ‘SKUNK WORKS’ AT 75: F-117

58 June 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

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