RAF F-117A in Iraq 2003

[Devilfish]

Not so far fetched after all

http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148351470666014&drKey=1082&libId=iximbbhu01000bl0000DAci3os25i&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fs15.zetaboards.com%2FMainly_Military%2Ftopic%2F10099493%2F1%2F%23new&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fukdefencejournal.org.uk%2Fronald-reagan-offered-britain-f-117-stealth-aircraft%2F&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fs15.zetaboards.com%2FMainly_Military%2Fsearch%2F%3Fc%3D5&title=Ronald%20Reagan%20offered%20Britain%20the%20F-117%20stealth%20aircraft&txt=https%3A%2F%2Fukdefencejournal.org.uk%2Fronald-reagan-offered-britain-f-117-stealth-aircraft%2F

[PR19_Kit]

Interestingly the aircraft on that linked page has the same squadron markings (Yellow bars with green stripes - I can't remember which unit it is) as Zac's model.

Perhaps Zac has good connections somewhere? 

[KiwiZac]

I can neither confirm nor deny.

[PR19_Kit]

I can neither confirm nor deny.

[kantoku71]

lol they would have 99% crash rate if given to iraq

[Weaver]

Nice one Zac: I saw that UKDefJournal article the other day too.

[Gondor]

Yellow bars with green stripes - I can't remember which unit it is

That's 3 Squadron markings

Gondor

[Rheged]

Please, sir...........

I'm better at assembling words rather  than assembling styrene.  Please may I take your excellent piece of work and try to produce a backstory appropriate to it?   If you already have the matter under way, I'll simply await your opus.

Sorry it's taken so long, life got in the way, but here is a thought as to how the F-117 made it into RAF service

So, how did the  F-117 end up  in RAF Service?

The preliminary design of the F-117 "Nighthawk" can be traced back to 26th February 1935. After Watson-Watt and Wilkins had carried out their famous experiment at Daventry (1), they drove the Morris Commercial T type van (grandly named the travelling laboratory) back to their base.  During the drive, it is said that there was discussion on the subject "We can now detect aeroplanes by radio waves.......so how can we hide them again?"
During and just after the Second World War, the scientific community at the Radar Research Establishment at Malvern explored this question in detail.  The airfields at Defford and Pershore played host to several curiously modified aircraft.  A great deal of the research work remains classified, but it is suggested that the British V bombers had embedded instead of podded engines as on the B47 and B52 as a result of this work.

The published work of Petr Ufimtsev (2) in the 1960's, taken into consideration with shared material from Malvern, allowed the US Defense Department to engage Lockheed to design and build a technology demonstrator  known as "Have Blue" (3).  The success of Have Blue led the government to increase funding for stealth technology. Much of that increase was allocated towards the production of an operational stealth aircraft, the Lockheed F-117A, under the program code name "Senior Trend" It is not been widely known that this program received some finance and considerable scientific and technical input from RRE Malvern. The F-117  first flew in 1981 but remained a black program until late 1998 when its existence was publically admitted.  Two F-117A airframes were flown by C5 freighter to RAF Machrihanish  in late March 1984 and housed in the large  Gaydon hanger there for flight testing in  challenging climatic conditions; all previous testing to have been undertaken in the more favourable conditions of the Western USA.   Machrihanish was chosen as the UK flight test centre as the RAF considered the local population were " a reasonable bunch, who won't take photos and either sell them to the Kremlin or (even worse) the Japanese kit manufacturers".

As a result of this considerable technical  assistance ,US president  Ronald Reagan formally offered Margaret Thatcher up to 25 of the F-117  during their meeting at the White House on 16 November 1988, just after the existence of the aircraft had been publically announced.   The eventual stationing of cruise missiles in the UK was also part of the bargain. There was a degree of resistance in official Washington to "the release of American secrets to a  foreign power": Reagan is reputed to have responded to congressional leaders that " A good half of those US secrets were given to us by the Brits!!  If they hadn't told us, we'd still be in the mire" **Please note this is an expurgated transcript, with much unparliamentary language  edited out**

Thus, in early 1992,  3 Squadron RAF were reported as operational with 12 F-117 aircraft and 4 held at an un named maintenance unit as spares.  Very little is known about the operation of this  RAF squadron.  During the Gulf Wars and Kosovo fighting, they were deployed to Cyprus, and have been reported operating from an Indian airbase in the Thar Desert between late 2004 and the end of 2009. All 16 airframes were withdrawn from service in the 2015 defence review, and are held in secure  storage at RAF St Athan

All but two of the aircraft were  re-engined in 2004 with Rolls Royce EJ200 engines, which reduced the stealth characteristics of the airframe, but improved fuel efficiency and maintenance.  Rolls Royce provided the support for the original  General Electric F404-F1D2 turbofans and made several modifications, the modified engines being ironically referred to as the Rolls Royce  Ohio  turbofan.

During RAF service, the F-117 was known as either Snark or the Boojum  (4)  ,showing  that the squadron appreciated the works of Lewis Carroll.


1   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_Home#Daventry_experiment
2   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr_Ufimtsev
3   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Have_Blue
4   https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43909

[PR19_Kit]

Brill! 

Especially the bit about Reagan. 

[DogfighterZen]

Good story!

[Rheged]

Thank you, gentlemen.  My only aim was to try to produce a backstory that did credit to a first rate build.   Thanks for letting me play with your idea Zac!!

[NARSES2]

Great backstory