old iron wrote:
Hello,
Didn't we hear somewhere that one is going to the Udvar Hazy facility of NASM? If so I assume that will be flown in, so there still may be another opportunity to take pictures of a F-117 in flight.
Kevin
Udvar Hazy's "Become a Pilot Day" open house is June 14. If they are going to fly an F-117 in, that would be the optimal day to do it - more people visit the Dulles Museum on that day than on any other day during the year. I'd really like to know what bird it'll be - I still have time to finish one of my -117 kits as the NASM bird for the model display that I take part in.
I remember the first time I saw an F-117 in person (flying or otherwise). June of 1991 ... was positioned with a bunch of friends on the Memorial Bridge side of the Lincoln Memorial circle for the Desert Storm Victory Parade. We heard the crowd on the other side of the Memorial start cheering and screaming ... and the sound seemed to be rolling down the Mall building towards us like a wave. As the cheering on the other side of the Memorial crested, the -117 screamed over the top of the Memorial very low and going very fast, pulled up into the vertical somewhere between Memorial Bridge and Arlington House, executed several rolls and then peeled off over towards Ballston. Absolutely amazing experience, and it definitely made up for missing seeing the AV-8B sandblast the Hirshorn Sculpture Garden when it landed for display on the Mall.