In March 2021, we at Vintage Aviation News covered the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum’s acquisition of a Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk for their museum in Ashland, Nebraska, just outside of Omaha. Now, after five years of restoration, the museum has placed their F-117A Nighthawk on display in the museum’s Hangar A.
The aircraft was built by Lockheed’s Skunk Works Division and accepted by the USAF as serial number 85-0831. First flown on October 20, 1987, with Lockheed test pilot Tom Morgenfeld at the controls, the aircraft made its official USAF acceptance flight on November 27, 1987. Aircraft 85-0831 never saw combat but instead spent much of its operational career as a test aircraft, flying primarily with the Combined Test Force (CTF) at Palmdale Airport and out of nearby Edwards Air Force Base with the 410th Test and Evaluation Squadron. When Skunk Works Division’s long-serving president Ben Rich retired, aircraft 85-0831 temporarily had a large Skunk Works logo painted on the underside of its fuselage for the retirement ceremony before being returned immediately to a standard all-black scheme.
On August 11, 2008, F-117A 85-0831 was officially stricken from the USAF inventory and placed into storage at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, along with many other retired F-117A Nighthawks. Reportedly the highest-time example in the fleet (2,720.7 flight hours). The aircraft remained there until 2021, when in the midst of several other F-117s being sent to museums across the United States, aircraft 85-0831 was selected to be sent to the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum in Ashland. Much of the work involved in bringing the F-117A Nighthawk into the SACAM was done by personnel of the 155th Air Refueling Wing of the Nebraska Air National Guard, based at Lincoln Air National Guard Base, Nebraska.
Since its arrival in 2021, F-117A 85-0831 was inside the Durham Restoration gallery of Hangar B, sharing the restoration gallery with the museum’s Avro Vulcan B.2, RAF s/n XM573, Convair T-29A s/n 50-0190, and Grumman HU-16B Albatross s/n 51-0006. This summer, the museum worked with graphics installation company Mobile Wraps to find a unique solution to completing the restoration of the F-117A Nighthawk.
Having previously created graphics for the museum’s pickup truck, Mobile Wraps worked to install black wraps to the fuselage, wings, and tail stabilizers of the aircraft. With the aircraft ready for wrapping by the end of July 2025, the team from Mobile Wraps completed their work a few weeks, and on August 25, F-117A 85-0831 was officially rolled out from the Durham Restoration Gallery and towed into Hangar A. From there, museum restoration staff will apply the final details to the aircraft, from USAF roundels to squadron and unit markings for permanent display alongside the museum’s extensive collection of Cold War-era US military aircraft.
For more information on the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum, visit the museum’s website HERE.
This Nighthawk is one of a series of aircraft that were recently assigned to aviation museums across the United States. In November 2019, Lockheed Nighthawk F-117A 82-0803 went on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. This airframe reportedly flew 78 combat missions, more than any other examples of the breed. In October 2020, the Palm Springs Air Museum received F-117A 85-0833 Black Devil, which, following a period of restoration, went on display in April 2022 in a specially designed exhibit at their new Jim Houston Pavilion. In December 2020, the Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Museum welcomed F-117 Nighthawk 85-0817 Shaba to their facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In early 2021, Castle Air Museum had the good fortune to receive confirmation that they too would receive a Nighthawk; F-117A 85-0813 Toxic Avenger arrived in July 2022, and its restoration is currently well-advanced. Then in March 2021, the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum in Ashland, Nebraska announced the assignment of F-117A 85-0831, which is reportedly the highest-time example in the fleet with 2,720.7 flight hours. Last but not least, the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia received its Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk in May 2023 and, following a period of refurbishment, will go on display sometime next year.
On July 11th, 2024, another Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk found its way to an aviation museum when F-117A USAF #82-0819 Raven Beauty arrived at the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma. If there was ever a museum that was deserving of an F-117 it is the Stafford Air & Space Museum, which is named in honor of Weatherford native and legendary test pilot and astronaut, Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford, the man who wrote the specs and established the program that led to the development of the F-117 Stealth Fighter, and later, the B-2 Stealth Bomber. The museum stated it required “eight years of preparation” to bring the fighter to Weatherford, which sits along Route 66. Officials posted several photos and videos of Raven Beauty as it was being hauled down Weatherford streets to its final destination.
