Ars Technica "Stealth turns 40"

arstechnica.com...

I can't vouch for everything in this article, but overall it looks reasonable. But it mentions two F-117 crashes that people have tried to dig up. Now the Bakersfield crash is a bit more than just trying to dig up stuff. People recovered pieces of the plane. I have no idea about the other crash location being on public land.

a reply to: gariac

The article referred only to the two HAVE BLUE crashes. The first aircraft had been sufficiently intact after the accident that years later some people thought it might be possible to dig it up and restore it for static display. The second airframe was completely destroyed upon impact. The burial site of HB1001 was apparently not found and may be under a now-paved road.

One faulty detail in the article is in the opening paragraphs. HAVE BLUE was not the same as the "Hopeless Diamond." Most of the early Harvey concepts featured rounded edges. The "Hopeless Diamond" was the baseline fully faceted test shape.

a reply to: Shadowhawk

Now do they talk about Kingfish or the Quiet Bird? Because digging into them makes it pretty clear that modern stealth shaping is practically eligible for Medicare at this point.

Especially given the non-zero chance that one or both of them got off the pole and into the air when Kennedy or Johnson was president.

a reply to: Shadowhawk

Regarding the corrections, Ars has a comment section. If you want, I can do the honors.

Yeah my bad on which airframe crashed.