White F-117 Nighthawk

White F-117 Nighthawk
Palmdale, California (CA), US
Is this an F-117 that is just lacking the signature Black RAM paint, or is it a different aircraft like the HAVE BLUE prototype?

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Parabellum picture
Parabellum
@ 2006-10-04 16:24:34
Doesn't look like an F-117 or HAVE BLUE to me. The nose and canopy aren't quite right.
Pdunn picture
Pdunn
@ 2006-10-04 16:58:18
Very cool catch. Great job!
jbottero picture
jbottero
@ 2006-10-04 19:48:59
Well, it's definatly not Have Blue, but it looks vaery much like an F-117 to me. And it is at the Skunk Works, so maybe it's an F-117 with experimental body mods...
parikka picture
parikka
@ 2006-10-05 05:06:06
Could it be one of the Full Scale Development (FSD) aircraft located 410th Test and Evaluation Squadron at the Skunk Works. There is mention that at least one of them was painted gray for a while (middle of the page):

http://www.f-117a.com/Senior.html
parikka picture
parikka
@ 2006-11-30 05:40:15
More info: There has been two F-117 with light gray paint because of evaluation of best paint scheme for 24h operations (initially Nighthawk was used only in night-time operations). They were named Grey Dragon I (79-10783) & II (85-10835). The first one had two-tone and the second one had single tone paint scheme.

There was an article about the retirement of Grey Dragon II in Air Forces Monthly Nov 2006 issue:

http://shop.keypublishing.com/acatalog/afm_November_2006.html#a1148
kjfitz picture
kjfitz
@ 2008-02-12 16:40:21
Note that they are doing some kind of evaluation with a sensor out front. Perhaps a mini-RCS measurement or something like that.
kjfitz picture
kjfitz
@ 2009-04-27 16:36:05
On closer examination the two main differences I fins are the shape of the cockpit and the engine exhausts. There are two splines coming down off of the cockpit towards the rear and perhaps a raised area behind the cockpit.

Another angle here:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=ps31f954s2pt&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=6424680&encType=1
kjfitz picture
kjfitz
@ 2009-04-27 16:46:42
Front view here:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=ps315654s2md&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=6424665&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

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