Test Pilot Recounts F-117’s Wobbly First Flight And Entering Into Its Top Secret World

Updated Dec 1, 2019 6:52 AM EST

The F-117 was officially retired over a decade ago, but it continues to capture imaginations as it mysteriously roars over the deserts of California and Nevada . The aircraft’s genesis , which is largely considered the birth of stealth technology —although there’s a bit more to that story —is absolutely legendary within aerospace, defense, and military history circles. The secrecy surrounding it is, too . The man who took this outstandingly exotic and revolutionary airframe into the air for the very first time was Harold “Hal” Farley Jr.—a Navy fighter pilot turned Grumman test pilot before descending into the shadowy world of Lockheed’s Skunk Works to fly the F-117 Nighthawk .

In a remarkably wide-ranging interview with Hal, he goes from discussing being brought into the highly classified program, to describing the unique competitive tension between civilian and military test pilots assigned to elite aerospace development programs, to whether he had ever seen a UFO or not. There are also some great photos and video clips mixed in. Yet the most interesting and historic part of the interview is his recollection of taking the F-117 into the air for the very first time.

The flight occurred on June 18th, 1981, at 6AM at Groom Lake . Keep in mind, the F-117 and the stealth technology behind it was still totally new at the time. The Have Blue demonstrator proved that a stealth aircraft could actually fly and evade radars well enough to survive deep in enemy airspace, but YF-117 serial number 79-10780 was the first aircraft that packaged those technologies and many more into a single airframe that could eventually mature into something that could actually go to war.

YF-117 in flight. , Public Domain

It turns out that even with all of the Skunk Works’ modeling and wind tunnel testing, and with lead ballast installed in the aircraft’s nose to make it more inherently stable and less dependent on its fly-by-wire control system, the YF-117 wasn’t quite ready for stable flight.

Check out the awesome interview in full:

In the end, Hal Farley became the first “Bandit,” a coveted moniker given to the small group of pilots that flew the F-117 throughout its career. He amassed 600 hours in F-117s by the time he retired as a Chief Test Pilot and Director of Flight Operations for the Skunk Works in 1991.

An amazing and history-making aviator.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2019年12月1日上午6:52

F-117战斗机虽然十多年前就已正式退役，但它依然神秘地翱翔在加利福尼亚州和内华达州的沙漠上空，令人不禁浮想联翩。这款战机的诞生被普遍认为是隐形技术的开端——尽管其中还有更多故事——在航空航天、国防和军事史领域堪称传奇。围绕它的种种秘密也同样引人入胜。驾驶这架非凡而革命性的战机首次翱翔蓝天的是哈罗德·“哈尔”·法利二世——他曾是一名海军战斗机飞行员，后来成为格鲁曼公司的试飞员，之后又进入洛克希德公司神秘的“臭鼬工厂”，驾驶F-117“夜鹰”战斗机。

在与哈尔的一次内容极其广泛的访谈中，他从讲述自己如何被选入高度机密的项目，到描述被分配到精英航空航天研发项目的民用和军用试飞员之间独特的竞争关系，再到他是否见过不明飞行物。访谈中还穿插了一些精彩的照片和视频片段。然而，访谈中最有趣、最具历史意义的部分，是他回忆自己第一次驾驶F-117战斗机升空的经历。

这次飞行发生在1981年6月18日早上6点，地点是格鲁姆湖。需要注意的是，当时的F-117及其背后的隐形技术都还是全新的。“Have Blue”验证机证明了隐形飞机确实能够飞行并躲避雷达，足以在敌方空域深处生存。但YF-117（序列号79-10780）是第一架将这些技术以及更多技术集成到单一机体上的飞机，最终发展成为能够真正投入战争的战机。

YF-117 飞行中。，公共领域

事实证明，即使经过臭鼬工厂的所有建模和风洞测试，并在飞机机头安装了铅压载物以使其本身更加稳定，减少对电传操纵系统的依赖，YF-117 仍然无法实现稳定飞行。

快来看看这段精彩的完整采访吧：

最终，哈尔·法利成为了第一位“强盗”（Bandit），这是授予驾驶过F-117战斗机直至其服役结束的少数飞行员的令人梦寐以求的称号。1991年，他从臭鼬工厂首席试飞员兼飞行运行总监的职位上退休时，已累计驾驶F-117战斗机飞行了600个小时。

一位杰出的、创造历史的飞行员。

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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