How This F-117 Ended Up Nesting With An F-15 Alert Jet At Portland Air Guard Base

Updated Nov 27, 2020 6:24 PM EST

The Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Fighter Wing is one of the world’s premier fighter units. Flying the F-15C Eagle, their mission is strictly air-to-air. The Wing’s Eagles can be seen roaring out of Portland International Airport on a near-daily basis, oftentimes giving those in the passenger terminal a jaw-dropping surprise. With the USAF’s only F-15C/D training unit in Klamath Falls, Oregon is definitely Eagle country, which is why it was so odd to see the stunning image above.

Portland Air National Guard Base, which is adjacent to Portland International Airport, gets its fair share of visitors. Often times F-16s and F/A-18s will grace the ramp there for dissimilar air combat training (DACT) with the resident Eagles. The huge ranges off the Oregon Coast offer one of the biggest playgrounds in the continental U.S. for dogfighting. Airlifters, tankers, and helicopters will also come and go from the base, and Atlantic Aviation, the fixed base operator (FBO) on the other side of the airport, gets more of the transient tactical jet traffic these days. But still, seeing an F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack jet sitting beside an F-15 not just on the base, but in the installation’s NORAD alert barn, is odd, to say the least.

Traditionally, F-15s sit armed and ready to take off within a few minutes at the highly secure complex on the southeastern corner of the airport. They can intercept a wide range of aircraft over a huge area, down into northern California, all the way up into British Columbia, in just a matter of minutes if called upon to do so. And those calls do indeed come more often than most realize.

The alert facility at Portland Air National Guard Base. , Author

The picture at top of this story comes to us from Sean Phillips, an aviation photographer that goes by @Big_Seans_Aviation on Instagram , who was given it years ago from a family member who was in the Air National Guard. Even though the F-117 is still remarkably active considering it was retired over a decade ago, the image is old. It appears to have been shot on 35mm film and the alert Eagle in the image is not anywhere near as heavily armed as what we see today in the post 9/11 era. This points to the image having been taken back in the 1990s, after the existence of the F-117 was publicly disclosed, but before the tragic events of 9/11 that dramatically changed the Air Force’s alert posture across the country.

The 142nd FW color bird blasts out of PDX with the Columbia River as a backdrop. , Author

Sticking the F-117 in the alert barn makes some sense for that era as it was (and still is) the most secure area capable of hosting an aircraft on the entire base, with its own security patrols and multi-row fencing. As such, it would have served as the perfect cocoon for the still highly sensitive stealth jet.

We reached out to the 142nd Fighter Wing to see if they had any idea when the shot was taken and under what circumstances. Their public affairs folks along with their historian came up with an answer.

Apparently, the F-117 was the star of the 1993 Rose Festival Air Show at nearby Hillsboro Airport. At the time, the Rose Festival Air Show was one of the best in the country. The jet was staged at PDX for its flyovers due to security and runway length requirements. Here is the document the 142nd Fighter Wing dug-up about what would have been, at the time, a very special, albeit somewhat alien visitor:

So that is the story of this moody image of the F-117 nesting with an F-15 of the 142nd Fighter Wing. There actually may be at least one other time an F-117 visited the base, which may have been the result of an in-flight emergency while it was transitting to another locale, but that story doesn’t come with gorgeous photographic evidence.

Author’s Note: A big thanks to Sean Phillips for sharing the shot with us. Be sure to check out his Instagram , he has some sweet PDX action on there and more.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2020年11月27日下午6:24。

俄勒冈州空中国民警卫队第142战斗机联队是世界顶尖的战斗机部队之一。他们驾驶F-15C“鹰”式战斗机，执行纯粹的空对空作战任务。几乎每天都能看到该联队的“鹰”式战斗机从波特兰国际机场呼啸而出，常常让候机楼里的旅客们目瞪口呆。由于美国空军唯一的F-15C/D训练基地位于克拉马斯福尔斯，俄勒冈州无疑是“鹰”式战斗机的故乡，因此看到上面这张令人惊叹的照片才显得如此不同寻常。

毗邻波特兰国际机场的波特兰空军国民警卫队基地经常迎来大量访客。F-16 和 F/A-18 战机经常会停靠在那里，与驻扎在那里的“鹰”式战斗机进行异型机空战训练 (DACT)。俄勒冈海岸附近的大型靶场是美国本土最大的空战训练场地之一。运输机、加油机和直升机也经常从该基地起降。位于机场另一侧的固定基地运营商 (FBO) Atlantic Aviation 近年来也迎来了更多过境的战术喷气式飞机。然而，即便如此，看到一架 F-117“夜鹰”隐形攻击机与一架 F-15 并排停放在基地内，甚至停放在北美防空司令部 (NORAD) 的警戒库中，仍然令人感到十分奇怪。

按照惯例，F-15战斗机在机场东南角高度戒备的基地内，全副武装，随时准备在几分钟内起飞。一旦接到指令，它们可以在几分钟内拦截覆盖范围极广的各类飞机，从北加州一直延伸到北不列颠哥伦比亚省。而这类指令的出现频率远超大多数人的想象。

波特兰空军国民警卫队基地的警报设施。

本文顶部的图片来自肖恩·菲利普斯（Sean Phillips），他是一位航空摄影师，Instagram账号为@Big_Seans_Aviation。这张照片是多年前他的一位曾服役于空军国民警卫队的家人赠予他的。尽管F-117战斗机退役已超过十年，但其服役状态依然十分活跃，而这张照片本身却年代久远。照片似乎是用35毫米胶片拍摄的，照片中警戒的F-117远没有9·11事件后我们今天看到的F-117那样装备精良。这表明照片拍摄于上世纪90年代，当时F-117的存在已被公开，但尚未发生9·11事件——这场悲剧彻底改变了美国空军在全国的戒备状态。

第142战斗机联队的彩绘飞机从波特兰国际机场（PDX）起飞，哥伦比亚河为其增添了壮丽的景色。

在那个年代，将F-117停放在警戒库里是合情合理的，因为那里是（现在仍然是）整个基地内最安全的飞机停放区域，拥有独立的安保巡逻队和多层围栏。因此，对于这架仍然高度敏感的隐形战机来说，那里简直就是完美的避风港。

我们联系了第142战斗机联队，询问他们是否知道这张照片是什么时候拍摄的，以及当时的具体情况。他们的公共事务人员和历史学家给出了答案。

显然，F-117是1993年在附近希尔斯伯勒机场举行的玫瑰节航展的明星。当时，玫瑰节航展是全美最精彩的航展之一。由于安保和跑道长度的限制，这架喷气式飞机被安排在波特兰国际机场（PDX）进行飞行表演。以下是第142战斗机联队找到的一份文件，讲述了这架在当时非常特别，尽管略显陌生的飞机的故事：

这就是这张F-117与第142战斗机联队的F-15并排停放的略带忧郁的照片背后的故事。实际上，F-117可能还曾到访过该基地，那次或许是因为在飞往其他地点途中发生了飞行紧急情况，但那次并没有留下如此精美的照片证据。

作者注：非常感谢 Sean Phillips 与我们分享这张照片。请务必关注他的 Instagram，上面有很多精彩的波特兰摄影作品等等。

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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