Stealth fighter F-117 Nighthawk now on display at Palm Springs Air Museum

The F-117 Nighthawk #833, nicknamed “Black Devil,” went on display over the weekend at the Palm Springs Air Museum.

“The air museum is honored to have been selected by the United States Air Force to receive this aircraft,” said operations manager Greg Kenny. “Very few of them are being released to the public for display and the fact that we were chosen is a big distinction for us."

The rare aircraft is one of 59 that were built, most of which are retired now, and is only one of four operational F-117s Nighthawks on display in museums, according to Fred Bell, vice chairman of the museum's board of directors. This one will be a permanent exhibit at the museum.

The stealth fighters operated in combat from the early 1980s through the early 2000s, Bell said. Fewer than 10 are still actively used in tests and experiments, but the fleet is no longer used in combat. 

This stealth fighter logged a total of 5,140 hours of flight and was the 49th Wing Commander’s aircraft during Operation Allied Force, a bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War in 1999. The aircraft was also used in Operation Desert Storm, the 1991 military operation to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. 

"We’re going to take on the responsibility of interpreting the aircraft with the hangar and all the related exhibits — everything from of course its secret development with the Lockheed Skunkworks and then its involvement in Desert Storm and ongoing conflicts related to the war on terror," Kenny said. We’re honored to have it, we’re excited to tell its story.”