The F-117 Nighthawk never won any beauty contests, but the "stealth fighter" broke a lot of technological ground. It's being retired as of today, replaced with more recent jet programs.

According to the Wikipedia page, the plane was also known as the "Wobblin' Goblin" (because of low-speed handling problems in early models) and the "Cockroach" (because it only came out at night and hid from the sun -- and Soviet satellites -- during development).

Filed under :: Hi-Tech

One of my favorite flight simulators (along with their Gunship helicopter sim) was Microprose's F-117A Stealth Fighter 2.0 (and its predecessor, which I played on my Commodore 64). I loved bringing my radar profile as low as possible and sneaking past the enemy's radar, until I opened my bomb bay doors and was lit up by by everybody nearby! I have to say, though, that landing on an aircraft carrier was not easy!

I'd sure like to see a modern version of these games (and of Lucasarts' X-Wing and TIE Fighter games).