Idk if its just me, but tons of people think the F-117 was a stealth fighter that shot planes down in the gulf war, and to be honest I did to at one point.
But the F-117 never shot anything down...
Because it was an air to ground aircraft
I mostly made this post because ive seen so many F-117 with guns or air to air missiles, and I can have a problem with inaccuracies in replica planes.
(side note - the F-117 had to bomb bays that usally carried 2 bombs, these bombs could vary in size, and was almost completely undetectable, until it was found you could track it using cell towers.)
I'm sorry if this post makes someone upset
@EternalDarkness I think you made a spelling error in your comment ;)
@F104Deathtrap np
@BlackhattAircraft Thanks!
@F104Deathtrap, @Nerfenthusiast put a link to an article about cell tower tracking
@EternalDarkness I thought they did? I'll have to research it more independent later
It wasn't tracked via cell towers. S-125 Neva requires a radar lock on the target for guidance, and that's what was used to shoot it down. Stealth reduces radar cross section, doesn't eliminate it entirely.
theres a reason it was renamed the FA-117 later...
It was a bomber, they gave it the fighter designation because 1. Fighter pilots wouldn't fly a bomber and 2. Only fighter pilots had the skill to fly it
here is a link to the article about the cell towers
@Ariathe Thank you very much.
Cool, never heard of the phone thing but wow! What a way to stalk a plane!
@F104Deathtrap Here you go:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1309952/Mobile-telephone-masts-can-detect-stealth-bombers.html
Yeah, the F117 was never purposed for fighter use. It was always a bomber and only a bomber.
It was a bomber...but the AF is in the habit of calling any single pilot fighter-sized jet a fighter. Even, officially, the A-10 is a “fighter” for required crew qualifications and organizational purposes. Every single A-10 unit is a fighter squadron, fighter group or fighter wing...not an attack unit in there at all.
No one will be upset. Can you do me a favor and edit in more info about the cell towers, that's really interesting.