Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk G1R
"Simple Built with Astonishing Uncommon Stealthy Look Parkjet"
Forewords
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is an American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft that was developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The F-117 was based on the Have Blue technology demonstrator.
The Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft to be designed around stealth technology. Its maiden flight took place in 1981 at Groom Lake, Nevada, and the aircraft achieved initial operating capability status in 1983. The Nighthawk was shrouded in secrecy until it was revealed to the public in 1988. Of the 64 F-117s built, 59 were production versions, with the other five being prototypes.
The F-117 was widely publicized for its role in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Although it was commonly referred to as the "Stealth Fighter", it was strictly a ground-attack aircraft. F-117s took part in the conflict in Yugoslavia, where one was shot down by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) in 1999; it was the only Nighthawk to be lost in combat. The U.S. Air Force retired the F-117 in April 2008, primarily due to the fielding of the F-22 Raptor. Despite the type's retirement, a portion of the fleet has been kept in airworthy condition, and Nighthawks have been observed flying as recently as March 2020.
The Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft to be designed around stealth technology. Its maiden flight took place in 1981 at Groom Lake, Nevada, and the aircraft achieved initial operating capability status in 1983. The Nighthawk was shrouded in secrecy until it was revealed to the public in 1988. Of the 64 F-117s built, 59 were production versions, with the other five being prototypes.
The F-117 was widely publicized for its role in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Although it was commonly referred to as the "Stealth Fighter", it was strictly a ground-attack aircraft. F-117s took part in the conflict in Yugoslavia, where one was shot down by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) in 1999; it was the only Nighthawk to be lost in combat. The U.S. Air Force retired the F-117 in April 2008, primarily due to the fielding of the F-22 Raptor. Despite the type's retirement, a portion of the fleet has been kept in airworthy condition, and Nighthawks have been observed flying as recently as March 2020.
The Design Phase
It's actually our first F-117 design with no earlier similarities to our existing designs. The blocky panels from the real F-117 helped us a lot in simplifying the parkjet model. The next challenge was to design inner structures and support, that will still give available space for components placement.
The Prototypes
The first 2 prototype was built by Jim in United States and Jeff in Canada. They both even added landing gears to it.
The Flight
Jeff documented the flights and here's the 2nd flight after he dialed in his F-117
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Highlights
We could say that we managed to survive the most challenging design phase for us to come up with this parkjet design. :
- Simply built yet renders bold stealthy look of the real F-117.
- Inheriting the segmented airfoil from actual F-117.
- Above wingplate motor placement, in order to avoid tail damage when landing.
- Unexpectedly smooth and stable when airborne.
Notes on Setup
Below are the recommendation setup for this parkjet to get the most joy and fun, in flying it.
- Turnigy 2826 2200KV as standard motor that will not break the budget and is still being able to fly fast. If you want to fly faster, a DYS BE2208-7 2600KV or Sunnysky X2208-7 2600KV II motor will give the most punch out of the power setup and still give exceptional flight time.
- ESC: 40A Brushless ESC for casual flying. If you love WOTS, then go for 50A ESC. This ensures the ESC will stay cool.
- 1,800mah 3S 30C or 35C battery. The weight of this battery match the stock CG. It will give around 10 mins flight time as well on mix punches of throttle.
"Hard to imagine that score-n-fold design of this F-117 could resemble this good, bringing a real joy to look at when flying it."
Additional Information Each release of the Parkflyers International PDF Parkjet plan package contains:
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How to get the Plan The PDF plan is available for a small amount of donation (USD 11.99) which would be used to support underprivileged kids and help less fortunate families to learn how to build scratchbuilt rc planes and try to make a living from it by creating rc plane toys and repairing it.as well as teaching school students to start learning about aerospace design. We encourage you not to share or distribute the plan, individually or publicly as it may not bring support to the teaching activities we conduct for those kids and families. Notes:
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