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Comment by xoa | Hacker News Reader

If you're at all interested in the history and development of these kinds of aircraft and the process that went into them, I cannot recommend enough the book "Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed", by Ben Rich who was the second director. It covers the era of the U-2, SR-71, and the F-117 Nighthawk including the initial earliest development of stealth. Fascinating inside baseball about the politics of such things in the Cold War too, the various issues with different services. They did amazing work, and they did it on time and on budget, even as bureaucracy slowly got pushed in more.

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The F-117 was a true black project, no oversight, no official budget and hence close to no bureaucracy other than needed to develop and certify a combat aircraft for the USAF. It borrowed components from the F-15 and F-16 programs for example.

The B-2 on the other hand, well, that was secret but official. And had a ton of bureacracy because of it.

What components on the F-117 are from other aircraft?

According to wikipedia:

Avionic came from the F-16, F-15 and F/A-18 programs (unsourced claim, but very likely, those parts were purchased as spares for those aircraft).

Engines are modified are modified F404s drom GE.

That leaves the airframe, landing gear and some other bits and pieces like evironmental controls, but the avionics and engines account for the vast majority of aircraft costs.

If what you're saying is correct (the parts were purchased as spares) then that is actually fraud.

I got to see an SR-71 and a U2 at the (amazing) USAF museum in Dayton, Ohio.

I was really surprised by how small both are.

Small? I saw an SR-71 at National Air and Space Museum near Dulles and I was amazed by how big is for a two-seater.

That museum might be my absolute favorite in the world. Absolutely stunning collection of aviation + space history on display

I loved Dayton.

We finished the first big hangar and my said how cool it was and that we’d seen it and ut was time to go.

Then I told her about the other 2 (3?) hangars.

We got our 10k steps in before lunch, but it was amazing, and I’d go back any day.

Putting the kids in the flight sim was cool. I told them it wasn’t that bad then my daughter promptly flew it fully upside down and we heard the screams from inside. Mostly fun screams. They begged to ride it again. We did it a bunch. My daughter got competitive so we had to fly together to get the days high score.

I've yet to go to the Udvar-Hazy museum, but it is on my bucket list. What I've seen of it online is absolutely amazing.