Designation
The operational aircraft was officially designated "F-117A".
[43][5] Most modern U.S. military aircraft use
post-1962 designations in which the designation "F" is usually an
air-to-air fighter, "B" is usually a
bomber, "A" is usually a ground-attack aircraft, etc. (Examples include the
F-15, the B-2 and the
A-6.) The F-117 is primarily an attack aircraft,
[1] so its "F" designation is inconsistent with the
Department of Defense system. This is an inconsistency that has been repeatedly employed by the USAF with several of its attack aircraft since the late 1950s, including the
Republic F-105 Thunderchief and
General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark. A televised documentary quoted project manager Alan Brown as saying that
Robert J. Dixon, a four-star USAF general who was the head of
Tactical Air Command, felt that the top-notch USAF fighter pilots required to fly the new aircraft were more easily attracted to an aircraft with an "F" designation for fighter, as opposed to a bomber ("B") or attack ("A") designation.
[44][45]
The designation "F-117" seems to indicate that it was given an official designation prior to the 1962 U.S. Tri-Service Aircraft Designation System and could be considered numerically to be a part of the earlier
Century Series of fighters.
The assumption prior to the revealing of the aircraft to the public was that it would likely receive the F-19 designation as that number had not been used. However, there were no other aircraft to receive a "100" series number following the F-111. Soviet fighters obtained by the U.S. via various means under the
Constant Peg program
[46] were given F-series numbers for their evaluation by U.S. pilots, and with the advent of the
Teen Series fighters, most often Century Series designations.
[47]
As with other exotic military aircraft types flying in the southern Nevada area, such as captured fighters, an arbitrary radio call of "117" was assigned. This same radio call had been used by the enigmatic
4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron, also known as the "Red Hats" or "Red Eagles", that often had flown expatriated
MiG jet fighters in the area, but there was no relationship to the call and the formal F-19 designation then being considered by the USAF. Apparently, use of the "117" radio call became commonplace and when Lockheed released its first flight manual (i.e., the USAF "dash one" manual for the aircraft), F-117A was the designation printed on the cover.
[48]
