AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 30

BRIEFING
F IRST LOOK /
Fly in for history
The Stealth, now visible in Palm Springs
BY PATRICK MATHEWS
HOW WOULD YOU like to get up close and personal with a F-117 Nighthawk? If so,
it's time for a visit to Southern California and the ever-evolving Palm Springs
Air Museum.
The museum has unveiled one of the first stealth operational aircraft that flew
in secrecy until 1988. Its type flew in combat missions in Panama (1989), the Persian
Gulf War (1991), the Balkans (1999), and the Iraq War (2003).
As you approach the aircraft you instinctively question its ability to fly. Its
angular design and highly swept wings render the aircraft unstable in all three
principal axes, thus requiring constant flight corrections by the pilot and its
onboard computers.
Conceived at the Skunk Works and built by Lockheed, this single seat, twinengine
wonder was designed to evade enemy detection by its reentrant triangular
construction and black, radar-absorbing coating.
The F-117 came to the museum by way of the Air Force's Tonopah Test Range
where it was demilitarized by removing top secret assets. It then was trucked to the
30
AOPA PILOT / September 2022
museum where engineers rebuilt the F-117 to
its former, lethal appearance. A purpose-built
hangar, reminiscent of the revetment that sheltered
the F-117 in wartime, was constructed to
house the aircraft.
Former Navy flyer and Minnesota industrialist
Bob Pond founded the museum with
his original collection of 14 World War II aircraft
in 1996. Constructed on land leased from
the FAA and contiguous with Palm Springs
International Airport (PSP) taxiways, the
museum has a sublime winter climate and a
superb location at the base of the often-snowcapped
Mount San Jacinto (10,834 feet).
The museum performed as a World War II
Air Museum until the new vice chairman, Fred
Bell, was appointed in 2010. Under his dynamic
management the museum has more than doubled
its exhibition hangar space to 100,000
square feet, including an impressive display
of aircraft from both the Korean and Vietnam
conflicts and increased the number of aircraft
on display to 76. Bell steered the museum
through the blackout days of COVID-19 with
PALM SPRINGS AIR MUSEUM

AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022

Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 9
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 28
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 30
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - R-1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - R-2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - R-3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - R-4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - R-5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - R-6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - R-7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - R-8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 50
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 52
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 53
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 56
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - 60
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2022 - Cover4
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