Hobby Master Archive

The second Nighthawk produced was YF-117A 79-10781 and assigned to the 410th Flight Test Squadron “Baja Scorpions and named Scorpion 2. In 1991 the first 2 aircraft of five full-scale development aircraft (FSD), 79-10780 and 79-10781 were to be retired early and displayed. In order to do this 79-10781 had to be stripped of its highly classified toxic radar absorbent coating. It was blasted with baking soda in a special facility so the bare aluminum body had “Toxic Waste” painted on the side because it was considered bad luck for an aircraft not to have a name.