The Lockheed F-117A made its first overseas deployment in August 1990 as 20 of the stealth attack aircraft were sent to Saudi Arabia in response to Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait.
Aviation Week Engineering Editor Michael A. Dornheim flew aboard a Boeing KC-135Q tanker that refueled the F-117As on the first leg of the trip from their base in Tonopah, Nevada, and took the photo that appeared on our Aug. 27 cover.
The Lockheed-built aircraft had been operating since 1983 but had only recently come out of the shadows. Dornheim wrote that most of the crewmen onboard the KC-135 had never seen one. The F-117A’s ability to precision-bomb while avoiding radar played a key role in defeating Iraqi forces and liberating Kuwait in early 1991, not to mention establishing a new generation of U.S. air dominance. The stealthy bomber was retired in 2008 after 25 years of service. | 
