F-117 on the first night of the Gulf War

Few of those who were alive back in 1991, especially in America, don’t remember where they were on the night of January 17. Several thousand miles away from America was US Air Force Maj George Kelman, flying northbound into Iraq. In the ink-black sky of the desert night, he was piloting the most technologically advanced, top-secret warplane in the US inventory — the F-117A ‘stealth fighter’. It was being deployed in full combat for the first time after having only a limited role in the 1989 Panama invasion. The question of the night in the Pentagon, but more importantly for the aviators inside the darkened cockpits of the F-117s, was this — will the technology really work, and defeat detection by radar sites, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) emplacements within Iraq’s highly organized and layered air defense system?

Maj Kelman was one pilot, fying alone, and asking that very question. His aircraft, number 816 (its full USAF serial was 85-0816) of the 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron ‘Nightstalkers’, carried ‘nose art’ on the weapons bay door: the appropriately named Lone Wolf was ready for war. ‘We came off the tanker and headed inbound’, said Kelman. ‘It was about two and-a-half hours total before we would come off target and fnd the tanker again for more gas before we headed back to base.’ I wanted to know the details of that first night, how it all happened, after all the years of training, planning, and preparation.


Alone and unafraid

‘Intentionally, very few people knew the routes we were flying, even the F-15s flying high cover in certain area boxes’, Kelman remembered. They were in most respects lone flyers, unescorted, on routes that had been identified for their individual missions. ‘Everybody had their own target, release point and time windows. Then get back to the tanker.’ He described the night’s action unfolding: ‘We were completely blacked out, and my wingman and I split off the tanker to our separate targets, to rejoin afterwards’. He paused, and then reflected. Unlike other fighters he had flown in his career, in the F-117, ‘you’re alone’.

The weather always concerned the crews. ‘On the night of January 16 and 17 there was a full moon, and that concerned me and other pilots more than the stealth not being effective against threat radars. The black airplane with a full moon can be silhouetted against the sky from the ground and the air.’ The time spent inbound was trying, wondering if everything was set up correctly, checking and flying as he had trained to ‘out West’ in the practice areas over Nevada and New Mexico. ‘The desert was very similar to some of the terrain in the American West, but Iraq was much flatter. The infra-red technology training we flew out West was excellent preparation for the real wartime scenarios in Iraq.’ The route northbound was a ‘stealth fighter’ route that took into account intelligence including top-secret information gleaned from many sources. Planning included considerations of SAM site locations, radar coverage, current intel on enemy forces and a variety of other threats. According to Kelman, there was not too much radio noise or chatter on the inbound leg, a strange sense of calm before the storm.

Twin targets

Although there was an air of uncertainty, Kelman recalled, ‘My confidence in the technology was high’. Here he was, inbound as part of the second wave at around 21.00hrs on the night of the 17th. He was first to hit a building downtown that was an Iraqi military data processing facility. He was high above Baghdad when he released his first weapon. One laser-guided 2,000lb GBU-10 hit the target directly, as Kelman ingressed on the preplanned optimized route. Then he banked sharply to the west and descended rapidly for his secondary target acquisition. A GBU-27 with delayed penetrator fuse was to strike a hardened bunker that was part of an air defense command and control site at a military airfield on the west side of Baghdad. Two weapons, two direct hits. Through it all, the night was seemingly on fire. The sky over Baghdad was lit up with haunting tracer and SAM firings. Kelman described the sight: ‘South of Baghdad there was a cloud deck so the city itself was blocked from view but the glow of all the lights was visible. Once I was clear of the clouds I could see the city was lit up like any other ‘peacetime’ city at night, except coalition aircraft were en route to bomb it. Additionally, the roads were packed with vehicle traffic all heading away from the city. About halfway to my IP [initial point] the sky lit up with AAA and SAMs. It was mesmerizing. I almost missed getting a position update at my IP because I was watching different calibers of AAA shooting over the city along with SAMs blasting off.

‘Flogger’ sighting

‘I saw a couple of MiGs running south about 20 miles abeam of me’, Kelman continued. ‘I identified them as MiG-23 ‘Floggers’, and ironically they had their running lights on, blinking through the otherwise dark sky in a strange way’. That gave him pause. However, the Iraqi fighters passed by, never knowing he was there. After the second target he climbed and flew back to the tanker, with no sign of his wingman, concerned he had been shot down or lost. The tanker crew let him know his wingman had made it back to the tanker earlier after missing a box time and had returned to base safely. Landing back at base after the mission, Kelman debriefed the weapons intel and planners of his results. Everyone that first night had made it back safely. Looking back on his debut combat mission, Kelman recalled the details. ‘I was definitely concerned for my safety and ability to get through it unscathed. I was determined to do my job, not compromise my mission. After my second target, within a couple of minutes I was clear of all ground fire and took my [oxygen] mask off because my mouth got so dry and felt like my tongue was swelling up. I drank a whole flask of water before calming down’. It was a common reaction that fellow pilots from Vietnam recounted after their first combat mission. On February 28a ceasefire was announced, and days later the war ended with a signed surrender from Iraq. At the end of the war Maj Kelman returned to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia as the ops manager of the F-117 program in Tactical Air Command. He had first flown the jet in 1988, and transitioned to the F-15E in 1993 after a memorable five years as ‘Bandit 281’ (every pilot that flew the F-117 was given a number, signifying the rare privilege of the program). He retired from the USAF in 1998, and was hired by Delta Air Lines, where he now flies as an Airbus A320 captain. ‘In my assessment, the technology worked as advertised’, he concluded. ‘We didn’t have a single F-117 airplane loss in the war.

Phase one stealth

More than 25 years later, we look back on that first night of the Gulf War and marvel at the advances in technology since. ‘When they devised the aircraft it was the best they had — phase-one stealth technology. And now, what has replaced it is drones, cruise missiles, and weapons that can be deployed from afar, many miles away.’ When asked how he felt that all the F-117s were now retired, to the secret airfield and test range in Tonopah, Nevada and not the traditional ‘boneyard’ at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, Kelman replied: ‘It was a great airplane to fly and be a part of history’. That view from his cockpit provided a unique sight over Baghdad, flying a top-secret warplane that filled a niche and played a dramatic role in military history.

Note: This article was published in the August 2017 issue of CombatAircraft Monthly.