F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter
An Illustrated Developmental History

Printed and Digital Books

Reviewed by Floyd S. Werner Jr.

This is not your typical Detail & Scale book.  This ‘book’ is a reprint with some updates of a book published in 2006.  It is out of print and didn’t/couldn’t benefit from the digital ‘book’ format.  Thanks to Detail & Scale it now can. 

So what are these benefits?  First off the ability to zoom in on the pictures.  That in itself is worth the price of admission.  Then there is the search function.  Oh by the way did I mention that the cost is significantly less than a traditional printed book? 

Let’s see what this volume has to offer.  The history of stealth technology is explored in the first chapter.  The thing that is really impressive to me is the inclusion of test photos from various aircraft in the design and evolution of the Stealth.  The amount of detail included in the text proves how extensive the research is.  There are pictures of the development from the initial models to the operational aircraft.  Just amazing.  Obviously, many of these pics were classified at the time and even now I was blown away at what is presented. 

The entire history of the Stealth program is covered, from the successes to the failures.  The fixes and upgrades to the airframe, systems and even paint schemes are covered. 

The amount of information in here is impressive.  The pictures will surely inspire modelers.  The F-117 was not just painted black.  It had a lot of variations, some of which are very unique, throughout its career.  Almost every aircraft is shown at some point in the book.  One of my favorite paint schemes is one with the skunk painted on the belly.  It is cute. 

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Thumbnail panels:

The variety of armament is shown in the photos as they were certified for use on the F-117. 

I’d have to say that this is THE book to get on the F-117 Nighthawk development.  It contains 295 photos on 153 ‘pages’ in the digital format, with 28 illustrations.  The text is easy to read and very informative and covers everything from Have Blue to retirement.  You can tell this was a labor of love.  It is very in-depth coverage from the beginning in 1981 until today.  While this isn’t your ‘normal’ Detail & Scale book it certainly maintains that level of excellence associated with the publisher. 

Highly recommended

Thanks to Detail & Scale for the review copy.  You can obtain yours by going to the Detail & Scale website, https://www.detailandscale.com/detail-scale-publications.  There you can find a link to the printed edition as well as the iBooks and Kindle versions of it. 

Thanks to Detail & Scale or the sample.

Review Copyright © 2023 by Floyd S. Werner Jr.
This Page Created on 3 August, 2023
Last updated 3 August, 2023

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