Re: F117 still flying after it's "retirement"

thomsona@flash.net said...

AFAIK, there's nothing special about hauling disassembled
aircraft around in cargo planes.


It's the "disassembled" part that seemed to have been in question.
I.E., were the F-117 wings intended to be taken off and put back on
or not (cut them off with a torch or shear)?


AFAIK, all US fighter/attack aircraft have two separately-
crafted wings that are assembled to the fuselage during
aircraft manufacture.  If they were assembled that way,
they can be disassembled by reversing the process.
(Fasteners of some type are used.  Not welded.)
Wings are always removed; rotors folded  - unless something
is small enough to fit on the floor deck/through the door.

�I've seen F-4s (larger than an F-117) go out on C-141s. �
There was no need to use a really large C-something.


Stats:
Width of
F-117 with wings: 13.2 meters
F-4 with wings 11.7 meters

C-141 cargo bay: 3.5 meters


Far too low for reality. Two standard 463L pallets (each
2.24 m wide) easily fit inside the width of C-141, with
walkway room between them.  The C-141 width is at least
as wide as your figure for the C-17 below.
Take a look inside a C-141 "embassy flight":
http://www.flex.com/~dweezild/C-141.JPG

Thats two airline-seat pallets you see there - and two
cargo pallets behind the curtain.  (Facing the tail).

(I was never inside a C-17, but the photos I've seen of it
show it to be considerably wider than a C-5.)

C-5 cargo bay: 5.8 meters
C-17 cargo bay: 5.5 meters


You're right, in a way, though. Since the main fuselage of 
the F-117 is about 40.7 percent of that 13.2 m (5.376 m ; 
17.59 ft.) in width, it would be a tight fit in even the 
C-5's generous width.  

That doesn't mean, however, that shoring fixtures (designed
to tilt the fuselage at an angle) couldn't be used to make
the footprint of the cargo a little less wide.