The two Have Blue aircraft were built at Lockheed in only a few months. The first example was intended to evaluate the type's flying characteristics, whereas the second was to evaluate the radar signature. In order to save some time and money, existing off-the-shelf components were used where feasible. The engines were a pair of standard production non-afterburning General Electric J85s, mounted in enclosures sitting atop the wings. The main landing gear was taken from a Fairchild Republic A-10, and fly-by-wire components were scavenged from an F-16. The instrumentation and the ejection seat were taken from a Northrop F-5. The Have Blue aircraft had the same general shape as that which would later become familiar with the F-117A, except that the twin rudders were located forward of the exhaust ejectors and were angled inward rather than outward. The inward cant was about 30 degrees.



The leading edge of the semi-delta wing was swept back at 72.5 degrees. The wing featured two inboard trailing edge elevons for pitch and roll control. Four spoilers (two on top of the wing and two on the bottom) were mounted just forward of the elevons. There were no flaps or speed brakes. The wing trailing edge was less deeply notched than that of the F-117A. A single cockpit with an ejection seat was provided. The Have Blue aircraft employed V-type windshields (similar to those of the F-102/F-106). No weapons bay or any sort of tactical equipment was fitted.



The Have Blue aircraft were equipped with fly-by-wire (FBW) flight controls that were adapted from the F-16 system. However, the system had to be modified to handle an aircraft that was unstable about all three axes (the F-16 is unstable only about the pitch axis). The problem of designing a stealthy system for airspeed measurement had not yet been solved, and the aircraft were equipped with a conventional pitot tube that retracted when they were being tested for radar reflections. The inertial navigation system provided enough speed data for test purposes when the probe was retracted.



Two prototypes were built at a cost of $37 million for both aircraft. Lockheed workers assembled the two Have Blue aircraft in a cordoned-off area in Building 83C, Burbank, California. Neither aircraft ever received an official DoD designation, nor did they get a USAF serial number. However, Lockheed did give the aircraft its own manufacturer's serial numbers, 1001 and 1002.



The first example (1001) was finished in November of 1977. In order to keep the project away from prying eyes, the Have Blue prototype was shipped out to the Groom Lake Test Facility in Nevada in high secrecy for the test flights. Groom Lake is located in a particularly remote area of the Nellis test range complex, and is a good location for the testing of secret aircraft. A camouflage paint scheme was applied to make it hard for unwanted observers at Groom Lake to determine the aircraft's shape.



The first flight of the Have Blue took place in January or February of 1978 (the exact date is still classified), with veteran Lockheed test pilot William M. "Bill" Park at the controls. At an early stage, Lt. Col. Norman Kenneth “Ken” Dyson of the USAF assisted Bill Park in the flight test program.



Flight test of the Have Blue initially went fairly smoothly, and the fly-by-wire system functioned well. The landing speed was quite high (160 knots), as expected because of the lack of flaps or speed brakes. However, on May 4, 1978, Have Blue prototype number 1001 was landing after a routine test flight when it hit the ground excessively hard, jamming the right main landing gear in a semi-retracted position. Pilot Bill Park pulled the aircraft back into the air, and repeatedly tried to shake the gear back down again. After his third attempt failed, he was ordered to take the aircraft up to 10,000 feet and eject. Park ejected successfully, but he hit his head and was knocked unconscious. Since he was unable to control his parachute during descent or landing, his back was severely injured on impact. He survived, but was forced to retire from flying. The Have Blue aircraft was destroyed in the crash.



Have Blue 1002 arrived at Groom Lake shortly after the loss of number 1. It took to the air for the first time in June of 1978, Lt. Col. Ken Dyson being at the controls. From mid-1978 until early 1980, Lt. Col. Dyson flew more than 65 test sorties, testing the response of the aircraft to various types of radar threats. The Have Blue prototype 1002 proved to be essentially undetectable by all airborne radars except the Boeing E-3 AWACS, which could only acquire the aircraft at short ranges. Most ground-based missile tracking radars could detect the Have Blue only after it was well inside the minimum range for the surface-to-air missiles with which they were associated. Neither ground-based radars nor air-to-air missile guidance radars could lock onto the aircraft. It was found that the best tactic to avoid radar detection was to approach the radar site head on, presenting the Have Blue's small nose-on signature.



Application of the RAM proved to be rather tricky, and that ground crews had to be careful to seal all joints thoroughly before each flight. RAM came in linoleum-like sheets, which were cut to shape and bonded to the skin to cover large areas. Doors and access panels had to be carefully checked and adjusted for a tight fit between flights and all gaps had to be filled in with conductive tape and then covered over with RAM. Paint-type RAM was available, but it had to be built up by hand, coat by coat. Even the gaps around the canopy and the fuel-filler door had to be filled with paint-type RAM before each flight. Ground crews had to even make sure that all surface screws were completely tight, since even one loose screw for an access panel could make the aircraft show up like a "barn door coming over the horizon" during radar signature tests.



Have Blue number 1002 was lost in July of 1979. During its 52nd flight with Lt. Col. Dyson at the controls, one of its J85 engines caught fire. The subsequent fire got so intense that the hydraulic fluid lines were burned through. Lt. Col. Dyson was forced to eject, and 1002 was a total loss. No further Have Blue aircraft were built, since the general concept had been proven.

F-117 History

The gain of valuable engineering data during the Have Blue flight test program led to a Full Scale Development (FSD) decision by the Air Force and contract award to the Lockheed Skunk Works on November 16, 1978. The original order was for five FSD test aircraft and 15 production articles. The initial F-117 delivered in June 1981 and subsequent production lots of varying quantities yielded a total of 64 aircraft built through July 1990. As of May 2001, 51 production and 3 FSD test aircraft are still active.