HOME | DD

Description
Lockheed X-19
The F-19 fighter designation has been one of the recurring mysteries of the postwar era. Was F-19 never assigned to any fighter aircraft as the Air Force claims, or was it a cover for some super secret "black" project.

All throughout the late 1980s, it was sort of an open secret that the Air Force and the Lockheed "Skunk Works" were working on a project to develop a "stealth fighter" that would be invisible to radar. It was assumed by almost everyone that this project bore the designation F-19, since that designation had apparently been skipped when F-20 was assigned to a Northrop design. In July of 1986, the Testor Corporation of Rockford, Illinois released a $9.95 plastic kit model of what they called the "F-19 Stealth Fighter". Tom Clancy referred to a "F-19 Ghostrider" in his 1986 novel Red Storm Rising as part of a plot involving a future European war.

After years of gossip and rumors, on November 10, 1988, the existence of the Lockheed "stealth fighter" was finally officially revealed by the Defense Department. It turned out to be an attack aircraft rather than a fighter, since it apparently has no air-to-air capability. At the same time, it was also revealed that its designation was F-117. It seems that the F-117 designation has nothing to do with the old fighter sequence which ended at F-111, in spite of rumors that the Soviet fighters under test at Groom Lake conceal their real identity by using call-signs such as F-112, F-113, and so on. During its development and test phase, the Lockheed "stealth fighter" was known strictly under its project name of Senior Trend, and never carried any designation at all, certainly not a designation of F-19. Although the real origin of the F-117 designation is still not known with certainty, it seems to have been derived from the strict security restrictions that were in place at Groom Lake during the flight testing --- pilots flying the Senior Trend test aircraft were not allowed to tell anyone what type of aircraft they were flying, and so whenever asked to fill out routine forms that requested identification of the aircraft type they flew they would fill in the meaningless number 117. When the first manual for the Senior Trend aircraft appeared, it had F-117 printed on its cover. Since it would cost too much to have the manual reprinted, the designation later became official.

Specifications
Crew: 1
Length: 59 ft
Wing Span: 31 ft 8 in
Width, wings folded: 16 ft 5 in
Height: 13 ft 1.5 in
Weight Empty: 22,050 lb
Max T.O. Weight 33,070 lb
Powerplant: 2 × General Electric F404-F1D2 turbofans, 10,600 lbf (48.0 kN) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 1,034 kn (1,190 mph, 1,915 km/h) at 40,000 ft (12,000 m)
Maximum speed: Mach 1.8
Cruise speed: 570 kn (660 mph, 1,060 km/h)
Range: 1,089 nmi (1,253 mi, 2,017 km)

Armament

Guns: 2 ×20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan cannon mounted internally under nose
Rockets:

    2.75 in (70 mm) Hydra 70 rockets
    5 in (127.0 mm) Zuni rockets

Missiles:

    Air-to-air missiles:
        2× AIM-9 Sidewinder on wingtips and
        8× AIM-9 Sidewinder (with double-racks) or 4× AIM-132 ASRAAM or 4× IRIS-T or 8× AIM-120 AMRAAM (with double-racks) and
        2× AIM-7 Sparrow or 2× AIM-120 AMRAAM
    Air-to-surface missiles:
        4x AGM-65 Maverick

    2 × internal weapons bays with one hardpoint each (total of two weapons) equipped to carry:
        Bombs:
            GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bomb with 2,000 lb Mk84 blast/fragmentation or BLU-109 or BLU-116 Penetrator warhead
            GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb with 500 lb Mk82 blast/fragmentation warhead
            GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bomb with 2,000 lb Mk84 blast-fragmentation or BLU-109 or BLU-116 Penetrator warhead
            GBU-31 JDAM INS/GPS guided munition with 2,000 lb Mk84 blast-frag or BLU-109 Penetrator warhead
            B61 nuclear bomb
Avionics
Hughes APG-73 radar
AN/AAQ-14 targeting pod
LITENING targeting pod

Lockheed F-19 Stealth Fighter aircraft 42 by bagera3005 Lockheed Martin XF-19 Knight prototype by bagera3005 McDonnell Douglas F-19 NRO

Description
Lockheed X-19
The F-19 fighter designation has been one of the recurring mysteries of the postwar era. Was F-19 never assigned to any fighter aircraft as the Air Force claims, or was it a cover for some super secret "black" project.

All throughout the late 1980s, it was sort of an open secret that the Air Force and the Lockheed "Skunk Works" were working on a project to develop a "stealth fighter" that would be invisible to radar. It was assumed by almost everyone that this project bore the designation F-19, since that designation had apparently been skipped when F-20 was assigned to a Northrop design. In July of 1986, the Testor Corporation of Rockford, Illinois released a $9.95 plastic kit model of what they called the "F-19 Stealth Fighter". Tom Clancy referred to a "F-19 Ghostrider" in his 1986 novel Red Storm Rising as part of a plot involving a future European war.

After years of gossip and rumors, on November 10, 1988, the existence of the Lockheed "stealth fighter" was finally officially revealed by the Defense Department. It turned out to be an attack aircraft rather than a fighter, since it apparently has no air-to-air capability. At the same time, it was also revealed that its designation was F-117. It seems that the F-117 designation has nothing to do with the old fighter sequence which ended at F-111, in spite of rumors that the Soviet fighters under test at Groom Lake conceal their real identity by using call-signs such as F-112, F-113, and so on. During its development and test phase, the Lockheed "stealth fighter" was known strictly under its project name of Senior Trend, and never carried any designation at all, certainly not a designation of F-19. Although the real origin of the F-117 designation is still not known with certainty, it seems to have been derived from the strict security restrictions that were in place at Groom Lake during the flight testing --- pilots flying the Senior Trend test aircraft were not allowed to tell anyone what type of aircraft they were flying, and so whenever asked to fill out routine forms that requested identification of the aircraft type they flew they would fill in the meaningless number 117. When the first manual for the Senior Trend aircraft appeared, it had F-117 printed on its cover. Since it would cost too much to have the manual reprinted, the designation later became official.

Specifications
Crew: 1
Length: 59 ft
Wing Span: 31 ft 8 in
Width, wings folded: 16 ft 5 in
Height: 13 ft 1.5 in
Weight Empty: 22,050 lb
Max T.O. Weight 33,070 lb
Powerplant: 2 × General Electric F404-F1D2 turbofans, 10,600 lbf (48.0 kN) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 1,034 kn (1,190 mph, 1,915 km/h) at 40,000 ft (12,000 m)
Maximum speed: Mach 1.8
Cruise speed: 570 kn (660 mph, 1,060 km/h)
Range: 1,089 nmi (1,253 mi, 2,017 km)

Armament

Guns: 2 ×20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan cannon mounted internally under nose
Rockets:

    2.75 in (70 mm) Hydra 70 rockets
    5 in (127.0 mm) Zuni rockets

Missiles:

    Air-to-air missiles:
        2× AIM-9 Sidewinder on wingtips and
        8× AIM-9 Sidewinder (with double-racks) or 4× AIM-132 ASRAAM or 4× IRIS-T or 8× AIM-120 AMRAAM (with double-racks) and
        2× AIM-7 Sparrow or 2× AIM-120 AMRAAM
    Air-to-surface missiles:
        4x AGM-65 Maverick

    2 × internal weapons bays with one hardpoint each (total of two weapons) equipped to carry:
        Bombs:
            GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bomb with 2,000 lb Mk84 blast/fragmentation or BLU-109 or BLU-116 Penetrator warhead
            GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb with 500 lb Mk82 blast/fragmentation warhead
            GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bomb with 2,000 lb Mk84 blast-fragmentation or BLU-109 or BLU-116 Penetrator warhead
            GBU-31 JDAM INS/GPS guided munition with 2,000 lb Mk84 blast-frag or BLU-109 Penetrator warhead
            B61 nuclear bomb
Avionics
Hughes APG-73 radar
AN/AAQ-14 targeting pod
LITENING targeting pod

Lockheed F-19 Stealth Fighter aircraft 42 by bagera3005 Lockheed Martin XF-19 Knight prototype by bagera3005 McDonnell Douglas F-19 NRO