F-117s OVER BAGHDAD

Stealth fighters adapt new tactics in Desert Storm, On January 16, 1991 Nighthawks unleashed their stealth capabilities and Guided Bomb Units (GBUs) on Baghdad and some of the most heavily defended airfields in Iraq. During the “43 Day War,” F-117As of the 415th and 416th Tactical Fighter Squadrons flew nearly 1,300 sorties under the command of Col. Alton Whitley.

- WARREN E. THOMPSON

Col. Whitley flew a lot of the missions and recalls, "These airfields were jammed tight with aircraft, mostly fighter types. Part of the mindset of Iraqis had been brought by the fact that Iran hadn't been able to penetrate their defenses and bomb the aircraft parked at the airfields. Early in the conflict, we flew a lot of missions against these hardened aircraft shelters with ordnance that did not work [the GBU-10]. We were tasked to go against these targets with 2,000-pound blast-fragmentation bombs with a nose plug and delayed tail fuse. Although we vehemently objected to the CENTAF [U.S. Air Force Central Command] planning on the weapons selection, we were told that we had no choice and we continued to use them. The results were pitiful against the very heavily defended targets that we were going after.

"The bombs simply exploded on the exterior of the shelters and the fault was not with our pilots because the hits were true. The explosions were on the outside, causing very little damage to the structures. Our pilots were not happy having gone through the stiff ground defenses for so little damage to the interior of the shelters. It was a breakdown in the system, which led to a waste of some very valuable sorties, including a serious risk to the pilots.”