F-117A Nighthawk airlifted to Smithsonian aboard C-5M Super Galaxy

A C-5M Super Galaxy carried an F-117A Nighthawk from Palmdale, California, to Dulles International Airport in Virginia on Oct. 6, 2026, the U.S. Air Force said. The stealth attack jet, flying under the radio callsign HAGAR91, was delivered to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum for preservation. Dover Air Force Base's 512th Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit in Delaware, carried out the mission over two days.

Dulles placed the airlifter just north of the museum, which a taxiway connects to the airfield for delivering aircraft placed on display.

Tail number 85-0818, nicknamed The Overachiever, was loaded partially disassembled, its wings separated from the fuselage. The 29,500-pound load required planning, attention to weight distribution and, in some places, clearances measured in millimeters.

Air Force photographs and video show the angular profile of the stealth aircraft inside the C-5M's cargo compartment. The donation of an F-117A to the museum was made public in September 2026 at the Air and Space Forces Association's Air, Space and Cyber Conference.