How did F117 get it's designation?

In article . net,
Steven P. McNicoll wrote:

F14, F15, F16, F18, the new F22.


Actually, we have F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, and the new F-22.

Actually, all of the F- numbers are accounted for since the
great renumbering in 1962, except for F-13 and F-19. F-13
was skipped since Grumman didn't want the lucky number 13
for the Tomcat. We all know about the F-14, -15, and -16.
The F-17 the other airplane in the flyoff that lost to the
F-16. The Navy picked it up, and it evolved into the F-18.
The F-20 was the low-cost export airplane based on the F-5.
It failed to gain support, and died when the F-16 was
authorized to be given to 3rd world airforces. The F-21
was an Isrealie KFIR fighter that the US Navy used as an
aggressor prior to getting the F-16N. The F-22 is the
Raptor. The F-23 is the plane that lost to the F-22 in the
flyoff in the 90's.

The F-35 is another violation of the numbering scheme. It
should have been the XF-24 and XF-25 in the flyoff, but it
somehow got slotted into the X- experimental aircraft
numbering sequence as the X-32 and X-35. The X-35 won the
flyoff, and was given the program name of F-35.

-john-

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John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
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