(Image: via Thomas Wharton/F-16.net)
Gaunt, empty and plundered of all usable parts, it’s hard to imagine that this eviscerated shell represents the most sophisticated air superiority stealth fighter ever built.
Unveiled amid much fanfare at Lockheed Martin’s plant at Marietta, Georgia on April 9, 1997, the jet – number 91-4001 – was the first of eight engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) versions of the F-22 Raptor, currently the world’s only operational fifth generation fighter aircraft. But this image of the pre-production jet’s gutted hulk at Hill AFB in Utah echoes the often-brief lives of evaluation airframes.
(Image: USAF/Derk Blanset, public domain)
After three years of successful flight testing Raptor 4001 was retired in 2000, three years before the first production F-22 entered service at Nellis AFB, Nevada. From there the early model Raptor embarked on a series of ground assignments, including survivability and live fire testing at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio.
The stealth jet later became a battle damage repair (BDR) airframe at Hill AFB in Utah, helping train technicians in the art of patching up damaged jets during times of war in a bid to maintain fleet readiness and availability.
BDR training is by necessity destructive, as holes are hacked through an aircraft’s outer skin to simulate missile damage and anti-aircraft fire. The top image shows that Raptor 4001’s wings and tail surfaces have been removed, probably for reuse on other F-22s. But the fate of its gutted fuselage, mounted on a metal frame in a corner of Hill AFB, will be less salubrious.
(Image: USAF/Kevin Robertson, public domain)
Of the 195 Raptors built between 1997 and 2012, 187 were delivered as fully operational, combat-capable fighters, while the first eight were EMD evaluation airframes. Never intended for operational duties, the EMD F-22s have been used in a variety of roles, from maintenance trainers to testing upgrades and other cutting edge technologies to be integrated onto the main fleet.
One aircraft, EMD F-22A 91-4003 is now preserved at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. It replaced one of two Lockheed YF-22 prototypes, which had been displayed there since beating Northrop’s competing YF-23 Black Widow in the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition of the early 1990s.
(Image: USAF, public domain)
The images above show Raptor 4001 at various stages of evaluation, from runway and fast taxi tests at Edwards AFB to leading another F-22 on a sortie over spectacular snow-capped peaks.
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