Blackbird

History of Stealth Technology

By tymeline

  • Invention of camouflage

    Invention of camouflage
    Soldiers used varying colored materials to blend into their surroundings during battle.

  • Germans develop transparent plane

    Germans develop transparent plane
    When flown above 900 feet, the plane was next to invisible.

  • Invention of RADAR

    Invention of RADAR
    RAdio Detection And Ranging detects distant objects.

  • Diffused Light Camouflage

    Canadian Royal Navy experiments with camouflage diffusing lighting.

  • First stealth submarine built by Germans

    First stealth submarine built by Germans
    Used RADAR-reflective coating to combat RADAR detection.

  • Horten Ho-229

    Horten Ho-229
    Germans built the jet-powered plane and experimented with sharp angles for stealth.

  • British Stealth Bomber - The Avro Vulcan

    British Stealth Bomber - The Avro Vulcan
    Had a very small RADAR appearance despite how large it was.

  • SR-71 Blackbird

    SR-71 Blackbird
    A very fast high-altitude stealth plane developed by Lockheed. Used extensively and successfully by Americans in Cold War and Vietnam missions.

  • Have Blue - the "Hopeless Diamond"

    Have Blue - the "Hopeless Diamond"
    Prototypes designed by a computer program to be the most invisible to RADAR. Both prototypes destroyed and never saw combat.

  • First flight of the F117 Nighthawk

    First flight of the F117 Nighthawk
    A very successful and widely used plane, only one of which was ever shot down.

  • Gulf War

    Gulf War
    The Gulf War saw very large scale use of the F117 Nighthawk, which was also used in Operation Iraqi Freedom.