The 4450th Tactical Group (TG) was activated on October 15, 1979, under the Tactical Air Command and headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Secretly and physically, the unit operated at the Tonopah Test Range. The 4450th TG was tasked with the operational development of the world’s first stealth fighter, the F-117A “Nighthawk” while cloaked in the cover story of a unit tasked with avionics tests and evaluations for A-7D “Corsair II” weapon systems. The 4450th TG was a pathfinder unit, moving the F-117A from the research and development stage to becoming a fully operational weapons system.
The Air Force denied the existence of the F-117A stealth aircraft until November 10, 1988, when Assistant Secretary of Defense J. Daniel Howard displayed a grainy photograph at a Pentagon press conference. Less than a year later the unit was inactivated on October 5, 1989, when the no longer secret F-117A squadrons were reorganized as the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing and relocated to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. Nevadans have not forgotten the 4450th, a unit shrouded in secrecy for most of its existence. We celebrate and honor their achievement as the Nevada Aerospace Hall of Fame class of 2021, helping to preserve their contributions to the aviation heritage of our state and the nation.
