page_title: 415th Special Operations Squadron
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: 415th Special Operations Squadron / History / F-117 operations / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: 4450th Tactical Squadron Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk 81-10796
context_page_description: The 415th Special Operations Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 58th Operations Group at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.
  The 415th Night Fighter Squadron was formed in February 1943, and it carried out missions in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations, and then in Northwestern Europe during World War II. It was inactivated in 1947, with its personnel and aircraft being transferred to another squadron.
  Reactivated in 2011, the squadron replaced the 58th Special Operations Wing, Detachment 1. Its mission is to train special operations personnel operating both the HC-130J Combat King II and the MC-130J Commando II.
context_section_description: Tactical Air Command activated the "I-Unit" at Groom Lake, Nevada as a classified unit on 5 October 1979.  "I-Unit" was component of Tactical Air Command's A-Unit.  It began receiving full-scale development F-117A stealth fighters from Lockheed Aircraft for testing.  The unit was redesignated the 4450th Tactical Sqadron on 11 July 1981 as part of the 4450th Tactical Group.  The squadron moved to Tonopah Test Range Airport on 28 October 1983, performing training missions with the F-117A in a clandestine environment.  All Tonopah training flights were conducted at night under the cover of darkness until late 1988. On 10 November 1988, the U.S. Air Force brought the F-117A from behind a "black veil" by publicly acknowledging its existence, but the USAF provided few details about it.  The official confirmation of the existence of the F-117A, however, had little impact on Tonopah operations. Pilots began occasionally flying the F-117A during the day, but personnel were still ferried to and from work each Monday and Friday from Nellis Air Force Base. Everyone associated with the project was still forbidden to talk about what they did for a living, and the program remained shrouded in secrecy.
caption: 4450th Tactical Squadron Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk 81-10796 in flight, 1990
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