The 8FS is an active USAF squadron, assigned to the 54FG, stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, NM. In 1992, the 49FW underwent a number of transitions and as a result of the end of the Cold War, reduced defense budgets were the order of the day. As a result, the 8FS retired its F-15A Eagles and received the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighters of the 416FS, which was simultaneously inactivated. After conversion to the F-117A in May 1992, The 8th deployed fighters and their crews to Southwest Asia during the 1990s as part of Operation Southern Watch to support United Nations (UN) weapons inspectors in Iraq, to enforce the no-fly zone over the southern part of that country to deprive Saddam Hussein of his Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programs and to force his compliance with the UN monitoring regime. 8th F-117s fighters deployed to the Gulf in 1998 during Operation Desert Fox to upgrade the strike force’s capability to attack high-value targets. But the 18-hour flight from Holloman AFB to Kuwait meant that the operation was over before the F-117 aircraft arrived in the Gulf. The last F-117A Nighthawk flew to Tonopah in late April 2008, and as a result, the 8th inactivated for the first time after 67 years of active service on 16 May 2008. They have since reactivated and are flying the F-22 Raptor. This is the yellow version of the “Stealth Driver” patch for the 8FS “Black Sheep” which was/is one of the operational squadrons for the F-117/F-22. This patch does not come with velcro attached.
