A Stealth Fighter Left Too Long in the Freezer

Seen here is a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk frozen in ice.

Military aircraft are expected to perform flawlessly in an endless array of environments, from the burning sand of the Middle East to the freezing snowstorms of the Arctic. Rigorous testing is required before a new airplane is brought into service.

Common sense suggests that aircraft should be tested in real ecosystems, but that can be expensive and unpredictable.

In the 1940s, the U.S Airforce built an engineering marvel: a weather laboratory capable of simulating all kinds of weather possibilities. Military aircraft and private corporations would be able to test their upcoming projects in the facility named the McKinley Climatic Laboratory.

As the largest indoor-weather testing facility in the world, the McKinley Laboratory has been active for almost 75 years. It has been crucial since World War II to develop and test America's most advanced fighter aircraft and bombers.