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The F-117 Nighthawk, the world’s first operational stealth combat aircraft, crossed the country on Tuesday. It just didn’t do the flying. The jet rode with its wings off, in the cargo hold of a C-5M Super Galaxy.This particular Nighthawk, tail number 85-0818, is known as “The Overachiever.” It’s the only F-117 that flew in all 4 of the type’s wars: Panama in 1989, Desert Storm in 1991, Yugoslavia in 1999 and Iraq in 2003. The Air Force retired the F-117 from combat in 2008, and in September the Smithsonian announced that this one would join the national collection, prepared for display by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the same shop that built it.Getting it there was the hard part. On October 5, a C-5M from the Air Force Reserve landed at Palmdale, California, to pick the jet up. The Nighthawk weighs almost 15 tons, and it fit inside the cargo plane with only millimeters to spare. The wings went in first. The body of the jet had to wait: it didn’t have enough points to strap it down, so a Lockheed Martin team worked through the night to build and install them. The next morning, the C-5M took off for Washington, and by the end of the day the Nighthawk was in the Smithsonian’s hands.The jet is now in the restoration hangar at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, being put back together. Visitors can watch through the hangar’s glass overlook. It’s scheduled to go on the museum floor in late October.Of 64 Nighthawks built, this is the 16th to go on public display, and the first ever at the Smithsonian.