Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit

[elmayerle]

*soft chuckle* Ah, I know that aircraft intimately, very intimately. There's nothing like being at the plant at midnight supporting the shop folk who are installing your design.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Why the interest in these pics, flateric?

 

[flateric]

Kind of nostalgy, Paul. You must understand that aerospace buffs here had much less either zero access to western press in soviet times. I was 14 y.o. then, and all published in our press was murky b/w photos with next bunch of phrases of 'imperialists forces', 'Pentagon hawks' etc. Even John Patierno death of cancer was somehow badly connected to B-2 to make whole picture more dramatic. Of course, Thomas W.Jones games with Pentagon budget and $2500-a-piece hammers were described as well...

 

[Matej]

In any case, the work went forward, and the first "B-2" prototype, "Air Vehicle One (AV-1)", was rolled out at the Northrop plant in Palmdale, California, on 22 November 1988. The rollout was public, but observers were restricted to stands that kept them well away from the aircraft and limited their view of it to the front. Although the F-117 had been kept secret for years after its first flight, its test flights had been restricted to night, and that wasn't regarded as acceptable for the B-2. Since it would have been quickly spotted during daylight flights there was no sense it keeping it a complete secret, and nobody tried.

However, the security restrictions at the rollout weren't completely "airtight", in a highly literal sense of the word. Michael A. Dornheim, a reporter from AVIATION WEEK magazine, flew a light aircraft over the B-2 and had a photographer take pictures, obtaining one of the magazine's biggest scoops of all time, and justifying its nickname of AVIATION LEAK. It was all perfectly legal.

Source: http://www.vectorsite.net/avb2.html

 

[Dilbert]

Has anyone heard the story that during the 1999 action over Kosovo, British warships were able to track B-2s on radar, and this prompted the whole, "we need to protect the RAM coatings from weather" rigamarole? I didn't follow that very closely and would like to be able to cite a source, if anyone has one.

 

[flateric]

Interesting IMHO photos of B-2 intake&exaust service operations.

 

[elmayerle]

That's just covering the extreme aft end of the exhausts. The exhaust pipes split a little ways aft of the engines with the forward portions coming out with the engines and the aft portions coming out separately due to having to be "snaked" out of the airframe.

 

[Matej]

Does anybody have the dimensions of the B-2 bomb bay?

 

[paralay]

 

[Matej]

Я искал для размера залива бомбы. Но спасибо за фотоих, они интересны.

 

[TinWing]

Does anybody have the dimensions of the B-2 bomb bay?

Bomb bays - plural, as in two.

All flying wings from the Northrop XB-35 to the current crop of UCAV demonstrators have two side-by-side bomb bays.

Not a clue as to internal dimensions.

Like the B-52H and B-1B, the B-2 uses a CRSL (Common Strategic Rotary Launcher) in each bomb bay. However, there is nothing "common" about the CRSL as each bomber type uses its own, non-interchangable type of CRSL.

 

[flateric]

Dimensions are speculative, based on Charles Fleming drawings in Aerofax Extra No.4, but supposed to be pretty close to real.
So, lenght is about 7,4 m, width (per bay) 2,4 m, height is about 3 m at the highest point.

 

[elmayerle]

I'd say those dimensions are generally 'close-enough". It's been ages since I was in one. Though, once upon a time, some wo decades ago, I supported the routing of flight-test wiring through the weapons bays of AV1 (here's a laugh, the drawing title for these bays is "cargo bay").

 

[Matej]

Thanks to all.

One my friend needed this information to confirm the theoretical possibility described in Matthew Reilly´s book Scarecrow, where the B-2 is used for special corps operations. Armored vehicle Commando Scout (5003×2057×2159 mm) is there deployed from B-2 bomb bay. Of course, it cant be done with the current B-2s, its just a theoretical.

 

[elmayerle]

Thanks to all.

One my friend needed this information to confirm the theoretical possibility described in Matthew Reilly´s book Scarecrow, where the B-2 is used for special corps operations. Armored vehicle Commando Scout (5003×2057×2159 mm) is there deployed from B-2 bomb bay. Of course, it cant be done with the current B-2s, its just a theoretical.

It would require a modification/rebuild program to the aft center section of selected B-2s, or some new builds with appropriate aft center sections built in from the beginning. Personally, I think they should've built more and converted AV1 to a spec ops transport or a RB-2 rather than a standard production configuration since it will always be heavier than a production B-2 as it would require greater disassembly than was done to remove all the flight-test specific hardware.

 

[elmayerle]

Lets just say that there's a protrusion on the upper starboard side of AV1 during its first flight that's received a fair bit of speculation. The truth is so prosaic and mundane as to be boring. I will say that it's flight-test-only hardware, mandated by the Customer, that was removed during the conversion/rework/update of AV1 to an operational airframe.

 

[RP1]

>protrusion on the upper starboard side of AV1<

The frame-type thing near the tail? It looks like a towed RCS target - the cable is visible. Not that'd you'd be able to tell us if this is what you are referring to, I suppose.

RP1

 

[flateric]

Nope. Stuff was to provide static air pressure data dor speed, altitude and other misc. calibration requirements to compare data from them and B-2 own flush airdata sensors.

I'd like to ask Evan if he can comment on these - on roll-out pics one can see that internal pattern of B-2 intakes are look quite different - was it result of hurry-up for roll-out date or just various RCS materials application for tests?

 

[elmayerle]

>protrusion on the upper starboard side of AV1<

The frame-type thing near the tail? It looks like a towed RCS target - the cable is visible. Not that'd you'd be able to tell us if this is what you are referring to, I suppose.

Actually, no. The protrusion in question is just outboard of the starboard engine bays in some pictures.

 

[flateric]

This is what Evan talks about.

 

[RP1]

Stuff was to provide static air pressure data dor speed, altitude and other misc. calibration requirements to compare data from them and B-2 own flush airdata sensors.

Well, you learn something new every day, thanks.

I am intrigued by the whatsit now. The Have Blue protoypes appear to have something similar on the underside forward, but the Photos in Millers book aren't clear enough. It looks fatter than the UHF antenna on the F-117.

RP1

 

[flateric]

Mmm...kidda of radar reflector for forward/side sectors, I guess (much better radar deflector if form of towed calibration stuff support structure was on the tail)? Intake suction relief doors can play this role at low speeds, but not at high subsonic while CTF team still needed to track the AV. Just my guess...
Meanwhile, square white stencils on operational B-2 at this place at the right nacelle mirrors those at the left one with APU exaust triangle door.

 

[elmayerle]

Yep, on all production aircraft, the starboard APU is in this location, more or less mirroring the port APU location and installation (but not exactly, and that did lead to a few problems 'tween designers and builders on AV1 - I ended up in the middle of that one and was able to help resolve it expeditiously). On this aircraft, and AV2, there was something else there for flight test concerns. No, it's not a reflector, though the plate there is planform-aligned and shaped to keep its contribution to the overall signature minimal when not deployed.

 

[Sundog]

It looks like a retractable IRCM like you see on Helo's. Other than that, I haven't a clue.

 

[elmayerle]

Well, yes, it is retractible/extendable but it's not an IRCM, it's strictly flight test gear. If you look closely at the first picture, with it deployed, you'll notice it's essentially two pipes coming up to that conformal plate. Considering that these two aircraft were exploring the envelope boundaries, do I hear any thoughts on what those pipes might be?

 

[flateric]

Hmm...camera? Kind of flow meter/laminar flow sensor(s)? Double cup holder with Starbucks Frappuccino®?

 

[Sundog]

Double cup holder with Starbucks Frappuccino®

LOL!

Yes, I would agree that perhaps they're measuring the boundary layer depth and/or there to determine boundary layer separation with alpha.

Of course, they could also be smoke generators to visualize the flow over the wing for the same purposes mentioned above, e.g. measuring the boundary layer separation.

I was also wondering if maybe they were there to look for measuring airflow near the inlet?

 

[flateric]

Should we cheat and ask Irv Waaland? LOL... In fact, I'm off the versions...inlet aerodynamics was the whole story, but then any kind of flow sensor should logically be installed along the flowpath from the forward edge to intake...

 

[elmayerle]

Actually, the answer is, as I said, rather pedestrian. The Customer was rather concerned that our analysts hadn't gotten things quite right concerning inlet airflow and that the higher AoA's would see stalled inlets and dead engines, normally meaning a lost aircraft given the nature of the controls. Those pipes are exhaust pipes for two hydrazine-driven emergency power units (straight out of USAF stock) installed in place of the RH APU. They were only supposed to be extended as they pushed to higher AoAs but were out on the first flight "just in case". To the best of my knowledge, they were never needed and the analysis and predictions of inlet flow were either accurate or conservative. Hydrazine tankage was placed on a pallet in an empty bay on the RH side of the aircraft while the equivalent bay on the LH side of the aircraft contained a pallet with several large batteries to ensure there was adequate electrical power throughout the restart effort.

 

[Sundog]

Now <i>that</i> I never would have figured out.

 

[Sentinel Chicken]

So it's NOT the filler cap for the tank where the chemtrail liquid is stored?

 

[elmayerle]

So it's NOT the filler cap for the tank where the chemtrail liquid is stored?

Nope; if nothing else, it's in the wrong location for that. 'Sides, those were to be tightly sealing quick disconnects but that system was never installed.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Edwards2005/B2/index.html

 

[flateric]

Recently got this Northrop Media stuff...sharing some interesting shapshots...this is AV-1

 

[flateric]

Margaret Thatcher and her unidentified friend

 

[sferrin]

Recently got this Northrop Media stuff...sharing some interesting shapshots...this is AV-1

Re: #04 and the putty knife "okay I need you to do this for the whole aircraft and it needs to be done by five."

 

[flateric]

I remember that after that they changed it for crystallized wheat starch+compressed air to remove stuff *in quantities* during modernization process...and also that stuff was cancerogene.

 

[flateric]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2lReULF-DU
That's what I call 'wagging wings'

 

[flateric]

Another interesting shot of B-2 inlet

 

[avatar]

here it is
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7260231.stm