Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit

[avatar]

video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8056690944027586573&hl=en

 

[flateric]

Much classified composites = much unhealthy smoke
Sad news, though...main thing that pilots are alive.

 

[avatar]

literally and figuratively ..... eh Flateric
I also think the plane was pretty much tanked up

 

[Matej]

Funny that only by one accident, the USAF strategic stealth force was reduced by 4,7 %. Something absolutely unreal during the 50s or 60s.

 

[medal64]

But don't forget this aircraft's avarage cost is 1.5bilion$ per unit.

 

[Avimimus]

I would not feel safe crawling into that thing

 

[flateric]

A masterpiece - 121 page document related to the very important subject - is it worth or no to use new seat cushion for B-2 pilots ACES II seat? http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=A339408&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=A312311&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
Boring title "Technical Publication Transfer Using: Northrop Corporation's Data MIL-D-28OOOA (IGES), MIL-M-280O1A (SGML), MIL-R-28OO2A (Raster), MIL-D-280O3 (CGM) Quick Short Test Report." has some interesting B-2 drawings there.

Careful reading of the *text* will make you smile for a while...

 

[Skybolt]

Thanks Gregory !

 

[flateric]

For youngsters - that's how it was in 1988...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tAw9p-vzj4Y

 

[F-14D]

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...

Back in those days many at Northrop were still kind of independent thinking and innovative (two qualities not necessarily endearing to those inside the Beltway mavericks. There are stories that Northrop kind of tweaked USAF here a bit. If you look at the star (which reportedly had been laid out quite some time prior to the official rollout when the configuration of the B-2 was supposed to be revealed), you'll see what I mean.

 

[F-14D]

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

On the other hand, not completely legal and a sad example of why General Aviation has a tendency to shoot itself in the foot, as the B-2 was about to take the runway for its first flight, a light aircraft, looking for a completely different airfield landed on the runway in front of it. Needless to say, the occupants found themselves quickly "greeted" by many stern-faced fellows carrying large personal weapons.

 

[flateric]

If you look at the star (which reportedly had been laid out quite some time prior to the official rollout when the configuration of the B-2 was supposed to be revealed), you'll see what I mean.

Actually, B-2 distinctive shape was revealed well prior November roll-out, on April 20, 1988 - when USAF released ATB artist's impression.

 

[antigravite]

Hi all,

The photographer's name was William G. Hartenstein. The Cessna -172 was flown by Mike Dornheim, also an AWST editor

The entire overhead picture story is accounted here:

Bill Scott, Inside the Stealth Bomber: the B-2 story, Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab/Aero Books, 1991
Chapter 8 "Rollout", Section "Look-Down, Shoot-Down", pp.111-112
Another picture, different from those posted above, is also published.

Hope this helps.

 

[flateric]

have this book, and bought AWST backissue with the original photos, but thanks anyway

 

[F-14D]

If you look at the star (which reportedly had been laid out quite some time prior to the official rollout when the configuration of the B-2 was supposed to be revealed), you'll see what I mean.

Actually, B-2 distinctive shape was revealed well prior November roll-out, on April 20, 1988 - when USAF released ATB artist's impression.

If I remember correctly (which is not a given), the general shape was revealed in doctored front quarter drawings , but the star shows the exact planform, especially the heretofore unknown trailing edge.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

The first image is shown here:

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1988/1988%20-%201076.html

In fact it does show the planform quite well, but it doesn't show the nozzles. This was the thing they wanted to hide at the rollout...

 

[flateric]

B-2 wheat starch blasting paint removal. Woman, scribing paint at 00:23 without any spray mask (not talking of protective costume), makes me wonder what she thought of...

INSTEAD OF USING SOLVENT-BASED 'WET' PAINT STRIPPERS, NORTHROP Grumman Corp. blast-cleans the composite surfaces of the B-2 stealth bombers with wheat starch. This dry alternative reduces hazardous waste, yet removes paint without damaging the composite. Processed to develop a crystalline texture, the starch, called EnviroStrip, removes paint by cutting rather than by fracturing the coating (as sand would).
Northrop Grumman Corp. uses EnviroStrip (which is made out of wheat starch, the product is marketed by CAE Electronics Ltd.)

http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=ilNgs5wby7A

 

[flateric]

Somehow we have missed the date - first B-2, AV-1, was rolled out at the Northrop plant in Palmdale, California, on 22 November 1988, 20 years ago.

To mark the event, I'm posting nice Northrop artist's drawings, released shortly before and shortly after the roll-out event in 1988, including well-known first graphic impression ever published on B-2 that was released by USAF.

 

[Creative]

Thanks for sharing I remember seeing that last pic and "Batplane!" was the first thing to come to mind

 

[flateric]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAw9p-vzj4Y

 

[flateric]

...so missing elmayerle here...Last Active: December 26, 2007... :-[

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

He's still around on what-if forum.

 

[Matej]

DTI’s Bill Sweetman reports that during a 2008 bandwidth auction, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission inadvertently sold the operating frequency band of the B-2 bomber’s Raytheon AN/APQ-181 radar to an obscure firm headed by a Russian-educated citizen of Mali. Installing new radar arrays on the 20 surviving jets will reportedly cost “well over $1 billion.”

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Spectrum-Sequueze-to-KO-B-2-Bombers-Radar-05348/


Sometimes I think that some things are simply too absurd to happen. But then they eventually happen....

 

[Matej]

And it seems that its not all

The B-2 radar is only one capability that has been lost since the information revolution kicked into high gear. The Joint Tactical Information Distribution System, the first attempt to create a network-centric environment (and currently the only way to get AWACS targeting data to an F-22) has "limited supportability outside the continental U.S.," according to a U.S. military presentation, because it was developed in an occupied band.

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,187202,00.html

 

[flateric]

anyone heard of it? any pics were ever released?

Associated Press
Posted on Wed, May. 15, 2002

Six injured when landing gear collapses on B-2

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. - Six people were injured Wednesday when the landing gear collapsed on a B-2 stealth bomber that was undergoing maintenance, the Air Force said.
The cause of the collapse, which occurred about 12:30 p.m., was under investigation.
Base spokesman Capt. Brett Ashworth would not disclose the nature of the injuries, but said none appeared to be life-threatening. Two people were taken to Western Missouri Medical Center in Warrensburg, with the other four being treated at Whiteman.
All six, whose identities were not released by the Air Force, were performing maintenance on the craft, Ashworth said.
The B-2 was in the hangar at Whiteman Air Force Base when the accident happened.

another trace found at http://www.targetlock.org.uk/b-2/service.html

On May 15th 2002 an unidentified B-2 collapsed while workers were carrying out "unscheduled maintenance" on it, injuring five of them. According to the AIB report, one of the maintenance personnel improperly removed a landing gear safety pin, and then pushed the locking assembly into an unsafe position. Without hydraulic power, the aircraft collapsed under its own weight. The extent of the damage to the B-2 was not known.

 

[aero-engineer]

Yes. Yes.

There were photos published in an issue of the USAF's "Flying Safety Magazine" published by the Air Force Safety Center.

aero-engineer

 

[flateric]

any chances to get snap on 'em?

-------------------------------

Found it. August, 2003. Kevin, thanks for the hint!
http://www.afsc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-071016-111.PDF
Gosh! I wonder what they have done to that safety pin removal guy...

 

[flateric]

...

 

[Michel Van]

oh boy
is this B-2 repaid or scrapped ?


by the way
i got picture of that collapse NOAA Satellited
2003 they forgot to secure a NOAA during
transfer Vertical to Horizontal assembly
interests ?

 

[aero-engineer]

Friday July 16 2009 marks the 20th Annivarsary of the first flight of the B-2.

http://www.as.northropgrumman.com/americas_bomber/index.htm

aero-engineer

 

[SOC]

I remember watching the first flight live on TV from RAF Alconbury in the UK!

Here's two shots of one of the Iron Bird static airframes, restored and displayed at the USAF Museum. Anybody know what happened to the other one?

 

[flateric]

I remember seeing photo in WAP backissue of both iron birds mothballed somewhere at desert-like area in 90s. So it's logical to assume that other one still can be threre. Will check tonight.

 

[SOC]

I've seen that (I have the entire run of WAPJ), it showed them both stored at Palmdale. You can see them in overhead imagery from the early 90's as well. But now, they're gone! One is at Wright-Patterson...did another museum get the other one? Maybe the SAC museum? They could be sitting on it restoring it.

 

[Just call me Ray]

The other one may be at the South Dakota Air & Space Museum which had the Honda "B-2" model (built for a commercial that can be seen below) which was apparently replaced by a "more accurate B-2 model" (makes me think one of the Iron Birds) and the Honda model was destroyed as stipulated in the donation contract (a shame really, saw it back in '95 but I don't believe I took pictures)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M40uSxC6_1k

 

[Matej]

http://blog.flightstory.net/1088/photos-northrop-grumman-unveils-b-2-stealth-bike-built-by-occ/
http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=157374
http://www.as.northropgrumman.com/products/b2spirit/assets/B2_Bike_FactSheet.pdf

 

[Sundog]

...returned to service after upgrade.
Make sure you open the link to the high res image, as you can see a lot of good detail in it.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

All previous replies to the topic removed. All users have a responsibility to post politely, even when arguing. I will remove posts in s similar vein in future. The reasons why the B-2 cost so much are well documented and have been run though many times, I don't see much value in retreading this argument.

Nice picture, Sundog. The B-2 is a striking design.

 

[bobbymike]

The B-2 is a great plane. Despite my limited understanding of aerodynamics I often look at pictures of this aircraft and think "this thing should not fly." It is a testament to the warfighters that fly it, the engineers that designed it and the scientists who took theory into practice. Impressive but I yearn for the Next Generation B)

 

[sublight]

The B-2 is a great plane. Despite my limited understanding of aerodynamics I often look at pictures of this aircraft and think "this thing should not fly." It is a testament to the warfighters that fly it, the engineers that designed it and the scientists who took theory into practice. Impressive but I yearn for the Next Generation B)

I think the next generation is out there, it just hasn't been photographed yet....

 

[Austin]

Wow , must be hell lot expensive to maintain these white elephants.