I love getting opportunities to photograph the B-2A Spirit.
It’s hard to believe that this is airframe whose first example rolled out into
the Palmdale sunshine twenty-nine years ago, because even today it looks like
an aircraft ripped straight from a science fiction movie.
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| Now you see me... |
As other (far better) photographers have noted, one of the
neat things about the B-2 is how its character changes depending on the angle
of the shot. At the Offutt Air & Space show we were graced with a couple of
really nice low passes. I tried to capture some different angles as best I
could.
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| Now you don't. Well, almost, anyway. |
The 2016 Offutt show had a B-2 on static display. Even
twenty-seven years after rollout, it still has a cordon and armed security
around it when it’s on the ground. It’s tough to get a sense of how big the
bomber is when you see it in flight. It’s only on the ground that you realize
this is a four-engine aircraft heavy bomber capable of slipping through enemy
defenses with a 40,000lb bombload. For comparison’s sake, a B-52H can carry a
70,000 lb payload on a mixture of internal and external positions; a B-1B is
capable of hauling 75,000 lbs internally with another 50,000 lbs on external
hardpoints; WWII mainstay the B-17G could only carry 8,000 lbs internally for
short range missions.
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| Not my photo. Public domain via official Air Force. |
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