It’s short but very sweet. The video below depicts what has to be the best B-2 Spirit flyby ever. It looks like this was taken at Northrop’s installation at Plant 42 in the early 1990s, and it’s awesome to watch.
You can see the two other B-2 airframes shrink wrapped in the foreground. The big stealth bomber comes charging by only a wingspan’s length off the ground.
Such “aggressive” B-2 flypast do not happen anymore. In the past, when B-2s were cleared for air show flybys (and the occasional demo at Edwards AFB open houses) the action occurred much higher up, yet it was still equal parts breathtaking and sinister.
Looking at this video, it is hard to believe that this incredible flying machine first flew almost 27 years ago.
Now that Northrop has been awarded the contract to build America’s next stealth bomber, and that Boeing’s protest against the award has been overturned, it will be fascinating to see what the “flying wing company” has to show us. As it sits now we should get more details on the shadowy Long Range Strike Bomber next month according to the USAF.
A smart move, as unless the USAF starts getting the public and much of Washington behind the program it will likely not survive the weapon system butcher shop that is Capitol Hill.
Contact the author at Tyler@jalopnik.com.