12/14/2023 0 Comments B2 bomber cockpit toiletIronically, the principles used for this were first exposed by a Russian physicist, Pyotr Ufimtsev, in a 1962 book which the Soviet Union deemed of no national security value, thus clearing it for publication.Are you ready to unravel the mystery of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber? Get ready to discover 50 incredible facts about this aircraft that has captivated the world with its cutting-edge technology and unparalleled stealth capabilities. In fact, its smooth surface is designed to scatter radar waves completely, so that almost none return to the source, making the plane appear as small as a bird. Unlike other aircraft, the B-2’s flying wing design doesn’t have any large vertical shapes, such as a tail, for radar waves to bounce off. The intensity and angle of this reflection gives the size and location of the target. Radar – an acronym for “radio detection and ranging” – was invented during World War II and works by sending an energy pulse through the air and waiting for it to bounce off objects such as airplanes, and then come back. “The first is the shape, which alters the radar reflection,” said Grant. To do so, the plane includes a range of features, many of them classified, that mask it from view. However, the work done on the YB-49 was used to kickstart the B-2 program - the company that makes it was founded by Northrop himself – and although the planes are decades apart, they have many similarities, including the exact same wingspan.Ī B-2 is followed by two F-117s, an earlier stealth plane with a strikingly different design approach, dominated by flat panels and jagged edges instead of smooth curves. Far ahead of its time, the project was held back by technical difficulties and quickly scrapped. Northrop’s work culminated in the YB-49, his first jet powered flying wing design, in 1947. In the United States, this type of design was pioneered by aircraft designer and industrialist Jack Northrop, whose first flying wing prototypes – in small scale and powered by propeller engines – took to the skies in 1940. Towards the end of World War II, Nazi Germany built and tested the Horten Ho 229, a futuristic flying wing aircraft with rudimentary stealth features, to which the B-2 bears a striking resemblance. The idea of designing a plane as a flying wing – without a definite fuselage, a tail and other protuberances – is an early one in aviation, surfacing before World War I in Germany and the Soviet Union. Maybe that’s why all of the B-2s are rumored to have unique personalities and they’re often referred to as she.”Ĭoncordski: What ever happened to Soviets' spectacular rival to Concorde? It is very special – more of a sentient being than just a regular airplane. “Seen from the cockpit, the flying wing is so distinctive. “It is really one of a kind, completely unlike any other plane ever designed,” Rebecca Grant, a B-2 and aerospace expert who has flown in the classified plane, said in a phone interview. One of the most sophisticated flying machines in existence, the B-2 can reach a target anywhere in the world and return to base, refueling in mid-air. The first B-2 was delivered in 1993 to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, where the fleet is based and still operates, and its first operational use was during the 1999 Kosovo War. Nevertheless, it has seen its fair share of combat. But shortly after its first flight, over 30 years ago in 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall ended the Cold War and no B-2 has ever flown inside Russian airspace. With its “flying wing” design that makes it almost invisible to radar, the B-2 Spirit bomber is truly a standout among military planes – and also the world’s most expensive, at over $2 billion per aircraft.Ī product of the Cold War, it was originally designed to penetrate Soviet air defenses and carry both conventional and nuclear weapons.
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