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B2 spirit cockpit2/27/2024 To verify the test results outside the laboratory, the Spirit of Ohio deployed to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, in March 1996 for further cold climate testing. It withstood temperatures ranging from -65 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, rain and high humidity. In 1993 the Spirit of Ohio (S/N 82-1070) endured more than 1,000 hours of extensive temperature testing at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. They calculated that the structure would reach 150 percent of the design specifications, but the wing withstood stresses over 161 percent before it finally cracked.Įarly production B-2s also underwent extensive environmental testing. On the second of those test aircraft (the B-2 on display at the museum), engineers attached computer-controlled, hydraulically driven plates along the airframe to simulate all flying conditions. Northrop Grumman constructed two additional aircraft without engines or instruments for fatigue testing. During these missions, normally lasting more than 30 hours and requiring numerous aerial refuelings, each B-2 delivered up to 40,000 pounds of precision weapons. With a crew of only two - the pilot in the left seat and the mission commander in the right - a typical combat mission consisted of a non-stop flight from Whiteman Air Force Base to the target and back. Based at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., the B-2 soon demonstrated its combat capabilities in Operation Allied Force over Serbia in 1999, Operation Enduring Freedom over Afghanistan in 2001, and Operation Iraqi Freedom over Iraq in 2003. The B-2 first flew on July 17, 1989, at Palmdale, Calif., and Northrop Grumman delivered the first operational B-2 on Dec. 22, 1988, when it rolled out of its hangar at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif. The public first saw the highly classified B-2 on Nov. As a result, the B-2 became virtually invisible to even the most sophisticated air defense radar systems. The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit merged the high aerodynamic efficiency of the "flying wing" design with composite materials, special coatings and classified stealth technologies. To overcome this threat, the USAF incorporated the revolutionary low-observable, or "stealth," technology into a long-range bomber capable of delivering large payloads of conventional or nuclear weapons. The global spread of sophisticated air defense systems in the 1980s threatened the USAF's ability to destroy an enemy's most valued targets.
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