B-2 Spirit
The emergency services throughout Winston-Salem, North Carolina, likely got calls about a UFO flying low over the city this past Saturday… it was an early evening fly-by of a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber at the airshow. Having grown up in a military family and enjoying my own service with the Air Force, I had seen nearly everything that flies in the U.S. arsenal, but not this critter. With only 20 B-2s in existence, this was a rare sight.
The B-2 drifted down from a high altitude like a falling leaf over Winston-Salem and made three low passes before returning to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. I was unprepared for how well the thing flew. Often in engineering machines there are trade-offs, fuel efficiency for speed or aesthetics for practicality for instance… there appeared to be no such trade-offs for stealth in this machine. With a maximum speed of 0.95 Mach (95% of the speed of sound), this aircraft moved quietly and as gracefully as a manta ray. The first two passes ended in tight 180-degree turns… the pilot stood the plane up on its wingtips and yanked the stick back in a high-g turn, exactly as a fighter pilot would. Unlike fighter pilots, however, this crew of 2 regularly endures missions of 40-plus hours nonstop… both a remarkable machine and crew. Perhaps that's the reason for "yanking and banking"... to break the monotony of a long flight.
While you may think that I am extolling the virtues of a war machine, please give this some thought: as a Christian, I am a proponent for peace, but not for pacifism (peace at any cost), because the two do not equate… how can I be at peace when others suffer from unjust brutality? I think G. K. Chesterton said it best when he stated, “Unless a man become the enemy of evil, he will not even become its slave but rather its champion. God Himself will not help us to ignore it, but only to defy and defeat it.” In other words, if a defenseless child was being beaten to death and I raised no hand to stop it because of pacifist proclivity, then I would be just as guilty of the crime as the one who actually did it. The B-2 is definitely a “big stick” that I support… a deterrent in the war on terrorism. The aircraft and crew of the 509th are Air Force at its best.
If you look closely, you can see the beautiful evening sky reflected in the cockpit windows. Warbird, or
not, it's hard too overlook how technology can merge so elegantly into this machine... I suppose this perspective would change radically if you were its target. Those who earn that distinction do not earn it lightly.
B-2 Spirit
The emergency services throughout Winston-Salem, North Carolina, likely got calls about a UFO flying low over the city this past Saturday… it was an early evening fly-by of a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber at the airshow. Having grown up in a military family and enjoying my own service with the Air Force, I had seen nearly everything that flies in the U.S. arsenal, but not this critter. With only 20 B-2s in existence, this was a rare sight.
The B-2 drifted down from a high altitude like a falling leaf over Winston-Salem and made three low passes before returning to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. I was unprepared for how well the thing flew. Often in engineering machines there are trade-offs, fuel efficiency for speed or aesthetics for practicality for instance… there appeared to be no such trade-offs for stealth in this machine. With a maximum speed of 0.95 Mach (95% of the speed of sound), this aircraft moved quietly and as gracefully as a manta ray. The first two passes ended in tight 180-degree turns… the pilot stood the plane up on its wingtips and yanked the stick back in a high-g turn, exactly as a fighter pilot would. Unlike fighter pilots, however, this crew of 2 regularly endures missions of 40-plus hours nonstop… both a remarkable machine and crew. Perhaps that's the reason for "yanking and banking"... to break the monotony of a long flight.
While you may think that I am extolling the virtues of a war machine, please give this some thought: as a Christian, I am a proponent for peace, but not for pacifism (peace at any cost), because the two do not equate… how can I be at peace when others suffer from unjust brutality? I think G. K. Chesterton said it best when he stated, “Unless a man become the enemy of evil, he will not even become its slave but rather its champion. God Himself will not help us to ignore it, but only to defy and defeat it.” In other words, if a defenseless child was being beaten to death and I raised no hand to stop it because of pacifist proclivity, then I would be just as guilty of the crime as the one who actually did it. The B-2 is definitely a “big stick” that I support… a deterrent in the war on terrorism. The aircraft and crew of the 509th are Air Force at its best.
If you look closely, you can see the beautiful evening sky reflected in the cockpit windows. Warbird, or
not, it's hard too overlook how technology can merge so elegantly into this machine... I suppose this perspective would change radically if you were its target. Those who earn that distinction do not earn it lightly.