Posted on 09/16/2006 6:09:08 PM PDT by fightnight
Saw a B2 Spirit while visiting Staten Island today.. It was a beautiful sight to see. Very quiet -- you wouldn't know it was over you until it was too late..
I've been waiting to see one for quite a while, and finally got a chance to. My son pointed out a plane to me, and I looked up expecting to see a passenger jet but instead saw the B2... :-)
For the record, Jack Northrup was working on the same stuff the Horton Brothers were. The Germans were just more eager (desperate) to embrace new tech and develop it. None the less, the contract for Jack Northrup's XB-35 was approved November 22, 1941.
You da man, VOA!
That was so enlightening! I had no idea, VOA.
Okay. I know a lot of FReepers take their history seriously and I should be careful about referring to things I don't know about 100% I could unintentionally offend someone. Anyway, I wonder why we don't see more innovation like what Northrop and all the rest did. I know there are things like X Prize but I wonder how much of that stuff is going to translate into something large scale.
My personal fave for strange "airplanes"........WIGS!
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=523
I wish I had saved the picture of Boeing's Flying Corndog. Darn it!
Think this one had more to do with Jack Northrup.
Not unless you are going to pretend that Jack Northrup never existed.His YB 35 and jet powered YB 49 were entirely based on his development and superior to the efforts in design of the German wings. The B 2 is their direct descendant, right down to the wingspan.
Quiet? Silent?!
Not the B-2's I've heard flying over. Even at cruise altitude (>30,000 ft.) the B-2 is louder than any commercial aircraft that I'm familiar with (and I know commercial aircraft).
Beautiful, impressive, and awe inspiring I can accept, but it is NOT a silent or even quiet aircraft. Of course, at night when it is over a target, it may not make any difference to its functionality.
That B-24 would have been the "Witchcraft"... formally known as "The All American"... owned by the Collings Foundation. It's the only one still flying in existance. The B-17 would have been theirs too, named "The Nine-O-Nine".
I got to tour both planes about 10 years ago and they are beautiful.
uhh, it was pretty damn quite to me...
>>We had one do a flyover at the Patriots game last Sunday.
Maybe the jet will do a similar flyover tomorrow at the Meadowlands for Pats at Jets. By co-incidence, a couple years back, at the only NFL game I've ever attended, I saw a similar flyover (first game of season for Patriots, vs. Jets at
Gillette Stadium). It was going over as a friend and I were
walking up the various levels to our seats. Whoooosh is right.
The last time the flying wing flew over the rose parade, It was ominous as it flew directly over our house, we heard nothing, but our entire house was darkened as it flew over.
OMINOUS!
Stanford University opened its new $90 million stadium this evening with a game against Navy. Navy jets did a flyover and then came over our house 4 miles away at 7:05 pm. I swear they were under 500 feet. I love the "freedom sound" of those shrieking jets. God bless the pilots.
Everything flying wing can be found here:
http://www.nurflugel.com/Nurflugel/nurflugel.html
Irish Tennor, IMHO, you did beautiful work, and have every right to be proud of it!!
Cool picture. You should see that machine I used to machine them. One wing panel would fit on the machine and they were over 75 feet long.
Thanks, e! Bookmarked. Wow, what a resource.
Somebody noticed it yesterday and posted it to Digg. There is supposed to be a flyover during the Yankees game.
http://www.digg.com/world_news/Stealth_Bomber_Flying_Over_Manhattan
I was fishing on the sound yesterday, in the New haven area and didn't see it. :(
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