Stealth Bomber Crashes at Anderson AFB

To keep from repeating myself in two threads:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Grimholt, are you trying to start another rumor? The B-2s operating out of Anderson AB don't carry nukes. They're using conventional bombs, mostly guided ones such as JDAMs. Next you'll say Martians are directing the B-2s.

Maybe you believe that the cruise missiles carried by a B-52 from Minot to Barksdale were armed nukes. Maybe you subscribe to the partisan liberals’ view that the September Israeli attack on Syria was actually carried out by the US aircraft using tactical nukes?

By God, if the Democrats are to beat Bush this November they're going to need to start a lot more canards, innuendoes, and prevarications. And yes, I said Bush intentionally.

Rumor at the airplane factory

I work for Northrop Grumman and the watercooler talk (for what it is worth) is that the Spirit was on mission flying low and slow and got tagged by a shoulder launched missile, then made it almost all the way back to Guam.

Just to emphasize this is just rumor mill material but sometimes those hold uncanny kernels of truth.

Bill

Originally posted by Bill ABC Web
Rumor at the airplane factory

I fear for Northrop Grumman if this is the intellectual capacity of the people who work there. Anyone who knows their stuff is laughing with tears over this "rumor".

[edit on 25-2-2008 by WestPoint23]

reply to post by Bill ABC Web


like westy said - if this is the rumour then its a sad day - multiple witnesses have said they saw it on take off - then crash.

so it was a MANPAD , then what are the USAF doing shooting down there own aircraft for since it was still fully within the Guam AFB.

There are some dubious sources claiming that the B-2 has some kind of Electrogravitic Engine System ,they base this somehow on the Di-electric Wings, (which i think are for dispersing the radar signals) and on the bad Weight-to-Thrust ratio of the B-2.
I think former Janes writer Nick Cook is one of them. But he also brought up other stories like the infamous 'Nazi-Bell' which is even more doubtful.

One pilot is reporting a fire followed immediately by a loss of control. I wonder if the ART unit overheated and caused a fire. That would explain the loss of control. An engine fire SHOULDN'T have caused a total loss of control like that.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
Not according to EVERY report that has come out so far. Even the AIR FORCE says that it was taking off, and it was on the way home. It was #2 of a 4 ship cell. I have seen ONE report that said it MAY have been on landing, but no one would confirm whether it was landing or taking off. Since then EVERYONE has said it was taking off, and they were all on their way back to Whiteman.

On Andersen, there is only on way to take off and one way to land. ONE. Incoming aircraft fly south to north. This was establised in the Vietnam War, when B-52's overloaded with bombs (Line Backer I and II) would literally fly off the sid of the cliff and gain the airspeed needed while decending to the ocean.

The corridor between comercial aircraft landing at Guam international airport and those landing at Andersen is less than a mile apart. They BOTH land coming from the south. The AF can't simply change it's mind and risk a collision.

Secondly, anyone who has EVER been to Anderson will tell you that the Flight Tower (seen in the wreckage footage) isn't even halfway down the run way. So unless this thing can suddenly beat the C-130's take off requirement's, its a fake cover story.

Thirdly, I saw it crash. It was landing.

The question I would ask is why was it escorted by 4 F-18's and why was it smoking on approach? Where was it comimg from, what was it's mission and why did it have to limp home?



[edit on 26-2-2008 by crisko]

[edit on 26-2-2008 by crisko]

I also like the fact they say there are 4 B-2's here, when there are in fact 12. Every 6 months 12 B-2's are rotated out with 12 B-52's. There are always 12'B-1B's here.

There has been 24 bombers on Andersen at all times since 2003. Andersen was at one point a SAC base and is equiped for 3 times as many.

So far everything I've found, including the fact that there is NO WAY they are going to send 3/4ths of our ENTIRE B-2 fleet on deployment at once, completely disagrees with you. That's quite the cover story they've got going. NOT ONE person besides you has come forward and disagreed with you.

Escorts would be done by two fighters, and if there was a fire in flight, probably a tanker. Unless it had JUST caught fire, it's doubtful that they would have made it nearly as far as they did. As was pointed out before, once RAM catches fire it only gets worse fast, and you can't put it out.

Until this accident there were 21 B-2s in the entire US inventory. They would NOT have 12 of them sitting at a forward operating base. If they did, then someone would have noticed and said something before now. Whiteman is home to dozens of plane watchers because of the B-2. There were SEVEN deployed to Guam. These particular four aircraft had ended their deployment time, and were on their way home.

did anyone ever hear on what caused the B2 crash in Guam a few mos ago? thanks

If they have worked it out yet I doubt they'll actually tell us why that thing would have crashed. Or at least, they might tell us but not the whole story since one component will probably be classified somewhere along the line.

reply to post by guadalupejoe


The AIB report isn't due out until June or July.

While B-2's are remarkable pieces of technology, remember they are still powered by gasoline burning turbofans and still bound by the rules of aerodynamics.
Just because their super secretive, stealthy, and cost Bill Gate's yearly salary doesn't make them invulnerable to stalling, pitching, aileron malfunction, wind shears and a whole host of other potential hazards even a Cessna is prone to.

I think you guys are overestimating the B-2's "abilities". B-2's have crashed before. Sure they haven't' suffered any combat losses (because frankly the US doesn't use them if there's a chance it could rain, let alone hostile intercepts) but their flight record isn't perfect.

Stealth planes have yet to be perfected to a reasonable, tried and true standard. Their recent additions to the US arsenal and their designs vary widely. Maintaining them is also a serious commitment and strain on their operational capability.

Remember that in 1999 a Nighthawk was taken down by Serbian Forces in Kosovo using 1950's era, Soviet S2A missiles.
They maybe "undetectable" to a certain degree but their not invulnerable.

B-2s have crashed before? Uh, no they haven't. There have been ground accidents, but no B-2 has crashed until this one. There have been several F-117 crashes, but this is the one and only B-2 loss to date.

Originally posted by Recce1
Grimholt, are you trying to start another rumor? The B-2s operating out of Anderson AB don't carry nukes. They're using conventional bombs, mostly guided ones such as JDAMs. Next you'll say Martians are directing the B-2s.

Maybe you believe that the cruise missiles carried by a B-52 from Minot to Barksdale were armed nukes. Maybe you subscribe to the partisan liberals’ view that the September Israeli attack on Syria was actually carried out by the US aircraft using tactical nukes?

By God, if the Democrats are to beat Bush this November they're going to need to start a lot more canards, innuendoes, and prevarications. And yes, I said Bush intentionally.

Are you referring to the nukes flown over the U.S. story from a few months ago? If so, the weapons may not have been armed but they were flown in a combat configuration if I remember correctly. That was a great thread btw.

-ChriS

[edit on 16-5-2008 by BlasteR]

Originally posted by Zaphod58
B-2s have crashed before?

Uh, no they haven't. There have been ground accidents, but no B-2 has crashed until this one. There have been several F-117 crashes, but this is the one and only B-2 loss to date.

I remember seeing this on realtv or something a while back.



What is really ironic is when I was in the Air Force I worked with a guy for a while who told me a story about how he actually met this pilot in a bar. He ended up taking an AF desk job afterwards. I guess when something has a price tag like that it doesn't matter who the pilot is. It wasn't even his fault really. It was a maintenance error. He gave my buddy an F-117 coin and I heard the story one night during an ammo-troop beer-drinking session.



[edit on 16-5-2008 by BlasteR]