B-2 Stealth Bomber - Full Documentary

My late grandfather who raised me was a member of the B-2 team that built it I own his certificate ❤ He was very very proud of it and actually got very emotional when it was brought up. I will always hold this dear to my heart and speak his legacy.

Jack Northrurp in his wheelchair in his late 80s, was taken to a secret location.. probably out at Groom Lake and they showed him a large scale model during the building phase of the B2.. he held it in his hands shaking and he said "Now I know why God has kept me alive so long..." Just writing this bring tears to my eyes.. Jack Northrop is one of my hero's in this life

Man, I miss such productions. Simplistic, but with reasonable historical context, simple understanable demonstrations, soothing unimposing background music, easy to understand lector.....no heavy metall, no drama.... just enough details to get somebody hooked into subject

I had small scale models of every military aircraft from WWII to present. Fixed wing and helicopters. Some I've flown in, and some I watched up close. Even though I spent most of my time on the ground in the Army. Watching these aircraft live are memories I'll never forget. For those who built these great machines. You did good.

As someone else had said.. I too wish all the military docs were like this! No annoying LOUD music/sound effects but still maintains exciting entertainment. very informative & fascinating! Thank you!

Still the most amazing and coolest looking machine to ever fly.

My late grandfather who raised me was a member of the B-2 team that built it I own his certificate He was very very proud of it and actually got very emotional when it was brought up. I will always hold this dear to my heart and speak his legacy.

When I was in preschool I saw one fly over head. One of my most memorable times. I lived around 45 miles from an air base and that was around 20 years ago.

Even in 2023 it’s kinda mind blowing that this plane exists, and works so well. Not to mention that it was built in the ‘80s.

During the early 1980’s, I was a crew chief on the B52 G & H models. When the B-2 came out many of us were absolutely impressed. This video has answered many questions we had about it. Of course we may not truly know if the cones really are underneath the radar absorbing skin. Great video and the narrator is excellent at telling us the story!

I live about 30 miles from Whiteman AFB where most of the B-2s are based, and get to see them fly over quite often. Beautiful and scary at the same time. You don't hear them coming until they turn away and start to climb because the exhaust is on the top side of the wing.

This is such an amazing and strategic bomber B-2. My DH was supposed to work on this when he passed away. I am sure he would have been so thrilled to have been a part of this endeavor.

This documentary from 2009 is better than some from today in 2020.

I’ve never come within 10,000 square miles of one of these planes, but my uncle in Kansas City once saw one flying over. He said, “it was easy to see and recognize. I watched it, but it never made a sound.”

Some things in various order... Northrop first manned Flying Wing prototype, the N1M, dates from 1941 and it already was the successor of a lengthy series of scale models and aerodinamic testbeds. The Horten's design cited by someone was incredibly good, but I really think that Jack and the Horten came to their flying wing designs independently. The first version of Northrop's Flying Wing, the very first XB-35 without vertical fins, was already a pretty stealthy thing. They had serious troubles following it during flight tests, so they designed the first radar reflectors to put on its downside and know what the damn plane was doing. Which reminds me, a sphere is a good radar relector, but it is not the best reflecting geometrical shape, as it only reflects toward the radar the energy that falls exactly on the point perpendicular to it (more precisely, it behaves like point source with a power slightly inferior to the radiation density that it receives multiplied the area). A much better shape is a catadioptric reflector, like the one given by three planes intersecting with 135 degrees solid angles (picture if you will a triangular piramid - aka tetrahedron - remove the faces, add its center and consider the triangles obtained connecting it to the four vertex; each of the four set of three planes so generated is a catadioptric reflector). A catadioptric can reflect near 100% of the radiation it receives on its whole surface toward its source, from any direction (depending on the angle, it may take three reflections to do the trick, and nothing is ever 100% efficient, not even naked metal reflecting radar). A catadioptric behaves like a thinly focusing, very high gain directional antenna targeting the radar with the power it receives from it. As result a catadioptric the size of a basketball has roughly the RCS of a B-52. (And some small examples of these are usually attached to F-35s when they have to mingle with civilian traffic, like when they participate to airshows; Thus, if someone's flashy radar can take an F-35 at an airshow, it is not so revealing). Finally, when the YB-49 was cancelled, Northrop had just started testing a new electronic inertial navigation system - i.e. a fly by wire, I suppose with analog computing and maybe some early digital stuff - that was very promising about getting the yaw instability under control. Personally, I agree with those that suspect that the program was cancelled more because Jack Northrop was not so good at play ball with politics (he was supposed to allow the plane be produced also by other manufacturers, for the sake of "electoral engineering" - yep, it was already a thing, even back in those aulic days - and he did not fully appreciate the subtleties involved) than because of their perceived technical shortcomings.

Everytime I see the B-2 in a flyover I get chills of pride

The DH-98 Mosquito is absolutely awesome! My Gramps flew DH-98 in the RCAF. Flt G.H.Gibbs a true hero.

One of the best stories about the B-2 has to do with the open display of the aircraft's silhouette at the entrance to the Northrup plant. The outline of the secret plane had been there for all to see for quite sometime but because the media did not know the shape of the bomber, they were unaware that they walked over it every-time they visited the plant - it was in the walkway at the entrance in different colored stones. When the plane was finally shown to the public someone tipped the media off about the existing display on the walkway. If you look at the photo of the B2 At the hangar you can also see that they painted the star on the ramp by using the silhouette of the B2 there also. The workers must have had a great time knowing that was out there all that time and nobody had a clue.

Truly an incredible air craft until you experience the b2 up close in person you just can't imagine awsome this one is

Great work..excellent presentation and timeline. I appreciate the work you did, and the way you presented quite a large ammount of information in a tight package. Again, thank you..you did all the Airframes proud. Excellent work.