Monday, January 07, 2013

The "Spirit of California"

From the Usual USAF Source...
For Those Needing More Spirit: One of the Air Force's B-2A stealth bombers, The Spirit of California, performed a flyover of the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena Calif., on New Year's Day. Here's the link to a video of the flyover, which is one of the public events in 2013 that the Air Force is using to celebrate the 20th anniversary year of the B-2, according to service officials. It was on Dec. 17, 1993, that the first operational B-2, The Spirit of Missouri, arrived at Whiteman AFB, Mo. The base is home to the 509th Bomb Wing, which operates the 20-aircraft B-2 fleet. (See also link to B-2 video from Los Angeles' KTLA New Station 5.)
And here's the first video referenced above:

"Whitman AFB?"  Hunh?  The guy from KTLA (the second vid linked above) gets the base name right but the embed code for the video autoplays.  Ergo I won't post it on the blog... that said, the vid is worth a look.

Pretty cool, eh?
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4 comments:

  1. OldAFSarge07 January, 2013 10:04

    Ah, the B-2, an impressive beastie she is. In our little Rhode Island town (home of the country's oldest Fourth of July parade) we had the B-2 fly down the parade route some years back. It was a most impressive sight to see that big, black jet motoring along straight and level. To see her actually banking in that video was awesome.

    Apropos of nothing: If our town's parade is the oldest in the country celebrating American Independence, would it not also be the oldest in the world? Not that many other nation's would care. But I do recall that the Danes actually have a Fourth of July celebration, for US independence no less. (Go figure, but the Danes ARE an awesome folk.)

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    1. Buck08 January, 2013 10:04

      I've been to that Fourth o' July parade you mention, Sarge. SN2 was at Department Head school in Newport a few (a bunch!) o' summers ago and TSMP and I went to visit over the Fourth. The parade was looong!

      Delete
  2. Anonymous07 January, 2013 23:32

    FYI - Only 19 bombers remain. If the one that was half-destroyed in a fire at Guam gets rebuilt it will be back to 20. They spent million's getting it patched-up for a one-time flight to Palmdale.

    http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16718:wright-patterseon

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    1. Buck08 January, 2013 10:02

      Thanks for that link, Anon. I knew about the fire, but, like others, I didn't know it was THAT bad.

      Delete

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