I was at soccer practice (i'm 16) last saturday and about 10:30 am and i heard a loud sound that sounded like a normal commercial plane but when i looked up and saw the distinct shape and black color of none other (than I know of) than a Stealth B-2 Bomber. It was flying lower than a commercial planei think because it looked pretty big. (15,000ft., 20,000ft. ?!) Later that day i was golfing with my friend and mentioned it and he said he saw it too about 30 minutes away from where I was at the time. Also, my mom's friend said she saw it on the same day! I was suprised to hear from my friend that they supposedly didnt fly over the continental USA, is this true ?? I live in Upstate NY if any1 is wondering...

Has anyone ever see one??

Where do you think it was going and why??

I saw a B-52 flying really low over my house, southwest, I assume it musta been for an airshow in Chicago or something for Memorial day. Maybe yours was prepping for the upcoming festivities

I hate you guy's...

All i see is a few P3 Orions flying over everyday, and about once a month an CH-53 Chinook. About once in 6 months an E-3 AWACS, and about once a year an F-16.

I live very close to a small naval airbase, only 13 Orions are stationed there

i know yesterday there was b-2s doin the fly over the nascar race and stuff notin big either an airshow or just an a flyby. But if it happens alot maybe they train near u

we have f16's fly over almost everyday and about once a month or so a C130 transport. i live about 5 miles from the air guard base and it seems like they fly an aweful lot.

Not to be a stickler or anything, but a Chinook is a CH-47. It is the one with two main rotor masts insted of having one main rotor and a tail rotor.
One is Boeing and the other is Sikorsky.

I can understand mistakeing the CH-53 as a Hind D, or possibly a Blackhawk but never a Chinook! The Chinook haveing Double rotors is a bit unmistakeable, good catch Java. Usually I catch these first.

[Edited on 16-6-2003 by ADVISOR]

Thank you, sir. The -47 and the -46 could be mistaken as well.

I can't see the -47 and the Hind being mistaken, although the Hind and an H-3 might be, depending on distance and angle.

What are we, a couple of helicopter geeks?

Not to be a stickler or anything, but a Chinook is a CH-47

Yep that's right...I wasn;t paying attention too much

I also saw a very large plane like a b-2 fly over here a month or so ago (I'm in central scotland) It was rather low, maybe 1500 feet, it had all its anti-collision lights on but i couldnt hear a thing, judging by the direction it was heading northwest and not exactly fast.

Originally posted by paradoxical
I was suprised to hear from my friend that they supposedly didnt fly over the continental USA, is this true ??

I believe the B-2's are based at Whiteman AFB in Missouri. Therefore to fly anywhere they would have to fly over the continental US.

During the Kosovo conflict they flew 31 hour non stop flights from Whiteman to Kosovo and back.

Originally posted by paradoxical
[....]i heard a loud sound that sounded like a normal commercial plane but when i looked up and saw the distinct shape and black color of none other (than I know of) than a Stealth B-2 Bomber. [....]

Interesting that you heard a loud noise. I've seen the stealth bomber a few times at an air show before Thunder Over Louisville and each time it seemed extremely quiet. Of course that's compared to the other military fighters and standing in the midst of a few hundred thousand people and the sound of the wind next to the Ohio river. heh heh It made it seem quite strange seeing the flying triangle and no noise. Even when it passed right over us I still couldn't hear anything over the crowd but at that time the crowd really wasn't that noisy. It was Pretty awesome as well as the stealth fighter!!! I look forward to seeing the next generation of military air craft being made public. Which would only mean there's something even better!!

The loudest plane of them all was easily the B1b bomber!!!! That was ......... awesome!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by paradoxicalUpstate NY if any1 is wondering...

There was a small airshow over the Hudson this weekend as part of the military festivities for Memorial Day weekend.

It's possible it was either returning to base, coming to the show, or making a very wide/low turn... those things can't maneuver like regular aircraft.

(I was in a school only one kilometer of Le Bourget airport), we (my class) saw the shuttle columbia in flight ( ) on the back of a boieng.

I saw many airplanes in flight, and also on earth... When I was young I used to go to visit the show but since a few years I wont go there... Dont ask me why.

But never a B-2... The american never bring it in France...

The Air Force has a temporary station for B-2s at the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean... but, most of the time, they are stationed in Missouri, like someone said, above. They ARE quiet until they have just passed over you (when you are facing their engine exhaust). Then they are extremely loud.

An interesting tidbit about the B-2 is that they are operated by the 509th Bombardment Wing (formerly the 509th Composite Group, then 509th Bomb Group)... which is the unit that dropped both A-bombs on Japan in WW2.. and was, two years later, the unit which was stationed at Roswell Army Air Field in 1947... the only A-bomb equiped unit in the world (at that time).

WOW.....man you people are really lucky...the only thing i ever see in the air flying around are jetliners or even more interesting.....Seagulls...Iv always wanted to see a b2 fly by my house.....but i live in canada...oh well...mabye next time
Deep

ZeroDeep,
what you just said is REALLY cool because Jack Northrop, the man who first envisoned flying wings before WW2 (and designed them during it), was inspired, as a kid, by seagulls near his house. He was fascinated by how they could manuever without tails... So, though you don't realize it, you've experienced the B-2 as much as the rest of us have.

Though his YB-35 and YB-49 designs weren't produced for the air force, they served as the template for the modern B-2. On his deathbed, it's been said that some officers from the air force came to his hospital room and showed him a small model of the B-2 (which was classified at the time), so as to let him know that his lifelong dream had been realized.

i never see any classified planes fly over my city b/c canada doesn't have much of an air force, but i do often see the medic helo's flying over my house and the news choppers

Originally posted by paradoxical
[....]i heard a loud sound that sounded like a normal commercial plane but when i looked up and saw the distinct shape and black color of none other (than I know of) than a Stealth B-2 Bomber. [....]

Just as UniQue Werkx commented, I find it strange that a Stealth B-2 Bomber was making so much noise. Are you completely sure that it was a B-2?

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I have seen Stealth craft many times. Especially down in New Mexico where I lived a while ago. One of my sightings- that was somewhere in New Mexico (can't remember the town)- was when I looked up and past the clouds I spotted a Stealth going by. The chances are slim you could spot a Stealth on a cloudy day with a vague altitude of 10,000 ft.