Yep Solar, that is precisely what I saw too. I'll tell you what, it wasn't going no 500mph either. Which, if you think about it, who's building a billion dollar bomber that could be overtaken by a 747 or a MIG for shootdown?

MAVERICK!

...well, I couldn't resist. Someone at the USAF's gonna have their ass chewed if this kinda behavior wasn't part of an airshow.

If it was an air show id want my money back because it was a one plane show. As for their speed the thing is a flying wing, you cant convince me it cant haul @$$ and I know the things can manuever like crazy because I saw it with my own eyes. I know I cant prove it but Im telling you that plane was doing a simulated bomb run flying low under the radar for a strategic hit and then climbing above radar to make its get away. It all but screamed it.

Cool experience Solar. Most likely just a Pilot messing around, or honing his skill a little.

Know I've had a similar experience. 3 Apaches sprung up over the tree tops and hovered right over a group of us camping out in a State Park. If we were bad guys we would have been toast. Freaked us out to be sure, but we had a good story to tell.

Thanks for sharing your experience as thats the first time I've thought about that in years.

Originally posted by jpm1602
Very strange indeed. I know my experience with the B-2 when Cleveland OH went to alert status red after unknown objects were reporting buzzing our two nuke plants (03?) reported by wtam radio it made the earth shake and air in my lungs quake. Like a 14k $ base system in some rod.

Why would a B-2 be sent up to intercept an unknown object(s) buzzing a nuke plant whilst your state was on a (presumably) homeland security red alert status, when it is clearly a bomber and not a fighter or interceptor? Why are you so sure that a B-2 was even there for that purpose, or can you even be sure it was a B-2 and not an F-22, or maybe at a stretch an F-117? This seems an extremely odd use for a Spirit. You do realise that a B-2 has effectively no A2A capabillity to speak of in order to intercept an unknown aerial object buzzing the local nuclear plant? If your sole reference for ID was the local radio station I would point out the average DJ chump wouldn't know a B-2 from a B-29.

LEE.

[edit on 15-1-2008 by thebozeian]

SoLaR513,

The most likely explanation here is not that the building you were near was being targeted in a simulated bombing run, but that it was being used as a navigation waypoint. A B-2 simply does not need to fly over the top or even relatively near to an intended target in order to hit it, real or simulated. As for the apparent speed and manouverability, if it was at such a low altitude you could quote, "hit it with a rock" it would certainly appear faster and more manouverable than if it were at say five thousand feet performing the same manouvres. As a flying wing it is most certainly more limited in several planes of movement compared with a conventional planform (roll for example), but then nobody said just because it's a bomber it was meant to be a wallowing duck either did they?

And as for the lack of initial sound observation, nothing new here and for several reasons. First local atmospheric conditions and topography can and regularly does mask and delay the sound of the aircraft for several seconds, particularly if the wind was blowing away from your position. Second the B-2 is fitted with non afterburning F-118 turbofans (derivatives of the F-110 fitted to the F-16/F-15 fleet) that are quieter and deeply buried in the airframe, and the exhausts are designed to be masked by the trailing edge from the ground. The fact that you report that there was plenty of noise once it had passed and was flying away from you lends weight to this. It's also a fair bet that the design engineers were encouraged to deflect and reduce the audible footprint of the aircraft to further aid it in remaining undetected.

So I don't think there is anything ominous here just a rather unusual but thrilling thing to see.

LEE.

Approximately 3 months ago,we had 4 of them doing manuevers for about an hour,they were flying pretty low,was kind of spooky at 1st,but fun to watch

Your all correct it was pretty dang cool too see! You should have seen me come home and tell my wife. I looked like a kid who was going to pee his pants. The thing is that Ive been seeing conspiracies everywhere so I had to wonder what it was really doing. As for the over and under redar thing I was merely suggesting thats what it appeared to be doing. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS DOING! Thats why I posted it here. As for the speed thing, It appeared to be going slow even though it was very low and it didnt accelerate until it cleared the building I cant explain how or why. B-2 are not limited to dropping nukes. They can be equipted with a wide array of explosive payloads. I would like to thank everyone who joined in, I have enjoyed the disscusion

one could hear a B2 coming kilometers away.. buzzed by B2 at stone throw height one will be deaf for sure..

Hi Bozeian,
I am no Jane's military buff that's for sure. Could it have been a F117 variant, surely. All I know is it had the classic cookie cutter flying wing thing going on. I will say it was not just wtam but all 4 major tv local news casts also reported on it. The City of Clevelands' gov website did indeed go to red for approx. three hours. When reported by wtam it mysteriously went back to yellow again. You need to understand this was a city wide event reported by hundreds of locals. For all I know they were looking for a rogue band of jihadist telletubbies. I've lived here for 44yrs and it was the most military activity I have seen outside of an air show.

Hi Solar. In the context of all the reports. That week had seen a number of sightings of ufo's. At approx 1130 am that day newscasts broke into local broadcasting to report a cessna sized small plane with pontoons (so ridiculous, I cannot even believe) had buzzed Perry nuclear power plant. That's when all the military ac heated up. The sky that morning was literally dovetailed with contrails almost everywhere. Don't know the revelancy of that. Gut feeling, they were after something that was doing things not deemed appropriate or hostile. Most likely a ufo. Or a winged platoon of teletubbies with plasma ray tech

Solar,

Yes, waypoints are a point of reference and they can be a visually marked point. For instance, pilots at airshows have visual waypoints or (center show) markers. they also, in the case of military display teams, have markers to distinguish turning points. They case these out prior to the airshows. Also, commercial airliners have what are referred to as "outer" and "inner" markers for approach references to major airports.

What you may have seen could be a "waypoint" or "marker", just seems very strange that any B2 would be practicing a simluated release of weapons of any type from the altitude that you have describes.......simply put, this is not a real world application as the possibilities of detection and self fragmentation are far too great. It is an amzing aircraft no doubt. but at that altitude, and continuing to loiter in that area, it gives the possibility of anybody to use a simple shoulder fired weapon, and the possibility of the "Magic bullet"!
Great scene you observer, but I would simply have to guess that you witnessed a hotdogging maneuver or a low level flight exercise. We have had pilots do this type of stuff for their friends and such. Sort of a ," het be here at this time and place and see what happens" sort of thing back in the day. It does not tend to happen as the regulations have gotten way more intense and ESPECIALLY for a B2 grew.....but you just never know???

Also, you would be very surprised at what 500 knots would seem like at that altitude. It would seem very fast as you described. Also, the performance of the aircraft is much higher than what the "average Joe" would think. Amazing aircraft and weapons patform....you are a very lucky man to have seen this!!!

Have a great day, Peace....Mondo