January 3rd, 2018 at 11:24 AM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:40 AM ^
Hopefully when it does there's not a sea of disgusting red like that.
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:04 PM ^
I'm afraid that California will have drifted away from the mainland US long before that endzone is Maize and Blue...
January 3rd, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
We'll just charter Bill Martin's sailboat to the Rose Bowl! All aboard the Wolverine Express - you can call ahead but nobody will answer!
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
I was there the last time it read Michigan, it did not go well. Hoping for a better ending next time.
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:40 PM ^
Sorry double post
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^
Those are impressive aircraft to see in person.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:35 AM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
Impressive looking but this is about the only mission for this plane - flying over sporting events on non rainy days. Meanwhile the B-52 still does all the actual combat missions.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:54 AM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:05 PM ^
They are used as training missions so they are much more dual purpose than simply "lets make football fans happy."
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
This does not appear to be true, at least in terms of "all."
In March 2011, B-2s were the first U.S. aircraft into action in Operation Odyssey Dawn, the UN mandated enforcement of the Libyan no-fly zone. Three B-2s dropped 40 bombs on a Libyan airfield in support of the UN no-fly zone.[124] The B-2s flew directly from the U.S. mainland across the Atlantic Ocean to Libya; a B-2 was refueled by allied tanker aircraft four times during each round trip mission.[125][126]
In August 2011, The New Yorker reported that prior to the May 2011 U.S. Special Operations raid into Abbottabad, Pakistan that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials had considered an airstrike by one or more B-2s as an alternative; an airstrike was rejected because of damage to civilian buildings in the area from using a bunker busting bomb.[127] There were also concerns an airstrike would make it difficult to positively identify Bin Laden's remains and so concluding he was in fact dead would be problematic.[128]
On 28 March 2013, two B-2s flew a round trip of 13,000 miles (21,000 km) from Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri to South Korea, dropping dummy ordnance on the Jik Do target range. The mission, part of the annual South Korean–United States military exercises, was the first time that B-2s overflew the Korean peninsula. Tensions between North and South Korea were high during; after the exercise North Korea protested against the participation of the B-2s and made threats of retaliatory nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States.[129][130]
On 18 January 2017, two B-2s flew sorties over ISIS training camps in Sirte, Libya, killing nearly 100 militants.[131] The B-2s together dropped about a hundred 500-pound precision-guided bombs, or Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). These strikes were followed with an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle firing Hellfire missiles. Each B-2 flew a 34-hour, round-trip mission from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri with 15 refuelings during the trip.[132]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-2_Spirit
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:48 PM ^
...what the specific operational capability was that made them the choice for the Libyan operations. Range? It wouldn't seem that stealth would be required for those missions.
[Edit: NM: the answer is shit tons of Russian made SAM batteries]
January 3rd, 2018 at 1:28 PM ^
from the Vietnam era? See Don's response.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:28 PM ^
B-52s are are primary bomber option in Iraq and Afganistan. I'm not going to track down every sorte they were used (as listed above for the B2) but now that the B1 is no longer being used in those areas B-52s are now the primary bomber and yes they were back in Vietnam as well. They are now expected to provide that role into like 2040.
They keep hoping to pahse out the A-10s as well but you probably won't see a B-52 or A-10 doing a fly over.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:48 PM ^
The A-10 was impressive to watch fly. B-52, not so much. Workhorses though.
Regarding the pic... Brings whole new meaning to 'Photobomb'.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
They were impressive to watch take off from the end of the runway. Was lucky enough to be there once when 9 of them left Wurtsmith. Noisy and stinky MFers, those B-52's...
No, I wasn't lucky enough to get into the love shack, either...
January 3rd, 2018 at 3:26 PM ^
We called them BUFFs for a reason. lol
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:09 PM ^
Not contesting the preponderance of B-52 usage; seems like they keep the B-2 for "special" missions.
Considering the fact that the B-52 was first put into active service in 1955, it's in some ways the most remarkable military aircraft ever built.
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:12 PM ^
Although I've only seen the operational test model (no engines) that they restored and displayed at the USAF museum in Dayton, even that one is pretty awesome up close. Actually, we were in that museum from open to close one day and I still don't think we got to everything. Fascinating place.
January 3rd, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^
I agree. Very incredible museum. Make sure you see the Doolittle exhibit. Only one pilot left from that raid in 1942, Colonel Richard Cole who will be 103 this year. Was Jimmy Doolttle's co-pilot.
January 3rd, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^
I went a couple of times when I lived in Dayton. World class museum.
I live in the DC area now and have been to Air and Apace and the annex near Dulles a few times.
The Dayton AF museum easily rivals the Air and Space museum.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^
BAD ASS!! Thanks for sharing!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:28 AM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:29 AM ^
A Navy pilot would have flown right down the middle of the stadium :-)
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
Jester is allowed below the hard deck. But Maverick isn't. Those are the rules of engagement.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
An mgoblog poster who watched the 2016 M/OSU game would understand parallax.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:53 AM ^
Nice recovery from the Air Force!!
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:58 AM ^
So I guess you didn't watch the 2016 M/OSU game? :P
Just messing. But in all seriousness, the Cessna is over one sideline. If the B-2 were over the exact middle of the stadium, then the exact middle of the stadium would appear between the sideline and the B-2. From the side view, it would look like this:
* <- Cessna
* <- B-2
* <- Stadium middle
So, drawing a line from the Cessna to the stadium middle, the B-2 appears to be on the other side of it, if in fact it flies over the exact middle. What we see is this:
* <- Cessna
* <- B-2
* <- Stadium middle
On a line from the Cessna to the stadium middle, the B-2 is on the Cessna side of it, showing that neither plane flew over the middle of the stadium.
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
and M&BWahoo just proved it.
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
the pilots seem to fly over the sideline right over my head on the visitor's side.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
Picture obviously taken from a U-2 Dragon Lady.
Also, OP should change title to Photobombing.
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:22 PM ^
Incorrect. Read the linked story - it was taken from a Cessna, by the pilot.
Anyway, getting a U-2 on that run is virtually impossible. The amount of paperwork needed to justify a photo like this from a U-2 (or any other national asset) is not worth the effort. Despite popular belief that the Gov't spies on everything, taking pictures of non-gov't infrastructure/land with intelligence community assets (which the U-2 is) is highly illegal, and though it can be done, it is very difficult to gain approval to do so. The cost of the U-2 flight would also have to be justified - again, not worth it. And then you have to go through the BS of unclassifying the image, because everything taken with a national asset is classified by default, and unclassified as needed.
Actually, I thought this would have been taken by one of the Digital Globe birds. But nope, some rando flying his Cessna snapped it off...
And yeah, 'photobombing' would have been a perfect title!
January 3rd, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
Regarding the U-2: /S
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:38 AM ^
They did a flyover that year too BUT we also had two stealth fighter jet escorts along with the bomber. We saw them as we drove in to park flying by the mountains and to say they absolutely encompass the term "shock and awe" would be understatement.
And when they did the flyover during the national anthem it was nothing short of breathtaking.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
I was there for that game also. It's amazing that it basically puts the whole stadium in a shadow.
January 3rd, 2018 at 1:05 PM ^
By chance I happened to see the "Last flight of the Stealth Fighter," a final formation of F-117s flying in formation from the high desert to Nevada to be retired, while commuting to work in LA some years back. Impressive formation. Moreso when I discovered it was the last time they flew as active military aircraft.
There were some benefits to living in the Lancaster/Palmdale area back in the day.
January 3rd, 2018 at 2:34 PM ^
...but that hasn't stopped them from being seen flying in and around Nellis/Tonopah.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
Thanks for posting.
January 3rd, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:01 PM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
The military tie-in is less with sports than the anthem, if you want to have a problem with that it is a free country (thanks in part to the military).
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:13 PM ^
They do this same thing for other sporting events not in a dome.
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
Respect your opinion, but I still think there's a way to appreciate the picture, the service, the country, the players, history, and the ability to protest, in all of it without being militaristic or jingoistic about it. Or at least, that's how I've viewed it.
January 3rd, 2018 at 8:20 PM ^
George Carlin used to have a routine about this, about the militaristic violence of football versus the of pastoral serenity of baseball.
Football has the bomb and the blitz. You sack the QB.
In baseball, you're safe, at home.
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
Well, if you were directly above him, how could you see him?
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
Because I was inverted.