30 Years of Flight

[Alamo]

First B-2 Flight was on 17 July 1989

My first assignment was as an analyst/programmer officer with the 552 Airborne Warning and Control Wing from 1982-1986. Some of the company grade officers that PCS'd while I was there went to Nellis AFB to an assignment that involved being flown to an undisclosed location for a week, then coming back home for the weekend. The only thing they knew about it was that it used computer equipment similar to what we were using in AWACS. Plus there were some other clues in our line of business that indicated something very interesting was going on out there. In 1989 the F-117 Nighthawk was revealed to the public, so we thought that was what those guys went to, but now I think it was more likely they were working the development of the B-2. Or maybe both airplanes.

Hard to believe it's been 30 years already. Yikes.

 

[indykid]

So true, hard to believe that our current Country Protection Device is 30 years old. And the B52 is pure ancient.

Granted the biggest problem to getting new aircraft into service is the crazy cost associated with them, but at what cost freedom?

 

[Thor]

Most of our iron is getting old; good thing we have the B-21 Raider in the pipeline. But you're right...hardly seems like it was three decades ago.

 

[JettaKnight]

So true, hard to believe that our current Country Protection Device is 30 years old. And the B52 is pure ancient.

Granted the biggest problem to getting new aircraft into service is the crazy cost associated with them, but at what cost freedom?

At the beginning of the jet age it was hard to keep up with all the new aircraft. But now, the cold war has chilled out, and aircraft technology rate of change has slowed...

There's a huge cost for a new aircraft program, but the increase in utility over the existing model isn't as high as it once was.



Just think how old the A-10 is yet how fitting it is even today.

 

[T.Lex]

Yeah, I remember those days, too - and some people who couldn't really talk about what they knew about the program even after it was made public.