B-2: Calling Whiteman home for 16 years

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Torey Griffith
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
It emerges above the tree line with a quiet rumble - a slender, dark figure rising into the twilight of a frigid Missouri evening. The thin grey line grows into the shape of a giant wedge as the craft banks right, on course to destroy. The craft levels out and disappears into the clear, blue evening sky, not to be seen by human eyes again until it descends onto Whiteman's tarmac, long after the dust has settled continents away.

The B-2 bomber has called Whiteman home since Dec. 17, 1993, carrying on the 509th Bomb Wing's legacy of lethality.

The 509th Bomb Wing touts a history of victory, beginning in 1944 as the Army Air Force 509th Composite Group. Under the command of Col. Paul Tibbits, the 509th delivered the first nuclear weapon in anger on Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945, and a second on Nagasaki three days later, ultimately resulting in the end of World War II.

Adding to its rich history, on Dec. 17, 1993, the 90th anniversary of Orville Wright's historic first successful flight, the first of 21 B-2 bombers, the Spirit of Missouri, arrived at Whiteman, marking a new era in American air superiority.

The B-2 soared silently to war six years later on Mar. 24, 1999. The Spirit of Mississippi and the Spirit of Pennsylvania dropped 32 2,000-pound JDAM weapons on targets in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia in support of NATO's Operation Allied Force/Noble Anvil.

Following the terrorist attacks wrought upon the United States Sept. 11, 2001, B-2 bombers and aircrews from the 509th led America's strike force, as the first to strike targets in Afghanistan. On Oct. 5 2001, the 509th "kicked down the door," and led the fight in support of Operation Enduring Freedom -- America's response to Sept. 11. The Spirit of Georgia and the Spirit of America launched form Whiteman, bombed targets in Afghanistan, and then recovered at Diego Garcia,with mission durations of 40.3 and 44.3 hours, respectively.

Shortly after engine-running crew changes, the B-2s and crews returned to Whiteman on Oct. 9, 2001, after sorties lasting 29 hours each. The sortie accomplished in the Spirit of America (73.3 hours) was the longest combat sortie in the history of the U.S. Air Force to date, proving the B-2 to be the ultimate in air strike capability.

During the opening night of Operation Iraqi Freedom, March 20, 2003, B-2s launched for the first time from two different locations striking targets in the same area of responsibility.

Later on Feb. 25, 2005, the deployment of the B-2 and the 393rd BS to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, marked the entrance of the B-2 into the mainstream of AEF planning and the ongoing rotation of bomber forces.

The 509th BW successfully completed the first B-2 AEF rotation with the return of more than 240 Airmen to Whiteman from Andersen AFB, Guam, April 29, 2005. The team was replaced by the 325th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron. This rotation marked the longest deployment of the B-2 to date.

Today, 16 years after the B-2 first called Whiteman its home, its forward presence has become a reality and proved the aircraft can deliver combat airpower "anywhere in the world at any time and place of our choosing."

For a complete history of the B-2 and the 509th Bomb Wing, visit www.whiteman.af.mil.
(This article include historical documentation by Dr. Margret DePalma, 509th BW historian)