The smoke from a US B-2 bomber can be seen in photos shot by onlookers at the scene, appearing to collapse following the incident at Whiteman Air Base.
On December 12, the US television station KMBC published photographs given by witnesses showing a B-2 stealth bomber with what seemed to be collapsing landing gear, causing the left wing to plummet to the ground, as well as a cloud of smoke billowing from the back. Another image depicts the incident’s smoke cloud rising from the Whiteman base.
The B-2 that was involved in the incident on December 10 may be seen for the first time in these excellent pictures. A B-2 crashed off the Whiteman Base runway, possibly on fire, and the left wing is resting on the ground, according to an earlier Facebook post from the Air Force account Amn/Nco/Snco. The post was accompanied by a distant photo that did not clearly show the aircraft.
On the pictures, the US Air Force has not offered any commentary.
A B-2 stealth bomber had a difficulty during a “normal mission trip,” forcing it to make an emergency landing at Whiteman Army Air Force Base in Missouri, according to the 509th Bomb Wing of the US Air Force.
“After a successful emergency landing, the plane was damaged while still on the runway. No soldiers suffered any injuries. Firefighters were able to put out the fire that was involving the aircraft. The situation is being looked into, “the 509th Air Wing stated without going into detail about the damage’s scope.
Similar circumstances occurred in September 2021 when the B-2 aircraft with the registration number 89-0129 was on a training mission but had to land at Whiteman Air Force Base in an emergency and crashed off the runway. Photos that were eventually made public showed that the left wing tip of the aircraft scraped the grass, the fuselage was shredded in several places, and the left wing compartment door fully detached from the fuselage and dropped down the runway. The time and cost to repair this B-2 have not yet been disclosed by the US Air Force.
The B-2 Spirit is a strategic bomber that the US first introduced in 1988. It is also the most expensive aircraft ever built. A B-2 back then cost 515 million USD, which is equivalent to 1.06 billion USD now. Each Spirit will cost up to 2.1 billion USD, including R&D expenses. All American preemptive strikes are led by the B-2 series, which can avoid detection by enemy radars.
There have been 21 B-2 Spirit stealth bombers constructed by the US, one of which was entirely destroyed in an accident over Guam in 2008. Due to an accident, another aircraft also suffered significant damage. Burned to the ground in 2010, but was expensively restored and put back into use.
