Thanks, Ruffian! Fantastic answer.
If anyone has any further details on the other questions in the OP, I’m still interested.
In case anyone is interested on 12/07/2008 I saw the B2 bomber about 1/2 mile from my house, guessing Azusa Ave and 11th St. I made quite a few passes traveling the same route. I took a picture of it on one of the last passes and my camera stamped a date of 12/7/2008 2:55 PM. Just stumbled across the picture in my library, googled the date and B2 bomber and came across this blog. It was quite a sight…
Wouldn’t it be a lot more impressive if you didn’t see it?
Jeez, I didn’t realize I was reading a zombie.
Anyway, I found the story amazing for any number of reasons.
Not too long ago, the White House got this idea for an anniversary photo shoot or something of Air Force One (I really don’t remember what), accompanied by a fighter jet escort, flying low over the Statue of Liberty.
It was extremely upsetting to many people–myself included when I saw it–and caused quite a fuss. New Yorkers got funny that way after 9/11.
April 2009. Virtually contemporaneous with the thread.
Huh. Five years.
Just to take the opportunity to say it, on 9/11, when I saw the F-whatever (I can only remember one), I kind of remember a nausea of horror of too late, and God, more to come.
Also that it was shocking to see anything moving so fast over the skyscrapers.
Perhaps a Vermont ANG F-16?: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jjDOcRAe4YA/maxresdefault.jpg
… why would they send aircraft from Vermont?
Perhaps the Vermont National Guard had the closest aircraft armed and ready.
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a925fightersarrive&printerfriendly=true: Otis, Mass.?
Can somebody straighten these out? I’ve got to go, and too many Truther sites are in the way…
[BTW, OP is Pasta. Haven’t seen him around in a while. Anyone heard from him?]
Looks like he was last active in late June this year.
This is curious to me. A few years ago, a stealth bomber did an appearance at the Air and Water Show here (Chicago). Mrs. CC and I happened to be sitting on a beach a few miles north of the event and suddenly something appeared in our peripheral view that caused us both to duck, as if a bird were about to land on us. We saw that it was the stealth bomber, making a turn to go back downtown for another pass. But we had heard nothing before seeing it. Point is, that plane was virtually silent until it was moving away and the back end of it was facing us. It may have been sort of coasting, but it taught me that the “stealth” in stealth bomber may also refer to its ability to move around relatively undetected by its sound.
I could be wrong but I saw a similar plane about two weeks ago in Santa Monica. But nothing in terms of yesterday.