# B2 Bomber at Rose Parade **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064 "2011-01-01T18:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/1 "2011-01-01T18:14:31Z")
For a few years now, the B2 Bomber has flew by the Rose Parade prior to it’s start. I just noticed something: how do they get shots of the bomber in flight from above? Is there another plane following it? It doesn’t look like it’s shot from inside another plane (no lens glare from being shot through a window) and helicopters and buildings wouldn’t be able to follow the B2 in flight. Is it shot from a plane with an open window? Some type of camera drone? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/2 "2011-01-01T18:18:30Z")
Blimp. Watch out, **Scylla**! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/3 "2011-01-01T18:35:14Z")
I don’t know the answer to the OP, but [Clay Lacy Aviation](http://www.claylacy.com/?p=astrovision) is in Van Nuys and they offer aerial cinematography/videography. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/4 "2011-01-01T22:00:42Z")
Doh! The blimp! :smack: Forgot those existed. Ever slow and combustible, yet the gentlemenly way of travel, until the Nazi’s discovered a fetish for them… ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/5 "2011-01-02T00:33:45Z")
I couldn’t tell from the TV view of the plane. How low was the flyover? Was it just a speck in the sky to the parade spectators? Couldn’t it go really low or would the mountains around Pasadena make it too dangerous? ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/6 "2011-01-02T01:26:18Z")
It flies fairly low over the parade route, if I had to guess 1,000-2,000 feet above the ground. Very visible from the parade route. The mountains are not really an issue as Colorado Blvd (the parade route) runs parallel to them. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/7 "2011-01-02T04:04:57Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Doh! The blimp! :smack: Forgot those existed. Ever slow and combustible, yet the gentlemenly way of travel, until the Nazi’s discovered a fetish for them… > **[Goodyear Blimp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_Blimp)** > > The Goodyear Blimp is any one of a fleet of commercial airships (or dirigibles) operated by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, used mainly for advertising and broadcasting aerial views of live sports events for television. The term blimp itself is defined as a non-rigid airship—without any internal structure, the pressure of lifting gas within the airship envelope maintains the vessel's shape. > Goodyear built hundreds of airships throughout much of the 20th century, mostly for the United St... (Several companies have them around here, not just Goodyear.) Helium? Combustible? 😕 Oh, whoosh, I guess. But they are slow. Gentlemanly, couldn’t say from personal experience, but doubtlessly so. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/8 "2011-01-02T04:54:59Z")
Yes from another plane pacing the target. You over estimate the impact of the canopy on the picture. ---
**Author:** ![pericynthion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85e7bf/32.png) [@pericynthion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pericynthion)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/9 "2011-01-02T10:37:33Z")
With a large diameter lens correctly focused, the intervening canopy/window glass will be invisible. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/10 "2011-01-02T14:42:20Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > [Goodyear Blimp - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_Blimp) > > (Several companies have them around here, not just Goodyear.) Helium? Combustible? 😕 Oh, whoosh, I guess. But they are slow. Gentlemanly, couldn’t say from personal experience, but doubtlessly so. Nearly all helium in those days was extracted in the USA, which refused to sell any to Germany post WWI as demanded by the Versailles Treaty. The Germans instead used to only other available gas: hydrogen. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/11 "2011-01-02T16:40:19Z")
News helicopter? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/12 "2011-01-02T17:24:30Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Doh! The blimp! :smack: Forgot those existed. Ever slow and combustible, yet the gentlemenly way of travel, until the Nazi’s discovered a fetish for them… Another nitpick. Germany had dirigibles, not blimps. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b2-bomber-at-rose-parade/566064/13 "2011-01-03T04:51:34Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Yes from another plane pacing the target. You over estimate the impact of the canopy on the picture. > [@pericynthion](#): > > With a large diameter lens correctly focused, the intervening canopy/window glass will be invisible. When the pros shoot aerial, they don’t just send a guy up with a camera to sit in the passenger’s seat. They use an [aerial camera mount](http://www.camerasystems.com/superg.htm), attached to the outside of the plane or helicopter. It’s remotely controlled by an operator inside the plane, who can change its pan, tilt, and roll.