Trump and Kegbreath were so defensive in the presser after the bombing that it makes me think they were spinning as hard as they could. I couldn’t fly a stealth bomber, but what does a trained crew in one of those do when it’s straight to target, and straight home? I hope a billion dollar airplane has a state of the art auto pilot, and the computer would handle the dropping, I would think. And a 36 hour flight might be horribly grueling, if you were a solo pilot.
What I’m saying is, they over sold this mission, and now I don’t believe in anything.
I’m pretty sure they have multiple pilots flying them and that someone has to release the bomb. It’s not automated, although the location to drop is obviously programmed into their system. They said they had to air refuel “multiple times” getting there and getting back. Whether Trump et al oversold the mission depends on who you believe. I don’t think Iran is stupid so they most likely anticipated this kind of attack coming from the US or Israel and prepared for it.
I would never want to search for it, but I’m pretty sure that, when trump was working up a big indignation and pretending the press was bad-mouthing the crews, he said something about the crews saying the strikes were right on target, as though they could see them out of the window 
I mean, I’m sure the B2 has some way to detect or measure where the strikes are landing. Downward-facing cameras, if nothing else.
And they definitely needed multiple midair refuellings, which is a nontrivial maneuver. It’s also a routine one, that they practice for a lot, but it’s not something just any random pilot can do.
I vaguely remember reading an article about the B-2s in which a pilot said they are surprisingly not set up well for flying within the “normal” national airspace. IIRC, he said they have to put lat / longs into their system rather than the usual named waypoints.
But never mind that - I don’t care if the plane has bunks, a lav with shower and bidet and a raquetball court. 36 hours in any airplane is not fun or comfortable.
I don’t think we have any reason to suspect the mission was oversold in the sense that it actually happened. But there seems to be a fair bit of wrangling as to the degree of damage and ultimate outcome.
I don’t know about the mission, but the pressers afterwards were a disgrace. I expect a demented frog like trump to talk shit, but the way Kegbreath echoed his words was pathetic and his meltdown should be the story. I wish there would have been a reporter on the cusp of retiring who could have could have stood up and shouted something like, “you’re full of shit, you drunk fuck!”
I read that the B2 cockpits have both a bunk for one of them to sleep, and a microwave/small galley. So they can at least eat and sleep a bit.
I would imagine damage assessment would be more the province of spy satellites and drones, not the actual strike aircraft.
I’ve seen bunks, showers and bidets but dammit now I’m thinking about how to certify a racquetball court (or small curved squash court?) into a business jet!
Make it a vomit comet and you can play whatever that zero-g racquet game is that Michael and Janet Jackson play in the “Scream” music video.
Believe it or not, there was a song about this 22 years ago:
Different plane and different weapon but you get the idea.
This paywalled New York Times article describes some of the experience for the pilots. Yes, there is heater for their meals “but many B-2 pilots prefer simple meals like sandwiches on long missions.” They spend some time ahead of the mission adjusting their sleep schedules and work with physiologists and doctors to adjust to the long time spent in the cockpit. And yes, there is a cot to get some rest, but “both pilots are required to be in their seats during takeoff, landing, aerial re-fuelings and for the duration of their time over enemy territory.” There is a quote from the vice president that they feel the mission taught something to the Iranians about how the US can launch planes from Missouri, fly them to Iran, drop bombs and return to Missouri, all without detection.
I’m not sure what exactly the OP is getting at. Is he saying the stealth bomber mission didn’t actually happen?
The bomber flies with multiple crewmembers, and they certainly take turns sleeping and resting.
Of course, the mission happened. I’m saying trump, in selling the mission as being the most successful in history, padded it with the crews being particularly heroic. He practically said they were so crestfallen by the press’s coverage that they were on suicide watch.
At this point, anything trump says, I assume the opposite to be true.
I know. He pretty much said it was bigger than D-Day.
You have to understand, though, these people wanted to do this mission. I can almost guarantee you this was like the time of their lives, getting the chance to drop real bombs on real people. They were stoked as hell probably the whole way to their targets, and still high on adrenaline the whole way back. They’re going to get medals for this—the Distinguished Flying Cross would be my guess—and they may well go the whole rest of their lives without doing anything comparable.
This mild discomfort of spending 2 days in a flying porta-potty is nothing compared to that. This kind of mission is the bomber pilot’s equivalent to the sniper team’s “pink mist.”
Like one of those virtual golf courses?
Probably an option, projectors have been used before. In terms of “real” play you’d probably just have to make a strong enough box (floors, walls, ceiling… probably cover up windows). Have it all pass flammability. May have to consider ordinance signs, emergency equipment access, egress, but enclosed rooms have been done before.
I’m sure it could be done, if you were rich and dumb enough to want to.
I’ve been in aviation a long time, but only a month or so ago did I come across the term “ordinance sign”. None of the other jets I’ve flown used it in their manuals, that I recall. But the one I qualified on recently does. Naturally, I thought it had something to do with explosives until I checked the spelling.
For other unwashed ignoramuses like me, it refers to ordering the passengers to do something: seatbelt sign, no smoking sign, etc.
Obviously this mission has been super politicized at every level, and the way people talk about pilots is one of those ways. At the end of the day, for a WWII pilot, this would be a milk run.
That said, if there’s one way in which this mission was incredibly impressive, it is logistically.
As you note, the planes had to be refueled multiple times, meeting up with aerial tankers that the US has stationed all over the world and performing that incredibly complex maneuver with such practiced regularity that becomes routine.
Having the pilots, bases, vehicles, training, and equipment that it takes to do something like this available all over the world really is an incredible feat of logistics. It’s not something any other nation or army can even dream about coming close to matching.
I certainly picked up use of the term through supporting customers that operate Bombardier aircraft. I admit I haven’t noticed whether other OEMs use the term specifically in their documentation, or if it’s an ATA subchapter. I think the airworthiness standards only call them passenger information signs but I’m too lazy to double check.
[Collins](Emergency Lighting & Ordinance Signs | Collins Aerospace https://share.google/0lJWzcMBA23xwzFlV) does use the term as well, it seems, and they are major lighting supplier to most OEMs.