One B-2 on display worldwide

The National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio houses the only B-2 Spirit stealth bomber on permanent public display anywhere in the world.

What the B-2 can do

The B-2 Spirit costs around two billion dollars each and can evade radar detection while dropping tens of thousands of pounds of nuclear or conventional weapons.

Recent combat deployments

B-2s dropped precision penetrating munitions on Iranian underground facilities during Operation Epic Fury in March.

All operational B-2s in one place

All nineteen of the US Air Force's operational B-2 planes are housed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, where access is strictly limited to the public.

A test plane, never flown

The B-2 at the museum never flew. Northrop Grumman built it as one of two test planes with exact specifications as operational B-2s but without engines or instruments.

Assembled from seven shipments

The aircraft arrived at the National Museum of the US Air Force in pieces in seven separate shipments in two thousand three. Reassembling it took restoration staff three years.

“one of the world's largest jigsaw puzzles”

Tested to one hundred sixty one percent

Fatigue testing uses hydraulic plates to simulate flying conditions. The B-2 had to withstand one hundred fifty percent of maximum load to pass. This plane actually passed at one hundred sixty one percent.

Temperature tested in Florida

Technicians conducted over one thousand hours of temperature testing at McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Fire and Ice commemoration

To commemorate their temperature testing work, technicians painted a decorative Fire and Ice decal on the nose landing gear panel and signed their names on it.

Spirit of Freedom and the 509th

The plane is named Spirit of Freedom. The 509th Bomb Wing operates B-2 planes today. During World War Two, the 509th Composite Group deployed nuclear weapons and dropped the first atomic bombs on Japan.