Nothrop Grumman B-2A Spirit USAF - 1/200 Scale Herpa Wings 573795

By the mid-1970s, military aircraft engineers were becoming aware of "stealth" characteristics and started experimenting on how to implement such detection-avoidance qualities into aircraft designs. And although the program for a new stealth-capable strategic bomber had been started by the year 1979, the first B-2 and its revolutionary appearance was revealed to the public only in 1988. Testing of the subsonic flying wing began the following year. The "Spirit of Arizona" was the second of six test aircraft and flew for the first time on October 19, 1990. Despite the first B-2 Spirits entering operational service in 1994, the test program in which new capabilities for the B-2 were continuously evaluated was only completed by 1997. All six test aircraft. Including the "Spirit of Arizona" were then brought up to full operational status and transferred to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.