And Pass Over Stadium Makes For A Useful Training Mission

Mastering precise timing over the target is crucial to effective aerial bombing... and it's said that practice makes perfect. But this training flight of a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber was not a typical sortie, and the target was certainly not an enemy -- it was Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos football team.

The Denver Westword reports even the timing was perfect... making the first home game of the season extra-special, with the flyover right at the end of the National Anthem.

The last visit by a B-2 to a Denver Broncos game was three years ago, and efforts to entreat the Stealth Bomber to return had gone unrewarded until last Sunday. Teresa Shear, the Director of Cheerleaders and Game Day Entertainment said, "We apply for it every year, but it's a very hard plane to get."

Fortunately, a Broncos season-ticket holder -- who is also an employee of B-2 manufacturer Northrop Grumman -- was able to lend a hand, in the form of some helpful influence to set up the repeat performance.

Arranging such a flyover is no mean feat, even with inside help. Permission must be requested first from the FAA, then the Pentagon, and lastly from the bomber's Air Force unit... a process that requires submitting some 60 forms and the patience for months of waiting.

Flying to Denver from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the B-2 undoubtedly burned a hefty gulp of jet fuel... but other than springing for travel costs for the US Air Force ground crew that assists with the flight, there was no cost to the Broncos.

Not wasting the fuel or the opportunity, the Air Force views the flight as a training mission. Shear said,"It helps them with timing on targets. Right at the end of the National Anthem, the bomber needs to be right over the top of the stadium."

Gee... can we arrange a B-2 flyover for the next ANN staff party? Not likely. "It's just not gonna happen," Shear quipped.

FMI: www.af.mil, www.denverbroncos.com