SEVERAL social media users have spotted the B2 bomber crash site on Google Maps.
The Google sleuths shared images of the destroyed plane on a Reddit thread that was started earlier this week by an anonymous user.
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“Good catch,” one Reddit user wrote in the comments section of the forum.
“I found it just scanning AFB and RAF installations. Found some fun stuff that way,” a second Reddit user added.
A third user shared an image of potentially the same bomber while it was still in flight a flew miles away from the crash site.
Some of the Redditers appeared to be in awe that seven months later the aftermath of the crash could be seen on both Google Maps and Google Earth.
While other users seemed to have trouble locating the site on the apps – for those who are interested, you can just type “Whiteman AFB, MO” into the Google Earth search bar.
The military heavy strategic bomber crashed on September 14, 2021, at 12:19 AM CDT on the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.
After experiencing a left main landing gear collapse, the plane skidded off the runway about a mile from the touchdown point, according to The Aviationist.
The aircraft “suffered significant damage due to the initial gear collapse and the resulting dragging of the wing along the runway,” according to an AIB (accident investigation report) that Air Force Global Strike Command has recently released.
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Specifically, the AIB found that “the cause of the mishap was that the MA’s [Mishap Aircraft] LMLG [Left Main Landing Gear] lock link springs failed to provide sufficient pressure to maintain the lock links in the locked position, which resulted in an LMLG collapse during the MA’s landing.”
“Further, the AAIB President found, by a preponderance of the evidence, that one factor substantially contributed to the mishap: the failure of a hydraulic CryoFit coupling that drove a rapid a loss of hydraulic fluid in the #1 and #4 hydraulic systems, which isolated the LMLG lock link actuator and prevented its use in assisting the LMLG lock link to remain down and locked.”
The report also estimated that the cost of repairing the MA could be a minimum of $10.1 million, though further assessment is required to determine a final price.
B2 bombers are typically used for delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions.
This plane was specifically assigned to the 393d Bomb Squadron (393 BS) of the 509th Bomb Wing (509 BW).
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