November 22 – Rise of the Concorde and the Stealth Bomber

nPostednon November 22, 2016

It’snapparently not enough to fly through the air like a bird, anymore.nThese days,

nwe want faster flights, cheaper flights, more luxuriousnflights, flights to more places…and even sneakier flights!
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nOnnthis date in 1977, British Airways began service to New York City onna supersonic jet with turbojet! “Supersonic” means “faster thannsound,” but in this case it means a jet that can travel over twicenthe speed of sound!

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nThenConcorde was a project created by French and British companies, andnonly Air France and British Airways purchased any of the airplanes.nThese planes offered much greater speed than most, plus luxury –nbut at a fairly large cost! The Concorde was pretty much for richnpeople.

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Onnthis date in 1988, the first B-2 Spirit stealth bomber was sharednwith the world. A stealth bomber is even more inaccessible for usnaverage citizens, since it is a military vehicle designed tonpenetrate defenses that would detect most aircraft.

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nHowndoes it do that? n

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nThenstealth bomber uses multi-spectral camouflage to confuse radar. Itnuses special anti-reflective paint so that it is hard to spotnvisually. It uses technologies to dampen the sound that wouldnnormally accompany a jet flying by, and it even has ways to confuseninfrared sensors!

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