The "Spirit of Washington" participated in its first training mission at Whiteman Air Force Base, Dec. 16, after an engine fire in 2010 nearly destroyed the aircraft.
After three years and nine months in maintenance, the aircraft was restored to full mission-ready status.
The "Spirit of Washington" was preparing to fly a mission Feb. 26, 2010 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, when one of its four engines caught fire, resulting in significant damage to the aircraft and the engine bay.
With only 20 B-2s in the Air Force inventory, the need to save and restore the aircraft was paramount; the challenge was finding a way to accomplish the task.
The B-2's technology, combined with the limited number of aircraft, made obtaining replacement parts challenging. A percentage of the parts could be remanufactured, but other parts could only be obtained from Air Force spare parts depots.
af.mil
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