Google Maps sleuths spot B2 bomber crash that could cost U.S. taxpayers millions

A CRASHED B2 stealth bomber has been spotted on Google Maps by social media sleuths.

Images of the destroyed plane were shared on Reddit this week after it emerged that the September 2021 crash had been caught be Google satellites.

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“Good catch,” one Reddit user wrote in the comments section.

“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 after the crash, if could now 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 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.

Investigators 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 stealth bombers can carry both conventional and nuclear munitions.

This plane was specifically assigned to the 393d Bomb Squadron (393 BS) of the 509th Bomb Wing (509 BW).