Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Stealth by Peter Westwick - Available

Stealth

The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraft

by Peter Westwick
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Read a sample Read a sample
1 of 1 copy available
On a moonless night in January 1991, a dozen U.S. aircraft appeared in the skies over Baghdad. To the Iraqi air defenses, the planes seemed to come from nowhere. Their angular shape, making them look like flying origami, rendered them virtually undetectable. Each aircraft was more than 60 feet in length and with a wingspan of 40 feet, yet its radar footprint was the size of a ball bearing. Here was the first extensive combat application of Stealth technology. And it was devastating. Peter Westwick's new book illuminates the story behind these aircraft, the F-117A, also known as the Stealth Fighter, and their close cousin the B-2, also known as the Stealth Bomber. The development of Stealth unfolded over decades. Radar has been in use since the 1930s and was essential to the Allies in World War Two, when American investment in radar exceeded that in the Manhattan Project. The atom bomb ended the war, conventional wisdom has it, but radar won it. That experience also raised a question: could a plane be developed that was invisible to radar? That question, and the seemingly impossible feat of physics and engineering behind it, took on increasing urgency during the Cold War, when the United States searched for a way both to defend its airspace and send a plane through Soviet skies undetected. Thus started the race for Stealth. At heart, Stealth is a tale of not just two aircraft but the two aerospace companies that made them, Lockheed and Northrop, guided by contrasting philosophies and outsized personalities. Beginning in the 1970s, the two firms entered into a fierce competition, one with high financial stakes and conducted at the highest levels of secrecy in the Cold War. They approached the problem of Stealth from different perspectives, one that pitted aeronautical designers against electrical engineers, those who relied on intuition against those who pursued computer algorithms. The two different approaches manifested in two very different solutions to Stealth, clearly evident in the aircraft themselves: the F-117 composed of flat facets, the B-2 of curves. For all their differences, Lockheed and Northrop were located twenty miles apart in the aerospace suburbs of Los Angeles, not far from Disneyland. This was no coincidence. The creative culture of postwar Southern California-unorthodox, ambitious, and future-oriented-played a key role in Stealth. Combining nail-biting narrative, incisive explanation of the science and technology involved, and indelible portraits of unforgettable characters, Stealth immerses readers in the story of an innovation with revolutionary implications for modern warfare.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    December 30, 2019

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780190677466

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780190677466
      • File size: 2589 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      December 6, 2019

      Westwick (Blue Sky Metropolis) meticulously probes two highly competitive and contentious U.S. corporations, Northrop and Lockheed, from 1976 to 1988. Located in California, these companies developed and produced the first generation of radar-proof aircraft: the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk fighter and the Northrop B-2 Stealth bomber. The Nighthawk was presented to the Air Force in 1982 so pilots could acquaint themselves with the craft's flight characteristics, including late-stage stealth. By contrast, the B-2 was awarded a design philosophy completely different from the Nighthawk, opting for a smooth surface that would act to nullify the enemy's incoming radar energy. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Westwick explains, defense specialists and economists argued there was no longer a need for two radar-invisible aircraft, and resultant U.S. military cutbacks threatened the B-2 program in the early 1990s. Westwick describes how during the Iraqi Desert Storm campaign, Nighthawk aviators questioned these reductions by destroying almost half of their strategic targets in Baghdad with minimal losses. VERDICT This authoritative contribution to the history of aviation will be welcomed by academics and general readers of flight, military theory, and aeronautical engineering.--John Carver Edwards, formerly with Univ. of Georgia Libs.

      Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading