Operation Midnight Hammer saw B-2 Spirit stealth bombers fly from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri to strike nuclear facilities in Iran. The 37-hour round trip made it the second-longest bombing mission in history. But if you ain’t first, you’re last.
Luckily for the B-2’s record, it also flew the longest bombing mission over two decades earlier.
On the evening of October 7, 2001, less than a month after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the second wave of B-2s launched from Whiteman to strike targets in Afghanistan. Along with B-52 Stratofortress bombers, the B-2s were tasked with destroying Taliban air defense positions in order to secure air superiority. Flying a B-2 named “The Spirit of America” were Brian “Jethro” Neal and Mel “Sideshow” Deaile, who recounted the mission in a 2014 USO article.
For security reasons, the bombers took the long way west across the Pacific Ocean to Afghanistan. In 2025, decoy bombers would fly this direction for Operation Midnight Hammer while the actual strike force flew east across the Atlantic Ocean.
After four hours in the air, The Spirit of America rendezvoused with a KC-135 aerial tanker for midair refueling. Four hours after that, the bomber refueled again over Hawaii. Between refuelings, Neal and Deaile took turns catching some sleep on a modified cot behind their ejection seats. Service members like to give the Air Force grief, but soldiers have set up personal tents with more space than the cockpit of the B-2.
The bomber refueled three more times: over Guam, through the Straits of Malacca, and over the Indian Ocean near Diego Garcia. Turning north, The Spirit of America followed the coast of India up to Afghanistan. With the flight across the Pacific taking over 24 hours, the airmen were issued a “pick me up pill,” which Neal and Deaile took as they approached the coast of Pakistan. Additionally, many of the targets designated for the bomber had changed since it departed from Whiteman AFB. As a result, the majority of the 16 JDAM bombs aboard the B-2 had to be reprogrammed for new targets.
READ: Watch this Spirit decimate an airfield with 80 JDAMs
After making the trip for the longest bombing mission, The Spirit of America spent about two hours over Afghanistan, hitting targets with precision strikes. Not that the Taliban had a sophisticated air defense network, but the first indications of the flying Dorito overhead would have been the impacts of its JDAMs. As they left Afghan airspace and headed for a tanker, Neal and Deaile were contacted by the Air Operations Center with a follow-on mission for their four remaining JDAMs. Since they weren’t being paid to come home with bombs, the two airmen refueled over the Arabian Sea and flew back to Afghanistan.
After striking the identified target, Neal and Deaile exited Afghanistan again after 90 minutes. Four hours and another midair refuel later, they approached Diego Garcia. But the hits kept coming for the two pilots as the B-52 that landed ahead of them declared an emergency. This forced The Spirit of America to go around and delay its landing. 44.3 hours after taking off from Missouri, Neal and Deaile were finally able to touch down in Diego Garcia.
While the mission was over for the pilots, the bomber wasn’t done yet. With the engines still running, oil and a new crew of two were brought aboard, and The Spirit of America flew another 30 hours back to Missouri. Along with five other B-2s, the bomber operated for over 70 hours nonstop. None of the planes malfunctioned or suffered engine trouble during the three-day marathon. At a unit cost of $2.13 billion, such performance is expected of the B-2.
Between the opening blows of Operation Enduring Freedom and the historic bombing run of Operation Midnight Hammer, the B-21 Raider has big, stealthy shoes to fill.
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