A Winning Debut For the B-2

Since Operation Allied Force began a month ago, B-2 bombers from this Air Force base in Knob Noster, Mo., have been making a pressure-packed debut. Adding to the stress of combat has been the close eye of B-2 skeptics. But speaking to TIME last week in their first interviews, pilots say the machine has been a dream to fly. The men described taking off over the soybean fields on 30-hr. flights, often made by pairs of planes, with two men aboard each. One sometimes naps while the other monitors the plane's computer systems, which do 95% of the flying. When the B-2 disgorges one of its bombs, pilots say the plane bumps like a car hitting a pothole. Far below, they can see the flash of their bombs. On board the plane, a hot plate lets them heat up hot dogs or chili--preferred over military rations. Reading helps kill boredom, and there's room for a sleeping bag for short "power naps" and a 50-gal. portable toilet.

The B-2 has had its share of criticism, not just for its $2 billion cost but also for its purported inability to handle bad weather (an earlier version of the plane had a coating that ran when exposed to rain). But there's nothing like a war to make advocates feel vindicated. Says Brigadier General Leroy Barnidge Jr., who runs Whiteman: "Even an airman with no stripes on his sleeves will say, 'We showed them.' Our guys landed in a driving rainstorm. We're the key ingredient in the bad weather over there." Pilots are delighted with their mount. Says one: "We don't worry about threats [such as plane-killing missiles], because the plane keeps you safe." In a low-tech touch, however, the Air Force phones all the pilots' wives the minute the planes finish over their targets, letting them know their husbands are en route back to their heartland homes.