Naps and urinating in bags: What B-2 bomber pilots endure during mission flights

Whether you agree with Trump’s unfounded and wholly disputed assessment of “obliteration”, bending to a Zionist sycophant to escalate tensions in an already volatile region, or dropping - without congressional approval - thousands of tons of bombs onto a fellow sovereign nation that poses no immediate threat to your existence, what’s undeniable is the technological marvel that is the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.

It was one of the longest B-2 missions in history: a total of 37 hours were needed for the pilots of the astonishing aircraft to take off from their Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, drop bombs on Iran and fly back to the States - so how did they do it?

In total, seven stealth bombers, each carrying two crew members, flew nonstop halfway around the globe and back in one stint, with the mission only beaten in terms of time by the 44-hour-long bombing campaign over Afghanistan in 2001.

‘Eventually you’re going to get some shut-eye’

One of the main questions coming out of the mission - apart from the political, ethical and moral doubts that come with dropping fourteen 30,000-pound explosive devices on a country - was how the pilots managed to physically endure the turnaround. Melvin G. Deaile, a B-2 pilot who took part in the aforementioned Afghanistan raid, explained to CNN that on previous missions, pilots were given sleeping pills in the days leading up to the flight in order to increase their rest hours ahead of the big day.

Takeoff, refuelling, attacking and landing are four key moments in which the pilot must be situated in the cockpit, but away from those times, as the craft cruises, they may leave in order to get some rest: “They may have upgraded it in the last 20 years to something a little bit more comfortable”, said Deaile, “but it was a modified cot behind the two pilots that the crew member not in the seat could clear out and grab some shut-eye for probably about three or four hours in between air refuelling." As well as the odd nap, Deaile admitted that the crew, at least in the early 2000s, were given what he labelled “amphetamines” to stay awake.

“Obviously anybody going into combat has a level of anxiety,” Deaile admitted, “but eventually you’re going to get some shut-eye, just because your body is going to require that.”

While there is a small chemical toilet on board, Deaile explained that this was more for emergencies and overfilling it was not an option. Instead, for less pressing matters, zip-lock bags known as “piddle packs” were used, with the co-pilot simply looking the other way. “Privacy is the guy looks the other way,” he said.

Back to this decade. Trump claimed the B-2 mission to be an overwhelming success, and it doesn’t seem long before he claims the word “obliteration” was coined specifically for this mission over Iran who, just like before the bombing, is keen to get back to the negotiating table. While we’ve not heard from Netanyahu in the aftermath of Trump’s F-bomb, which is not a fighter jet, his obsession with Iran and their supposed nuclear warhead program will likely rise to the surface once again, as has been the case since the 1990s. Let’s just hope no more B-2s are needed again on that occasion.

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