B-2 flypast at Farnborough 1996

When the B-2 Spirit bomber made a flypast at the 1996 Farnborough Air Show, it was acquired during its approach by the infrared tracker of a BAE Dynamics (now MBDA) Rapier/Jernas system, which continued to track the bomber throughout its flypast. The sequence was videotaped, and images were prominently published in the following day’s Flight International Show Daily.

The incident created some behind-the-scenes furore, and when I tried to get copies of the imagery from Flight International a few weeks later, I was informed unofficially that the magazine had been told not to republish or release these.

But many thousands of copies of the show daily were printed and distributed. Does anyone have a copy? At the time I was told the distance at which the B-2 was acquired, but can’t remember whether this information appeared in the show daily.

Although I have seen at least one image on the internet that is said to be from the videotape, it shows little detail. My memory is that imagery taken during the flypast showed quite a lot of detail, including the relatively hot engine bays.