From Spads to Spirits: Inside the 13th Bomb Squadron

Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Missouri, is home to the US Air Force’s most technologically advanced nuclear-capable strategic bomber to date – the low-observable flying wing that is Northrop Grumman’s B-2A Spirit.

The world-renowned stealth bomber officially adopted Whiteman AFB as its sole residence when B-2A, serial 88-0329 ‘Spirit of Missouri’, first touched down in the ‘Show-Me State’ on December 17, 1993. Today, the base is home to two operational bomb wings (BWs) that employ the majority of the USAF’s Spirit fleet: Air Force Global Strike Command’s 509th Bomb Wing (BW) and the Missouri Air National Guard’s 131st BW. These wings are supplemented by Air Combat Command’s 72nd Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES) and 325th Weapons Squadron (WPS).

As the host wing, the 509th is the primary B-2A operator at Whiteman AFB. It is made up of two squadrons that employ the stealth bomber operationally – the 13…