The Dark Knight rises: impressive U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber fast flyby photo

October 2, 2012 Military Aviation

David Cenciotti

Taken on Jul. 21, 2012, by Russell Hill, the following picture shows a variable-sweep wing B-1 strategic bomber serialled 85-0073 “Dark Knight”, belonging to the 7th Bomb Wing, 13th Bomb Squadron, based at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, during a fast flyby at the McChord Air Expo, McChord AFB, Washington.

Due to the high speed, the fast pass generated a huge condensation cloud around the Bone’s upper wing and fuselage surfaces. This type of cloud is the effect of a sudden decrease of pressure in the airflow around the aircraft in moisty weather conditions.

Image credit: Russell Hill

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About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

Ken Macaulay says:

October 2, 2012 at 7:47 PM

Great shot – is there any others posted elsewhere?
Confused says:

October 2, 2012 at 8:11 PM

I’ve always been confused by this. I learned in a basic thermodynamics course that increasing pressure compresses vapor into a liquid and decreasing pressure expands liquid into a gas. Wouldn’t the condensation cloud be due to a sudden spike in pressure?
Ruidano (@Ruidano) says:

October 3, 2012 at 6:09 PM

The same effect on Russian Su-30 http://spotavia.blogspot.com/2012/02/su-30-30.html
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g11EIqY0xiE/UGxvfQHOV6I/AAAAAAAAAlU/35KMSqwgxuA/s1600/115.jpeg
Ken Macaulay says:

October 5, 2012 at 4:01 AM

Nice shots, Ruidano. Are these shots of the SU-30’s currently being inducted?
Notme says:

November 20, 2012 at 4:48 PM

Moisty?