Paranormal Studies 313: The B-2 Antigravity Bomber

Professor Grimes walked into the classroom precisely five minutes before ten o’clock. Through the classroom’s frosted windows he could see the blanket of snow that covered the campus. The first snow of the year fell on New Year’s Day, and temperatures had been cold enough since then to allow that thin blanket of snow to survive. As much as the professor loved the snow, he knew that the afternoon sun was going to make short work of that winter wonderland. He missed the regular snowstorms of his home state, but living in a warmer climate had its advantages. For one thing, scraping the ice off his aging car was rarely an issue anymore.

The professor was surprised to see that there were nine students in the classroom. Given that New Year’s Day was just two days ago he had expected to see just a handful of students. Attendance is actually fairly strong this year, he thought. This is even better than the turnout for my eschatology lectures.

When the analog clock over the classroom door reached precisely ten o’clock the professor stood up and walked to the front of the room. “Today’s lesson is going to be a little off the beaten path. So far in this class, with one exception, we’ve covered some rather well-known topics. This subject, however, is quite obscure. We’re going to take a look at–”

“Crop circles!” Ashley said.

“No, I’m afraid not. Crop circles are actually quite famous. It’s–”

“UFOs!”

“No, that’s not it either – not exactly, anyway, although we are going to be studying a flying object. This particular flying object, however, is quite famous. We are going to take a close look at the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit – or, as it’s more commonly known, the B-2 Stealth Bomber.”

“The B-2 Bomber?” Max repeated. “Why would we do that? I mean, seriously, I’m pretty sure it’s a real airplane. I even saw one at an air show once! I can personally vouch for its authenticity. It’s not a myth.”

Professor Grimes smiled. “I do not doubt its existence. This particular legend – if that is what we are going to call it – took me completely by surprise. I came across it while reading The Puzzle of Ancient Man by Dr. Donald E. Chittick. This is what he says on page 141:”

Electrogravitic (antigravity) technology, under development in U.S. Air Force black R&D programs since late 1954, may now have been put to practical use in the B-2 Advanced Technology Bomber to provide an exotic auxiliary mode of propulsion. This inference is based on the recent disclosure that the B-2 charges both its wing leading edge and jet exhaust stream to a high voltage. Positive ions emitted from its wing leading edge would produce a positively charged parabolic ion sheath ahead of the craft, while negative ions injected into its exhaust stream would set up a trailing negative space charge with a potential difference in excess of 15 million volts. According to electrogravitic research carried out by physicist T. Townsend Brown, such a differential space charge would set up an artificial gravity field that would induce a reactionless force on the aircraft in the direction of the positive pole. An electrogravitic drive of this sort could allow the B-2 to function with over-unity propulsion efficiency when cruising at supersonic velocities…

Lora spoke up. “Huh? I don’t get all that physics stuff. What does all that even mean?”

“It means that the B-2 Bomber may have an antigravity propulsion system,” the professor explained.

Max shook his head. “That’s crazy! It’s just a normal airplane. The stealth part is cool and all but, seriously – antigravity? There are so many problems with that that I don’t even know where to start!”

Ashley spoke up. “That would be kinda weird, though, if it was true. But it can’t really be true, though. Right?”

Professor Grimes smiled. “That is what we are going to investigate today. The claim is certainly quite extraordinary, and it is not common knowledge – even in paranormal circles. As you all know, antigravity has been a mainstay of science fiction for a very long time. If it is true that antigravity has been achieved, and if the technology really does date back to the 1950s, then that would be rather startling. We have quite a lot of work ahead of us, however. Just because Dr. Chittick makes this claim does not mean that it is so. As we’ve seen in the past, many paranormal claims simply do not hold up to scrutiny. What we must do is break this story into discrete parts, then test each part and see where the evidence takes us.”

Lora spoke up. “This is going to be another hoax, isn’t it? They always end up being hoaxes or something. It’s so disappointing.”

“Life is often full of disappointments,” Professor Grimes agreed. “Even so, we are on a search for the truth, and as such we will refrain from coming to a conclusion before we have examined the claims. It is entirely possible – in fact, it is quite likely – that most paranormal claims are simply ridiculous nonsense. But there are some that are not nonsense at all. I assure you that finding the true claims will outweigh all the disappointment that comes from the hoaxes.”

“But how could you possibly prove something like this?” Ashley asked. “It’s not like you can just call up the government and ask them! I mean, even if they said no – and I guess they probably would – you wouldn’t have learned anything. They’re not going to tell you the stuff they’re keeping secret.”

“Exactly! I am glad to see that you are learning to think for yourself. We cannot establish the truth by simply asking the government to tell us their secrets. This means we will need to approach this from an entirely different angle. Therefore we are going to start by taking a closer look at T. Townsend Brown.”

Max spoke up. “Why do we care about him?”

“Because he is supposedly the inventor of antigravity,” Professor Grimes explained. “The story claims that the B-2 Spirit employs antigravity technology invented by Brown. Therefore, the existence and research of Brown is of key importance. Did he really exist? Was he an inventor at all? What does history record about him, if anything?

“First of all, T. Townsend Brown was a real person. His actual name was Thomas Townsend Brown, and he was born on March 18, 1905 in Zanesville, Ohio. He died on October 22, 1985. In 1930 he joined the US Navy to conduct research in electromagnetism and gravity. He also worked for the National Defense Research Committee, the Office of Scientific Research and Development, and was a consultant for Lockheed – a rather well-known builder of top-secret military aircraft.”

Ashley spoke up. “So he was a real person, then.”

Professor Grimes nodded. “Oh yes, he was real. He actually was a physicist, he actually did study antigravity, and he actually was employed by the United States government to apply what he knew to their aircraft. This is not widely known but it is all true. What’s particularly relevant to this story is that in 1921 – and this is all part of the historical record – he discovered what came to be called the Biefeld-Brown effect. Basically, while searching for a link between electricity and gravity, he noticed that a heavily charged electrical capacitor moved toward its positive pole when suspended in a gravitational field. He was even able to reproduce this effect in a vacuum. I am a historian, not a physicist, but essentially he believed that he could alter the force of gravity by using heavily charged electrical fields.

“An article in the January 2000 issue of Air International, written by Bill Gunston, states that in 1953 T. Towensend Brown demonstrated his techniques to the United States Air Force, which quickly classified them. Despite the classifications, articles about Brown’s antigravity research were published in 1956 by Aviation Studies International.”

“So?” Max asked.

The professor looked up from his notes. “This is all highly significant! I am surprised you do not see that. Not only was Brown a real person, but he conducted real research into antigravity – research that attracted the attention of the government. The government actually was pouring money into antigravity systems in the 1950s, exactly as the story states, and they actually were attempting to modify the force of gravity using charged electrical fields. All of that may not be widely known, but it is documented.”

“Wait just a minute,” Max replied. “If all that’s true and they’ve been working on antigravity since the 50s, then why don’t we all have flying cars? Sure, I get that they studied it and everything, but apparently nothing came of it. There’s a conspicuous lack of antigravity stuff out there.”

Professor Grimes shook his head. “That is not quite true. This is still an area of study, and there are even a number of recent patents that incorporate Brown’s theories of electrogravity. For example, patent 5,142,861, which was filed on September first, 1992, is entitled Nonlinear Electromagnetic Propulsion System and Method. It employs the technique Brown developed to propel a vehicle by means of electrogravity. Another one is patent number 6,775,123, which was filed on August 10, 2004 under the mundane name Cylindrical Asymmetrical Capacitor Devices for Space Applications. It envisions a sort of space-based engine which works in a vacuum and propels a craft using Brown’s artificial gravity fields. Those are all very real patents.”

Max shrugged. “People patent all kinds of weird, impractical nonsense. If Brown’s theories were actually true then why don’t we see these patented antigravity-powered spaceships flying around?”

“Which brings us right back to the B-2 Spirit. It is quite well-established that T. Townsend Brown did exist and did study the relationship between electromagnetism and gravity. The public record also records that he claimed to have found a way to manipulate gravity by using electromagnetic fields, that the United States government was interested, and that papers were published in the 1950s that discussed ways to apply Brown’s electrogravity techniques to aircraft. All of that brings us back to the key question: were these techniques built into the B-2 Spirit? Also, if they really did work, why have we not seen them employed anywhere else?

“Since, as Ashley pointed out, we cannot simply call up the government and ask them these questions, we will have to do the best we can with the information that we have. A good starting point is to take a look at the B-2 Spirit itself. It has several unusual features, quite aside from its remarkable stealth abilities. First of all, unlike other military aircraft, the B-2 does not leave a contrail. Contrails are trails of water vapor that are created by the combustion of jet fuel in the aircraft’s jets. Ordinarily they are harmless, but they become a serious problem once you realize that they are easy to spot on radar. If your rather slow-moving stealth aircraft leaves a contrail then it is not stealthy at all – an enemy could simply spot the contrail and then use that to figure out exactly where your plane is. It is really quite astonishing that the B-2 leaves no contrail. The military has been asked to explain this and in return has given a conflicting series of absurd lies.”

Max spoke up. “So they’re basically just not telling.”

“Quite so. That is, of course, understandable. The ability to create a jet-powered aircraft that leaves no contrail is a remarkable achievement, and I am sure they want to keep that knowledge to themselves. I completely understand that. Still, this is highly relevant. An antigravity aircraft would not leave a contrail because it isn’t powered by jets at all, and that is precisely what we see in the B-2. This is not conclusive, of course, but it is interesting that the B-2 has one of the unique characteristics of actual antigravity aircraft.

“Another odd thing about the B-2 is its astonishingly low thrust-to-weight ratio. The loaded weight of a B-2 is 336,500 pounds, but its four engines only produced a combined thrust of 69,200 lbf – meaning its thrust-to-weight ratio is a measly 0.205. By comparison, the thrust-to-weight ratio for the F-16 is 1.095, for the F-22 is 1.09, and for the F-35 is 0.87. Admittedly those aircraft are all fighters, not bombers, but even among modern bombers 0.205 is shockingly low. Compared to the mass of the aircraft, the B-2’s engines provide a pitiful amount of thrust.

“All of that, in itself, does not mean a great deal. Perhaps an engineer found a clever way of masking the B-2’s contrail, or even preventing it from forming one altogether. Perhaps a ratio of 0.205 was considered quite acceptable given the mission of the plane. After all, it is a stealth aircraft. If no one can see it then perhaps matters of thrust simply aren’t that important.”

“Totally right,” Max agreed.

“But what is quite striking is that the March 1992 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology revealed that the B-2’s leading edge was charged to many millions of volts, and its jet engines blew out a corresponding negative charge. This, also, is apparently not disputed. Eyewitnesses have actually seen a bright violet glow around the aircraft, indicating the presence of a high-voltage corona. What this means is that, as the quote I read at the beginning of class claimed, the B-2 appears to have been designed with Brown’s theories in mind. It does seem that someone figured out how to put his theories into practice, and did so in the B-2.

“If that was the case, it would explain quite a lot. It would explain why the B-2 leaves no contrail – contrails are the product of jet fuel combustion, and an electrogravity field would leave no such trail. The B-2’s engines can operate as normal turbofans, but they can also switch modes and become flame-jet generators, pumping out gas that is charged to millions of volts negative. If the B-2 is an antigravity craft then that ability would be extremely important. It would also explain why the aircraft’s thrust-to-weight ratio is so astonishingly low; the real thrust comes not from the engines but from the antigravity effect. Finally, it would explain why they bother to electrically charge the edge and exhaust of the aircraft.”

Max spoke up. “That still seems a bit far-fetched. If the B-2 had an antigravity switch inside, don’t you think that someone would have leaked that by now? That’s the sort of thing that would be hard to keep secret.”

“Perhaps,” Professor Grimes said. “But keep in mind that governments can keep secrets. During World War II the government built a massive city in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and tasked them with designing and building an atomic bomb. The secrecy around the project was so tight that even the Vice President was unaware of what was going on. An entire city managed to keep a secret! Besides, keep in mind the basic premise that we are dealing with here. If you go up to someone and tell them that the B-2 Spirit is an antigravity aircraft they will laugh at you. Antigravity is seen as so far-fetched that the entire concept is laughable. Why bother to leak something if no one will believe you anyway?

“But there is something else to think about. It is entirely possible that the antigravity abilities of the aircraft are entirely passive – that is, it is something the aircraft does without the pilot even knowing about it. From the pilot’s perspective he may just power up the plane and take to the skies, and the aircraft itself does the rest. Just because the design of the plane incorporates antigravity elements does not mean that the pilot knows this. Knowing how to fly a plane and knowing how the plane flies are two entirely different things – after all, just because you can drive a car does not mean you understand how its engine works.

“There is even a precedent for this exact situation. During World War II the North American P-15 Mustang fighter demonstrated truly outstanding performance. When people asked about this they were told that it was due to ‘laminar flow’ wing technology. Many years later the truth was revealed: the Mustang’s under-fuselage duct was shaped internally in such a way that the radiator’s heat was converted into a low-temperature ramjet. This information was kept classified, and not even the mechanics who worked on the planes (much less the pilots!) realized what was actually going on. Everyone was fed a believable lie, and only the engineer who built it knew the truth.”

Ashley spoke up. “So you’re saying that this one is real? The B-2 is a real antigravity aircraft?”

Professor Grimes paused a moment before replying. “I am saying that it may well be true. In a situation like this it is impossible to arrive at a definitive answer, because the only people who know the truth have a tremendous incentive to lie about it. At the very least I think it is possible to make a plausible case for it. This legend is tremendously more plausible than, say, the idea that space aliens built the pyramids. If it is a hoax it is really a remarkably good one.”

Max spoke up. “But that still doesn’t make sense. Look – suppose that you’re right. Why does this amazing antigravity magic only exist in the B-2? Why hasn’t antigravity taken the rest of the world by a storm? Am I supposed to believe that in the past 50 years no one else has ever thought of this?”

The professor shook his head. “Not at all. I think there may be a simple answer for this. Did you know that the B-2 cannot fly in the rain?”

“What?” Lora asked. “Seriously?”

“Oh yes – it’s quite true! This was first reported in the New York Times on August 23, 1997. Rain gives the B-2 Spirit serious problems. Supposedly it leads to the ‘deterioration of the aircraft’, but you can be sure that the Air Force is not going to reveal the whole story. If you think about it, this story is a huge red flag that something very strange is going on. After all, rain is not a new phenomenon. The field of aviation is a century old, and rain has not caused any aircraft serious problems for a very, very long time. The idea that a mundane thing like rain can jeopardize the integrity of a billion-dollar high-performance space-age aircraft is so ludicrous that it is hard to fathom. How could rain possibly make the slightest bit of difference? I am sure that the engineers who designed the B-2 were not dummies. Yet we are told that rain can ruin one of the most advanced aircraft ever built. That is truly remarkable!

“If the B-2 is merely a normal airplane then this fact is completely incomprehensible. It makes no sense at all. Are we to believe that its engineers forgot that their plane might get wet? But if the plane has an antigravity component then it’s quite different. Brown’s electrogravity theories relied on manipulating gravity by the use of electromagnetic fields. It may be that introducing rain or humidity does something to compromise or interfere with either the effect, or with the fields themselves. This may have been entirely unforeseen – a bizarre problem that happened because they were using rather exotic technology. I find that much more believable than the idea that the B-2 is a normal plane that has an allergy to water.

“You see, we naturally assume that when antigravity finally appears it will be infinitely better than conventional jets. It may be that it is not nearly as good as conventional aircraft propulsion, and the only reason it was incorporated into the B-2 was because conventional propulsion was just not stealthy enough. If antigravity has some serious drawbacks and only works under tightly controlled conditions then it may be almost useless. Suppose that Boeing researched electrogravity and found out that it was real, but it stopped working in the rain and cost a billion dollars per plane. Would it really be that surprising if they dropped the project and went back to their jets? After all, what airline wants to be saddled with ridiculously overpriced planes that only work in the desert? It may be that those who have looked into this have discovered the technology’s drawbacks and have moved to more practical solutions.”

Max spoke up. “So you’re saying that antigravity technology might exist, but if it does it’s probably terrible.”

“That would be my guess,” Professor Grimes agreed. “The rumor that the B-2 Spirit incorporates antigravity may well be true. As implausible as it sounds, the theory does have a basis in reality, and there are enough oddities about the plane itself to make a person wonder. If the rumor is true then that would strongly imply that antigravity is not nearly as good as science fiction reports. It is simply another technique that, while amazing, is simply not practical.”

“Wow,” Ashley said. “I thought for sure you were going to disprove it.”

“As I said, follow the evidence! Sometimes it may surprise you. Incidentally, speaking of evidence, be sure to read the next chapter in your books before our next class. You are dismissed!”