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Northrop B-2 Spirit

With the B-2 stealth bomber Northrop picked up a design style that it had left in the 1940s/1950s: the flying wing. The B-2 indeed lacks horizontal and vertical stabilisers. It has just wings and a short fuselage. These wings have a basic triangular shape, but with some cut out of the back. These cutouts are all parallel to the wing's leading edges, in order to minimise radar reflections. The air intakes and exhausts of the four engines are on top of the wings, next to the fuselage. The fuselage and air intakes are about the only curved parts of the aircraft, clearly visible when viewed from the side and front. The nose gear has two wheels and close to the tip of the nose. The main gear each has four wheels on two axes, retracted forward behin large gear doors.

From the top you can see the basic triangular shape of the wings of the B-2, but with cuts out of the trailing edge. Also note the parallel lines of all edges.

The only rounded shapes are of the fuselage, in particular the cockpit and air intakes on top. Furthermore the large main gear doors are clearly visible.

Confusion possible with

Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk

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Although much smaller than the B-2 the fighter F-117 also has a triangular silhouette when view from above of below. The F-117 has a butterfly tail, no rounded edges and an all single wheel gear.

Northrop YB-49

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After World War II Northrop experimented with flying wing aircraft, among which the YB-49. The shape of the wings is more like that of regular swept wings. In addition, the YB-49 has four vertical fins and hardly a fuselage. The jet engines are in the wings, in between the fins. (photo: USAF/WikiMedia)