Northrop’s Tacit Blue Was Called ‘the Most Unstable Aircraft Ever Flown’ — Its 130 Flights at Area 51 Helped Create the B-2 Spirit

Northrop’s Tacit Blue Was Called ‘the Most Unstable Aircraft Ever Flown’ — Its 130 Flights at Area 51 Helped Create the B-2 Spirit

Northrop’s Tacit Blue stealth research demonstrator made its first flight from Groom Lake — better known as Area 51 — in 1982, eventually making approximately 130 test flights so classified that the U.S. Air Force did not publicly acknowledge the program’s existence until the mid-1990s. Nicknamed “the Whale” for its bulbous, ungainly appearance, the aircraft was described by one Northrop engineer as “arguably the most unstable aircraft man had e…