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B-1B Lancers Look Deadly Even When Going to the Super Bowl to Join Bomber Trifecta

Super Bowl LV was 2020’s confrontation between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a game won by the latter team in a decisive fashion. It was the least-attended Super Bowl in history, with the health crisis capping the number of spectators to just 25,000 – in a stadium that has a capacity of close to 66,000.
B-1B Lancers en route to Super Bowl LV flyover 13 photos
Photo: USAF/Senior Airman Ryan Grossklag
B-1B Lancers en route to Super Bowl LV flyoverB-1B Lancer landing at Naval Support Facility Diego GarciaB-1B Lancer over the Persian GulfB-1B Lancer taking off from UK baseB-1B LancerB-1B LancerB-1B LancerB-1B LancerB-1B LancerB-1B LancerB-1B LancerB-1B Lancer at Edwards Air Force Base
Despite the low number of people allowed to attend, the Super Bowl, as usual, was a spectacle to watch, not only on the field, but also in the sky, where the U.S. Air Force put on a mammoth show, with all the most impressive Bees presently in service going for a flyover of the Raymond James Stadium.

The Bees, or the Bomber Trifecta as the military calls these beasts, are the B-1B Lancer, B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress, all of them present in the skies over Tampa, Florida, in February last year, for the first time ever at a sporting event. And even if they were there to be part of the show, none of them were capable of looking other than deadly, as clearly illustrated by the main photo of this piece.

It was taken back in February last year and published recently by the USAF as part of its Year in Photos album. It shows two B-1B Lancers deployed with the Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, on their way to join the Spirit and Stratofortress for the flyover.

The aerial display did not involve only these planes flying over the stadium. Because South Dakota is not exactly next door to Florida, the USAF had to deploy the 91st Air Refueling Squadron to keep them flying to their target and back.

This year’s Super Bowl LVI is scheduled for February 13 at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The game will see Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. perform on the field, and probably the USAF will be in the sky once more, even if at the time of writing we don’t know what planes will be used.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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