HONDA - STEALTH
Bill Bennett, ASC was the Cinematographer for this commercial. Brent Thomas of Coppos Films was the Director. The spot gained a lot of notoriety, because when it was released, the B-2 Stealth Bomber was rumored to exist, but was still top secret. It was said that the Air Force, and some in the Federal Government, were quite surprised how accurately our almost full size aircraft portrayed the real thing. John Ward, who designed and built the prop, made an intelligent guess that Northrop, the maker of the B-2, would not entirely abandon the design of the much earlier flying wing they also created in the mid- to late 1940's called the YB-35 and later the jet powered YB-49. As it turned out, he was right. The B-2 used the same plan form, wing span, wing leading edge angle, as the earlier aircraft.
Director: BRENT THOMAS
The other clues came from an artist's conception sketch that the Air Force had released about month earlier, that showed the design of the sawtooth trailing edge, cockpit shape, and the shape of the engine intakes. It was said that when the commercial first aired, the phones rang off the hook at USAF headquarters, with everyone wanting to know how some foreign car company knew so much about the design of the still-secret B-2. The spot was shot on an abandoned 10,000 foot runway out in the middle of the Florida Everglades, half way between Miami and Tampa. It was intended to be an international airport serving both cities, but was cancelled after one runway was constructed. It's perfect because there are no buildings there at all, giving clear horizons in every direction. We were shooting during the monsoon season, yielding fantastic clouds and sun light between them, interspersed with torrential downpours.