Very good point about the flight profile, and I had thought of that. A moth flaps its wings so rapidly, I'm not sure what the flight profile might look like. Obviously forewings will be extended forward.

Forewings are curved sharply, not actually present in B2, but this is a stealth characteristic used on other surfaces of stealth plane. Points on trailing edge of forewing, these might help shed vortices (vortexes?). Those are noisy. (On the B2, I think they shield the exhaust from sensors below, but they may have aerodynamic features too.) Idle speculation.

The more I think about this, the more I wonder if there might not be something to this idea. There is some precedent--during World War II, (I think) biologists studying bat echolocation independently discovered some tricks (rapid frequency shifts, etc.) that were then-classified techniques being developed for radar. We know there is lots of "arms race" between bats and moths, with moths developing ears, evasive tactics, and auditory warnings that they taste bad. Surely there must be some selection pressure for moths with a low echolocation cross section.

Ah, when I get an hour or so for idle speculation, I'll try a lit. search. Surely somebody has thought of this before. Steve Hall (MothMan) might have some ideas, too.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina