Inside the Cockpit of Operation Midnight Hammer

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This is the geographical center of the continental United States.

It's basically in the middle of nowhere, but 330 miles east of that marker is something that you wouldn't expect.

One of the most secretive airport spaces in the world.

It's called Whiteman Air Force Base, and on June 21st, 2025, seven B-2 stealth bombers took off loaded with 420,000 pounds of advanced bunker-busting bombs and a mission.

Take out Iran's nuclear program.

That was Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan in a new special report on the remarkable team behind the V-2 bomber operation that took out Iran's nuclear facilities in a matter of hours.

The result?

The end of the war between Israel and Iran in just 37 hours.

In this episode, we talk with Olihan about her experience behind the scenes at the Whiteman Air Force Base, where the historic Operation Midnight Hammer was carried out.

I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe.

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Joining us now to discuss her new special on the B-2 bomber midnight hammer operation is Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan.

Mary Margaret, thanks for coming on.

Thanks for having me, John.

So this is really an amazing special.

I watched it.

I was like kind of jaw-dropping the whole time watching this thing.

First question, how long were you there and how often were you told you couldn't go in certain areas?

Great question.

So we were there, got there around 7 a.m.

the day that we were filming.

This is a couple of weeks ago.

And then I think we left around 2 o'clock.

So we were filming for a good six, seven hours.

And we had so much fun.

We were fangirling.

I was there with our glorious editor-in-chief, Brent Scher, and he and I were just geeking out over everything, just having a blast.

And I can share more details about that.

But, you know, we were told constantly that we couldn't be filming this, we couldn't be filming that, or, you know, this building was confidential.

And I do want to say, like, we totally respected that.

You know, we didn't want to show anything that we weren't supposed to show.

And so we were really careful to, you know, delete footage if we got something that we weren't supposed to show.

And they actually sent someone around with us, this very imposing man with a mustache, to make sure that if we filmed something we weren't supposed to get, we deleted it right away.

So they were not messing around.

So the information you can reveal, which base was this, and what details of the operation are we allowed to know about?

Yes, so we were at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, Knob Noster, Missouri.

And this is a very cool base.

I think like a lot of military bases, it's very self-sufficient and it's very focused on providing a good community for the airmen and women who are serving our country there.

So, you know, they've got a bowling alley for families, a commissary.

They have activities, entertainment, you know, all these different things to make sure this is a good community for these families and it's very self-sufficient at the end of the day.

And what we learned was we got to go to the hangars where the B-2s are housed, and it was such a surreal feeling, John, to drive out there and to see this massive stretch,

you know, a massive confidential facility, and all these hangars full of some of the most elite planes in the world.

And these were the B-2 stealth bombers, the planes that flew to Iran and bombed these nuclear facilities.

So I was, I had chills standing there.

We got to to see some of them roll out and

drive around the hangar.

We also got to see a bunch of other military planes moving around, flying, taking off, some of these pilots walking around.

And then we got to interview some of these military leaders, a colonel, a commander, and the whole thing was so cool.

It felt like being on the set of Captain America or something like that.

It really is.

Honestly, it's very cinematic.

You look at it.

B-2 bombers to me are incredible.

I can't believe they actually exist.

Oh, I know.

You got to go inside of one.

You got to see some parts that were actually, you weren't allowed to show on camera.

Can you speak to some of that, like what you had access to in terms of the B-2 bombers?

Yes, absolutely.

So when we were there, we were told that I could go across certain red line to look at the B-2 bombers and things like that, but our cameras had to stay on the other side of this red line.

And this was a big deal because they did not want us filming the belly of the plane, the top of the plane, the back of the plane, because then our adversaries would have access to information that they might not have already and that they might not be supposed to have.

So we were very careful about what we showed on camera, but I was able to climb up in there.

You can see that in the video.

That was so cool.

Literally got to look around, sit in the seat, where they can sleep if they need to.

I even got to see the buttons that they press where they can manually release the bombs, the buttons for the nukes, which is pretty freaking cool.

And then just walking around the base and being able to see how they load the bombs onto these planes.

And keep in mind, these are 30,000 bombs, and they bring two of them

on these missions to drop on Iran's nuclear facilities.

So that was very cool to see those bombs, to see how they put that in practice, to meet some of the people who were involved with making sure that mission went so well.

And about the mission, like you said, there's places to sleep in these planes, partly because, I mean, this is a super long mission in terms of the total flight.

What are the details on that?

How long were they in the air?

Yeah, so we titled this video, How to Win a War in 37 Hours, because that's how long it took.

It was a 37-hour mission.

And these guys were up there for a really long time.

And one of the coolest things about our video, I think, is the way our production team made these graphics to show you just how much gasoline is involved in flying these planes.

So while they're up there, they're flying so far that they need to refuel six times on this mission.

And when I first heard that, I thought that, you know, oh, they got to refuel six times.

It didn't seem like that big of a deal deal to me until Brent and I, my boss, got in the simulator and we realized just how hard this is.

Because what that means is you're flying this massive, very, very, very expensive plane that's got two massive bombs on it.

And your wings of your plane are full of fuel.

because they can hold a ton of fuel and that's a really cool mechanism they have.

But when you run out of fuel, you need to refuel in the air, obviously.

And that requires another plane to come above you and to send down like this big arm,

a gas protractor type arm that will attach to your plane and then help you to gas up mid-air.

And it's incredibly hard to do.

We got to simulate this in the B-2 simulator, which I'm told is very, very similar to the real thing.

It's so hard we couldn't do it.

We struggled and we tried several times, but you know, one wrong move and you're far away and you're no longer up close to the other plane.

And, you know, in a real situation, that could be very dangerous.

And that's what Colonel Kennish told me when I was asking him, is this a dangerous situation?

And he told me, and anything could go wrong at any time.

It's always easy for things to go wrong.

But, I mean, we train to that.

I mean, that's what we do.

Over and over, repetition, simulators,

training hours, and everything else.

So, yes, these guys have to be very skilled, very careful, and it just gave me so much more admiration for what they're doing because it looks so seamless when you see videos or when you hear about it, but in practice, practice, incredibly hard.

You mentioned that you spoke to a number of people involved in the mission.

What about the sense of anticipation, fear even that something would go wrong in this operation?

What did they tell you about that whole sequence of events for them

waiting to find out whether or not this succeeded?

No, I mean, that was my first thought, John, because you're on this base and you're imagining the planes taking off.

You know, we've all seen it in the movies when, let's say, Top Gun Maverick, when they're leaving and everyone's scared and worried.

So I asked the commander we were talking to,

his name is Colonel Whittla, and I said, were you anxious when they left?

And were they anxious when they left?

And

he was very polite.

You know,

he's a very military man, and he kept his cool, but he did say that he was very seriously invested in their return and how this mission went.

He said that his pilots didn't seem nervous.

They seemed very excited.

And he said said it was a huge relief and very emotional when they returned.

I would say the biggest moment for me ever as a commander, and really the biggest moment of my career, was when I knew they were safe.

When I knew they were in safe airspace and they had accomplished the mission, that's when the emotions really started to flow, to be honest.

He said that, you know, their families are used to them going out and doing missions.

They don't know where they're going necessarily, especially on a mission like this, which is top secret, confidential.

The pilots didn't really even know what they were doing until they were trying to

or they didn't know the nature of the details of what they were doing.

Of course, they knew how to conduct themselves in this operation, but their families were used to them, you know, leaving for a night or having to go on this mission or that mission.

So, when they left for this one, according to Whittala, the families thought, oh, okay, you know, dad or mom is off on their mission.

And then they heard the reports on television of what was going on, and they put two and two together, and they all drove to the base.

And they were there when their family members flew back in.

And Whittala told us that they did a flyover of the the family, so they got to see their loved ones looking really cool up there.

And then, you know, of course, they landed and were reunited and

appreciated as the heroes that they are.

So I thought that was very, very beautiful.

And he seemed very proud.

So the whole thing was very inspiring.

You know, these are amazing men and women.

You know, not just the pilots, but the crews, the commanders, the colonels, all these people that were so involved in this mission.

And it was a mission that was being planned for a long time before this even took place you know these these bombs were created specifically for this mission to to bomb iran's nuclear sites so uh it's been in in in practice for a long time they've been preparing and i think it was very fulfilling for them all to see this through and that's what they told us the degree of orchestration really comes through in the special you produced i mean it's it's really remarkable and to see the bunker buster bombs the 30 000 pound bombs like you said I can't believe you can actually put those on a plane and the plane can fly.

And then you can drop them into these tiny spaces and all of them hit.

Final question.

What was your biggest takeaway from this trip there and what you learned being on the ground at the base?

Well, I think, John, it was really inspiring to see these men and women who are devoting their lives to the service of our country.

And, you know, there's been a lot of anxiety and stress and sadness around our military for a while, concerns about whether we're ready, whether we're prepared.

And what we saw on this base was men and women who are not just inspired and ready to go, but they're so excited to serve their country.

And they've got some pep in their step, and they seem really fulfilled by the work that they're doing.

And to me, that was inspiring to see that and to know that we are guarded and protected by really fearless men and women who are willing to risk everything to protect us.

And it was a great reminder.

It was very thrilling to be there.

And I'd love to do more work like this because these are the best that our country has to offer.

And it was very fun to meet them and to get to run around their playground.

Mary Margaret, thank you so much.

Thank you, John.

That was Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Oliham.

And the following are some excerpts from her new special, How to Win a War in 37 Hours.

A short time ago, the U.S.

military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime.

Very close to Broving.

Seven B-2 stealth bombers took off loaded with 420,000 pounds of advanced bunker busting bombs and emission.

But how did they pull this off?