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Description
| Notes: Improved B-lA with increased weight and better automatic TERRAIN-FOLLOWING capability. | ||
| Manufacturer: | North American (Rockwell) | |
| Base model: | B-1 | |
| Designation: | B-1 | |
| Version: | B | |
| Nickname: | LANCER | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Tri-Service | |
| Designation Period: | 1962-Present | |
| Basic role: | Bomber | |
Specifications
Propulsion
Performance
Recent comments by our visitors
| W Saunders , MN | I remember the first windshield replacement at Ellsworth...bird strike. Plane was in the hangar for almost 2 weeks. Shortly after it was pushed out, an AIC, thankfully not me, took a B-5 stand up to clean the glass. Once his weight was on the stand, it sagged a little, right into the windshield and totally shattered the glass! From what I heard, he was white as a sheet! 01/20/2008 @ 04:18 [ref: 19369] |
| 4056 & 5073 , IL | I was a B-1 crew chief at Dyess from 86-93 and probably worked on every airframe as soon as it came from Palmdale. Some planes were just built better than others 4054 was a maintenance nightmare 6132 and 5073 were just good airplanes. And for those who say a B-1 was a nightmare to work on, believe me, the B-52 had its issues too. In most ways, the B-1 was a zillion times easier to preflight than the buff. And I did manage to pull alert a few times on a B-1 (and a B-52) before peace broke out and we stood down. The B-1 was 100000x easier on alert, trust me. Compare weapons uploading on a B-1 compared to buff. So much faster.
Now that being siad, the B-1 had some real nasty streaks. Windshields, vreacked backbones, fuel leaks---the list goes on. 12/22/2007 @ 12:20 [ref: 19009] |
| Zman 07 , RI | Can anybody tell me if the B-1 on display at Ellsworth is B1B ship #1? I was Test Director on that bird for Rockwell from 1985 through it's delivery around 1988. By the time we delivered it to the AF after its test program was complete, it was one beat up airplane! We literally beat it to crap with flutter vanes and other diabolical tests (it's nickname was "Leaker of the Fleet"). I was sorry to see it go. It's amazing how attached you get to inanimate objects (and friendships to the AF and Rockwell workers that made the program work). 05/01/2007 @ 09:56 [ref: 16364] |
| Josh Ellsworth AFB, SD | I'm an egress systems mechanic on the B-1B at Ellsworth. From what I've seen Dyess's jets are less reliable than Ellsworth's for some reason. Yes we occasionally run into some launches where the spare of the spare needs to be used to get a jet off of the ground. This deployment I'm on right now we've made all of our sorties so far in a harsh, hot, desert environment. The B-1B is an impressive jet. Makes lots of noise and drops lots of bombs! 04/22/2007 @ 11:49 [ref: 16276] |
| Lancer Inspector Palmdale, CA | As a former test and check out inspector I got to see a lot of this aircraft in all phases of it's construction and testing. As with any aircraft it had and may still have it's bugs, However, given the complexity of it as a system to deliver ordnance to a given target and return it is an engineering marvel. The combination of multiple operating systems into one single funtioning system can only be appreciated when one knows more than one aspect of maintaining such a machine.
There were times when I had the opportunity to go over to the production line to assist in their inspection needs. Watching the wing swing pins being inserted was something to see. The B1-B has to be the most aesthecially appealing bomber aircraft to ever fly. 09/20/2006 @ 08:58 [ref: 14236] |
| Lancer Builder Palmdale, CA | Dang, sounds like the BONE is a lousy airplane. Maybe we should have bought Tupolev's or Dassault's? Come on, ten year crew chief, are you sure you weren't dreaming about being a crew chief on BONE's while you swept out the crappers at Dyess? The funny thing is, I'll bet you brag about working on Lancers to everyone else. "My job is a crew chief in charge of mx on one of the most impressive planes in the inventory." Wouldn't be as impressive if you worked on the 172's down at the flying club. Actually, chief, I'll bet you put all the real mx on your subord's and you sit on your sorry whinny ass in the line office drinking coffee and eating frumunda cheese and mystery meat sandwiches all afternoon until it's time to go home to Katie Couric and the news. 04/14/2006 @ 19:49 [ref: 13167] |
| Lancer Crew Chief , TX | I don't know what that guy is smoking. I have been a crew chief on B-1B's for 10 years at Dyess AFB. I will honestly say that the B-1B is the biggest piece of crap in the world as far as maintenance goes. She flys beautiful and does her airborn job wonderfuly, however, getting them off the ground is nothing short of a miracle. Parts are extremely hard to come by, the software the jet relies on and the "digital readouts" that are supposed to be so heavenly are EXTREMELY out of date. The B-1B is a complete nightmare in the maintainer world. It is pretty sad when you have to green up three jets just to try to make one combat sortie. Even with a primary and two spares, there are many times when the sortie is missed due to all three jets going tits up. The B-1 may look beautiful,extremely intimidating with a full load of 2000 pound JDAMS(500 pound conventional warfare is completely and totaly dead), and may fly beautifully, but don't let looks decieve you. It is nothing but a big hunk of CRAP!!! If I were an ememy on the ground, I would be more scared of the jet falling out of the sky on top of me rather than what lies inside her weapons bays. 04/23/2005 @ 19:15 [ref: 10022] |
| Walt Witherspoon Lancaster, CA | My mistake, B-1B ship 1 was scrapped at Ellsworth, not Elmendorf... One's in Alaska, the other is in South Dakota, both start with El, same weather... (see previous post) 08/26/2004 @ 02:16 [ref: 8153] |
| Walt Witherspoon Lancaster, CA | Usually most posters to Aerospace oriented sites show a decent level of knowledge and civility. I see by Chris's comments that there are exceptions...
B-1 has it's good spots and bad spots like pretty much anything. I worked B-1A ships 2 and 4 and B-1B ship 1 at Edwards '84 to '86. B-1B ship 1 was a wiring and structure nightmare, it sat derelict at Elmendorf for years until they scrapped it in '98 or so to open a treaty slot for a bomber that could actually fly. 08/26/2004 @ 01:57 [ref: 8152] |
| Walter Schmeck Hillsboro, OR | The B1-B is a great aircraft to work on. It is completely digital and will do some serious damage to the country side once it is completely loaded with bombs. Take it from me,(worked on the weapons system for 6 years) it is an awsome sight when all three weapons are stuffed with 500 pounders! 01/11/2003 @ 08:25 [ref: 6255] |
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