By Phil Rowe
The Standardization Board (Standboard or StanEval), in the Strategic Air Command (SAC) of old, was the Wing Commander’s quality control team. It was comprised of selected, usually senior, flight crews who were tasked to ensure that all other crews were combat ready and could demonstrate compliance with the myriad regulations and procedures to guarantee that the bombardment wing, tanker squadron or other flight activities were up to snuff.
From the time a fledgling aircrew joined a SAC unit they were subjected to a constant stream of training, testing and readiness evaluations. Standarization was the name of the game in SAC, from the early days to the command’s final dissolution. That’s one reason why so many officers and enlisted personnel either loved or despised being associated with the Air Force’s premier organization during the decandes of the Cold War.
There were a number of wickets that aircrews (and ICBM missile crews) had to go through to rise up from lowly non-combat-ready neophytes to achieve combat ready status (or higher). A B-52 flight crew, for example, began the process by attending various academic courses in their job specialties. Navigators and radar bombardiers would typically attend classes on the new equipment they would have to master in the new bomber. Electronic warfare operators and tail gunners ( in early versions of the
B-52) similarly took specialized classes to learn about the equipment they would use. Pilots and co-pilots attended classes on the new aircraft’s systems, like the engines, fuel system, hydraulics, electrical and so forth. Eventually the whole crew would attend even more classes together, to learn how to make all the skills and equipment function as an integrated weapons system.
They trained, individually and as a team, in a variety of simulators. Some simulators were very realistic, enabling the crewmen to learn how to fly and manage their new aircraft, even before getting their first flight. Emergency procedures were taught, practiced and repeatedly drilled. By the time that the student crew actually got to fly their first actual training mission, they were well schooled and tested by instructors. Much of the training had been intense and surprisingly realistic.
A number of flight missions and even more ground school were required before the crew was allowed to solo. A set of specific inflight training steps and requirements were necessary before the student crew could be evaluated and designated as combat ready.
The instructors worked hard to get their students ready for the major hurdle of passing the Standboard’s rigorous evaluation. When that time came, the student crew ‘flew’ one or more additional simulator flights under the watchful and unforgiving eyes of the Standboard crew. Then they planned and flew one or more actual flights, with the evaluators from Standboard going along. Nervous student crewmembers often watched carefully as their respective evaluators watched, took notes and recorded every detail of the evaluee’s performance. The pressure was intense, for the consequences of failure could be harsh.
When the evaluation process was finally completed, the Standboard crewmen conducted a formal and very detailed analysis of the evaluee’s perfomance. A permanent written record was prepared. If the crew passed very little was done, except for a formal critique. This was pretty much a case of no news being good news. But if the crew, as a whole or just individual members, failed the Standboard’s assessment, several options might exist.
Depending on what the failure was, its seriousness and likelihood of simple correction by the evaluees, more training might be recommended to the Wing Commander (and in turn the crew’s Squadron Commander). If the failure was due to a serious safety of flight violation, harsher measures might be taken, even to permanently grounding the crew or particular individuals. That was rare, though not without precedent.
The crew that passed their first comprehensive Standboard evaluation would be ready to be designated Combat Ready, their crew designation on rosters and other lists upgraded from NR to R status. That was a major milestone in the life of a SAC flight crew, bomber or tanker.
But the crew was not out of the woods yet. They still had to study, be tested and achieve certification on their assigned war mission. Each combat ready bomber crew had to master the details of their assigned war mission, its targets, nuclear weapons, enroute procedures, and especially the Positive Control procedures by which unauthorized going off to war was scrupulously regulated. The only acceptable passing score on those procedures was 100%, for each and every crewmember. SAC was a real stickler about that, and for good reason.
Was the crew out of the woods now, as it pertained to the Standboard evaluators? No, not at all. Crew was still subject to annual testing and flight checks by the Standboard crewmembers working for the Wing Commander.
Were Standboard crewmembers exempt from evaluations themselves, in their lofty position as the Wing Commander’s quality control evaluators? Nope. They too had to endure the same kind of rigorous evaluations that all other crews did. They further had to endure evaluations by super-Standboard crews from a higher headquarters group known as the CEG (combat evaluation group). At SAC headquarters level there was a small team of the top expert crewmembers for each type of aircraft use throughout the command.
So? Was that it? Were crewmembers that managed to pass their Standboard checks or even CEG checks able to relax and enjoy life? I’m afraid not. There was still the rigorous scrutiny of the Inspector General (IG) and the unit wide evaluations that annually came along. One was the infamous ORI, operational readiness inspection, which tested the whole Bomb Wing’s performance. No screw ups were allowed there either. And added to that was an evaluation exercise known as the "Bar None", a truly thorough test for all flight and ground crewmen, as well as staff members.
Standboard was probably the least of the typical flight crew's concerns.