This plane has been around for a long time, but I can't recall a time that it has actually been used in combat. What gives? Anyway does anyone think, or know that it will be used in this war?


BTW,
If I'm wrong about it having not been used yet, please correct me!

Here's a page that tells you when it was first used.

[url]http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/B_1B_Lancer.html[/url]

... It was used in Iraq but around here they are thought of as "hanger queens"

Bosina was the most resent combat sorties that the B1 flew.

Whatever the case may be.. One of the most "sexy" planes out there.

They are hanger queens and were excluded from the Gulf War because of that reason.

But since we are running out of B-52's due to age and we only have 20 B-2's the 94 surviving B-1's HAVE to be MADE to work.

One of their drawbacks is that its hard to load them for conventional bombing. They can carry more iron dumb ordinance than any bomber EVER with the sole exception of the "big belly" B-52D conversions used in Vietnam. But it takes a very long time to load them manually and there are a shortage of the special machines that are supposed to load them. The loaders themselves are also not very reliable.  No part of the system has problems that cant be solved, but the B-2 program sucked up a lot of funding that could have fixed the B-1's

Would be a darn long ride any way you figure it.
[url]www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/b-1b.htm[/url]

Wow that thing holds a boatload of munitions!

From the above site:
[img]http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/b1_mk82-s.jpg[/img]

Big pic:
[url]http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/b1_mk82.jpg[/url]

[img]http://www.drublair.com/images/powersh.jpg[/img]


Got this one hanging in my living room.


Aviator  [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img]

I was at Lake Powell last month and had the pleasure of watching a B-1 fly about 100 feet above the water down a canyon that was about 3/4 mile wide 5 or 6 miles long with canyon rims about 1000 feet above the water. It was quite spectacular as it screamed by. It didn't leave any disruption on the water surface, but it was a bit higher than that foto (digitally altered I guess?). I wish I had my camera handy, but you could only hear it for about five seconds before it was on top of us.