B-1B Lancer

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures) 09/26/2013 at 22:30 • Filed to: planelopnik

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Fun fact I discovered. The B-1A, the original developmental version of the B-1, was designed to have a top speed of mach 2.22. The B-1 program was canceled, then restarted with the B-1B, designed to have a top speed of "only" mach 1.25. The reason for this drastically reduced top speed was a greater focus on low altitude speed, mach 0.92 (700 mph) at altitudes as low as 200 feet.

Just imagine, seeing this thing at 700 mph, 300 feet above the ground, with 75,000 pounds of bombs onboard. Terrifying.

Lets Just Drive > Dusty Ventures 09/26/2013 at 22:35

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Just because I'm a Canadian, and I can't let sleeping ghosts lie:

Mach 2.2 in the mid-80's?

The late 50's Canada would like to talk to you...

Brian, The Life of > Dusty Ventures 09/26/2013 at 22:39

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I've written about it here before, but I had that exact experience. Growing up in Lancaster, my riding buddies and I would ride out to Edwards watch them fly stuff. One day while giving our bikes a rest and eating lunch a B-1 passed on the deck directly above us, wings swept and as close to Mach as can be. I saw it coming, my friends didn't. They nearly shat themselves.

PowderHound > Lets Just Drive 09/26/2013 at 22:41

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HA!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_D…

pdthedeuce > Dusty Ventures 09/26/2013 at 22:43

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cough...cough...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_B…

Lets Just Drive > PowderHound 09/26/2013 at 22:44

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Screw!

You!

Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull > Lets Just Drive 09/26/2013 at 22:44

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There was supposed to be a mach 3/ mach 2 supercruise version of the B-58 Hustler built (already mach 2+), but it got cancelled in '61, and max speed bombing took a back seat for a while (LAME).

Dusty Ventures > Lets Just Drive 09/26/2013 at 22:46

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Actually the B-1A first flew in the early 70s, and while mach 2+ bombers already existed in the U.S, America's hat, and Russia (among other nations), it was a combination of supersonic speeds combined with a payload in excess of 100,000 lbs that made the B-1 so special.

Lets Just Drive > Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull 09/26/2013 at 22:47

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Hey!

HEY!

You can't cite a strategic decision as being the equal of the political, international back-stabbing buttfuckery that saw the Arrow fail. Why?

BECAUSE I FUCKING SAY SO.

I'm sorry, I'll calm down now.

Of the era, high-speed bombers and interceptors are some of my favorites due their immense size. Make big. Put big engine in. Go fast. Add guns. WHEEE! Win All The Wars!

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Dusty Ventures 09/26/2013 at 22:48

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The low fly is actually a tactic to use to scare the enemies into submission. 'Murica, Fuck Yeah. (Read in the Coors the banquet beer voice)

f86sabre > Dusty Ventures 09/26/2013 at 22:48

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B-1 is one of my favorites. My two stories:

I've driven a Geo Storm under the B-1A that used to be at the Air Force Museum. It was kind of parked in the parking lot and there was a dare.

One time in the mid 90s my girlfriend (now wife) and I were driving from Seattle to Mimneapolis via Yellowstone. We were headed east in Wyoming when my laser detector went off. I had never heard it go off before. Just the radar stuff had squawked previously. This was before lasers on cop cars were wide spread. I looked around and there were no cars to be seen. About 30 seconds later it squawked again and kept going. A few seconds later a B-1B passed by maybe 1/4 mile down the road from us at low level. Either we had picked up stray stuff off his ground prox gear or he targeted us. I was giddy for an hour after that.

Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull > Lets Just Drive 09/26/2013 at 22:49

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Srsly. It's what either you or I would do with big engines and airframes to put them in.

Dusty Ventures > pdthedeuce 09/26/2013 at 22:51

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"Poppa?"

Love the Hustler as well, it made the Lancer possible

Wave Motion Gun > Brian, The Life of 09/26/2013 at 22:53

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One of my favorite Edwards AFB memories was watching one of these take off and climb like mad, then heading back into the building I was working in. He apparently circled back once I was inside. As soon as I sat down, he went supersonic, and the boom sent a rain of dust down from the ceiling into my desk. I was pretty used to sonic booms at that point, but that one made me jump.

Another B-1 memory I have is from sleeping in a van while camping for an event at LVMS, which is across the street from Nellis. They were doing afterburner run ups while tied down with no hush house, and the air in the van was resonating for 30 seconds at a time for about 20 minutes. The power was amazing.

Bad ass planes, they are.

f86sabre > Lets Just Drive 09/26/2013 at 22:55

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Gentlemen. Let us not forget the ultimate in woulda, shoulda aircraft with many big engines on a huge airframe. Pour one out for the homies who didn't make it in the bomber world.

Lets Just Drive > Dusty Ventures 09/26/2013 at 22:56

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Oh, hey, don't misunderstand me here.

I'm not trying to win the argument. I'm just being a contrary Canuck eager to talk about Canada's almost-big-success in military engineering and development. Well, okay, so our Halifax frigates were top-of-the-game ASW and multi-role frigates built here, in Canadaland but honestly, Black Friday killed our aerospace industry and ruined our best chance and becoming dominant players in the sector.

And stuff!

Dusty Ventures > Lets Just Drive 09/26/2013 at 22:59

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No worries. I was just using my response as an excuse to call you guys "America's hat"

Leadbull > Wave Motion Gun 09/26/2013 at 23:02

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You WORKED at Edwards?

Sweeet

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull 09/26/2013 at 23:03

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The Soviets felt the same way. Because MiG-25.

Leadbull > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire 09/26/2013 at 23:08

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Like if the Coors guy read the Team America theme song lyrics to a patriotic slide show... I'd shed a tear.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Leadbull 09/26/2013 at 23:10

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Lets Just Drive > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom 09/26/2013 at 23:16

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In Soviet Russia, jet-fighter fight you!

Icemanmaybeirunoutofthetalents > Dusty Ventures 09/26/2013 at 23:16

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Oh Hai! Backfire says hi!

Lets Just Drive > f86sabre 09/26/2013 at 23:20

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Haha!

I believe, though I may be mistaken, that a bunch of the Canucks who went south with Black Friday worked on the project.

Lets Just Drive > Dusty Ventures 09/26/2013 at 23:21

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Yeah, I caught that and then forgot to work in "Canada's thong with Mexico the dong" which I thought was pretty clever.

Dusty Ventures > Lets Just Drive 09/26/2013 at 23:22

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If the U.S. is Canada's thong I think Canada needs a diet. That's a lot of junk in the trunk

Lets Just Drive > Dusty Ventures 09/26/2013 at 23:34

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We're just both slowly becoming Latino of Butt and Asian of Head.

Brian, The Life of > Wave Motion Gun 09/27/2013 at 00:10

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Cool! Were you in the Air Force while at Edwards or a contractor?

Wave Motion Gun > Brian, The Life of 09/27/2013 at 01:10

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Contractor. Split a lot of time between Edwards, Pax River, and Eglin working on weapons system integration on a currently produced, current generation single seat platform. It was a great time, hate the fact that I left that gig. Don't miss renewing my SSBI...

Wave Motion Gun > Leadbull 09/27/2013 at 01:21

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I was there a lot. I worked in Fort Worth.

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > Lets Just Drive 09/27/2013 at 05:10

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IIRC the B-1A dates from the early 1970s.

wkiernan > Dusty Ventures 09/27/2013 at 13:18

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Here's another fun fact about the B-1. It was originally designed for an run on the Soviet Union in the middle of a general nuclear war, and as such, it was supposed to be based in Air Force bases in the North of the mid-West. From these bases the B-1 could reach its targets without midair refueling, which might be a very tricky thing to pull off considering World War III was supposed to be going on at the moment. But the congressmen from those states voted against funding the program (knowing, as the general public did not, the the far superior B-2 was well along in development) while the congressmen from Texas, traditionally extra-alert to all opportunities for self-serving grifting, did vote for the technically-superseded bomber program, so what ended up happening was that the Air Force based the B-1 in Texas, where it couldn't reach its targets in the Soviet Union without that possibly unavailable midair refueling.