The B-1B Lancer's U.S. Air Force career may be heading toward its conclusion, but the service is in the process of returning to service one of the aircraft it previously decommissioned. The swing-wing jet, nicknamed Lancelot, will replace another aircraft that was written off after a catastrophic engine fire during routine maintenance at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, in 2022, an incident you can read all about here.
The Air Force recently confirmed that B-1B Lancelot, which has the serial number 85-0081, has arrived at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, where it will undergo the regeneration process before rejoining the Air Force fleet.
Originally built as the 41st production Lancer, part of the Lot 4 production batch, 85-0081 was previously nicknamed Equalizer and Aftershock, and was involved in a nose gear collapse at Diego Garcia in December 2004. This caused the B-1 fleet to be grounded pending inspection of the nose landing gear.
After returning to service and spending years flying around the globe, the aircraft was delivered to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, for long-term storage in March 2021. Lancelot had been decommissioned as part of the divestiture of 17 B-1s, in line with a February 2020 Air Force decision to cut down the then 62-strong Lancer fleet.
Need to bring them ALL back from the boneyard. Very high order probability we're going to need them all.....soon.
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DeleteSadly the best satire....like your statement....is always grounded in reality.
DeleteWAR
ReplyDeleteBack when the GA Air Guard had the B1-B I was in the process of applying for a pilot/navigator slot when the bomber mission was pulled from the 116th Wing and replaced with the E-8C Joint STARS that had a third less pilot position slots. That ended my chance to be an AF pilot. Up until that I had a good chance of being a military pilot as I had a private pilot's with instrument rating on a single engine.
ReplyDeleteSounds like "routine maintenance" is pretty hazardous.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you want to bet that flight from Davis Monthan to Tinker was exiting?
ReplyDeleteSo the military no longer requires a GED or high school diploma in order to enlist, retirees can be called back to active duty and now they're recommissioning old aircraft into service.
ReplyDeleteOnly means one thing.
War on the American people.
DeleteLove it.
ReplyDeleteYet the B-52 is still active. (and it's one mean looking plane)
ReplyDelete