Rolling BONE

[The Inspector]

Boeing announced they will be transporting a decommissioned B-1 LANCER with it's wings removed, by road from Arizona to Renton for 'testing'!?! The project will move @ night so if you're buzzin' up or down I-5 don't freak out if you see a B-1 coming over the hill in front of you.

Latest weather report for Siskiyous Pass in Southern Oregon is 35f with light blowing snow and travelers are advised to 'carry chains', how long does it take to chain up a B-1?

Do you suppose it could eventually wind up @ KBFI @ the MoF?

[JohnB]

Unless it's for fatigue testing, I would have thought most B-1 stuff would be done in Wichita.
Wonder if they're planning a life extension program? By all accounts the B-1 did a lot of work in the recent conflicts.

[TAdan]

Someone on us-aircraft.com spotted it on the road. Pic here:

http://usaircraft.proboards.com/index.c ... 232&page=1

[The Inspector]

Several years ago, an F-14 was transported into KBFI in a C-5 and was placed in Boeing Avionics' anecdodic lab behind what is now the big airliner park and the Duwamish River, did the same thing with an A-6B around the same time, and Boeing originally did the Off/Def avionics suites for the BONE & at one point in testing turning one system on voided out the other
A fair amount of Phantom Works stuff 'SHHH' stuff does go on the the 4-20/4-21 Bldgs. birthplace of the B-29/50/KC 97/Strat/ 707/KC-135/E3A since it's been empty and dark for a long time.

[Ken]

By all accounts the B-1 did a lot of work in the recent conflicts.

"Is still doing". There is probably one (or more) in an orbit as you read this looking through his Sniper pod, waiting to take out another bad guy.

[mustangdriver]

The B-1 has to be one of those legacy airframes we speak of, like the C-130, and B-52.

[The Inspector]

BUMP

[johnsjunk]

Boeing announced they will be transporting a decommissioned B-1 LANCER with it's wings removed, by road from Arizona to Renton for 'testing'!?! The project will move @ night so if you're buzzin' up or down I-5 don't freak out if you see a B-1 coming over the hill in front of you.

Latest weather report for Siskiyous Pass in Southern Oregon is 35f with light blowing snow and travelers are advised to 'carry chains', how long does it take to chain up a B-1?

Do you suppose it could eventually wind up @ KBFI @ the MoF?

I saw it near Beaumont,CA.


The Bone by john's junk, on Flickr

Ooops.....

[The Inspector]

Reported this morning 11-11-11 on Seattle TV news, the B-1 has been diverted to and seems to be parked @ KPDX-any oreygonians have any info?

[spriso]

My friend called my on 11/10 saying that he had just taken these images of the B-1 at the Santiam rest stop just north of Albany, Oregon Thursday morning. Here are a few shots that he took:







Imagine seeing that in your rear view mirror-- all photos credit to Dave Jolliff.

Enjoy,

Michael

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

That is one Big A$$ed Bird !

[The Inspector]

Apparently the aircraft is going to 'hang out' in a hanger @ KPDX for several months. There is a really nice double bay one on the field that was built using City and County pension funds about 15-18 years ago for a brand new MRO that closed a few hours after it opened the first day of business (the partners apparently did a Nixon with the money and left early). Then it will move on to Renton Boeing so they must be doing a lot of work inside the plant to accommodate the airframe.

[CrewDawg]

Are they doing lawn dart testing????

Sorry I'm an old BUF guy, B-1's are for kids. When the last B-2 is flown to the boneyard the crew will be picked up and flown to their next assignment in a BUF!

B-1's sure had a rough beginning, but they have proven themselves in combat. Sittting on the ramp with no power on or anything there is 3000 psi on the hydraulic system. When parked they have tubes coming out of the outboard wings going down to buckets to catch the leaking hydraulic fluid. They also had a big button on the nose gear so that back in the nuclear alert days the crew could slap the button as they ran by. By the time they got strapped in all the pilot had to do was bring the throttles up over the gate to start the engines. Hitting the button, started the APU and got power on the ship so all the crew had to was strap in, light off the engines and roll out of the chocks. Sexy, but not as manly as cart starts on a BUF! Ahhh, the smell of sulfer in the morning!

BTW, I believe that there are still more B-52's flying than B-1's since the USAF retired half the B-1 fleet a few years ago.

[The Inspector]

Some day I'll tell you stories about working the aft fuselage to aft weapons bay aft bulkhead attach work on AV-1(we torqued the dozens of attach bolts to 1 foot ton, 2000 ft/lb with a Sweeney). About where the ropes pass by on the trailer is where the one piece, formed titanium mate close out skin is located & runs top to bottom, the first pair (left and right) were about 3/8 inch too wide for the gap, so Rockwell worked a deal with LocoWeed and we took the skins in a van down the field @ Plant 42 to use the diamond bandsaw in the Blackbird hanger, with about 25 or so of us and about 150 AP's and LocoWeed security, maneuvering the skins to cut one heavily contoured piece that was about 35 feet long and 18 inches wide was ...er....'interesting'.

[hercules130]

That is the remains of B-1B 85-0082 cn 42.