Great Planes Rockwell B 1B Lancer

This is Rockwell's B-1 bomber. It is one of four prototypes ever produced. If it had been accepted by the United States Air Force, it would have been the fastest and highest flying bomber ever to enter service. The paradox is that the aircraft that finally saw service although it looked almost identical it flew at half the speed of the b1 but was much more effective in many ways development of the b1 development parallel to the first strategic bomber the b-17 in the sense that the b-17 It also had to deal with a series of problems. The history of the B-17 began when the Army Air Corps circulated a specification for a multi-engine bomber.

They probably just expected manufacturers to respond with a twin-engine design, but the Boeing Company, displaying characteristic foresight, offered a four-engine plane as advanced as Boeing's Model 299, as the prototype was known, could have been. was very well received, an accidental crash in early testing and the belief in some quarters that large engine aircraft would be too difficult to fly in combat. It cost Boeing the initial order, and yet certain factions in the Air Corps encouraged Boeing to continue development of what for its time was a massive aircraft using much of its own money and fighting government cuts.

The company continued to develop but ultimately was to be one of the largest. will des vents aircraft justify this decision, the rise of the Axis powers caused the Roosevelt administration to reconsider its attitude toward long-range aerial bombardment, a role in which the B-17 would excel, but the first Flying Fortresses to enter in action there were 20 examples. Sent to Britain's Royal Air Force for both evaluation and strategic bombing, the British exercise could never be considered a

great

success, although it was welcomed by a nation short of weapons, the high-flying, long-range B-17s. which the British called a fortress. have a short, bumpy career flying at 30,000 feet.

RAF crews hoped to evade the German fighters, but the high altitude did not deter the Germans and the limited defensive firepower of the B-17s proved inadequate against the Luftwaffe and the RAF's results defeated Boeing. The designers went back to the drawing board for the plane to survive, it would have to be substantially rethought. More armor would have to be added, which could reduce the plane's bomber, with a wartime effort underway. Women joined the workforce and production of the B-17. The plane that at one time no one wanted was considered a strategic priority. Another major modification to the second-generation Flying Fortress was the completely redesigned tail fin that fixed the stability issues of the initial assignment, but the most important improvement was defensive firepower.

The rear fuselage revised now. bristling with gun positions, some in the form of electric turrets, an effective and difficult-to-operate jumper was a challenge to the courage of any governor. The B-17 bombing raids over Europe would continue to suffer heavy losses; It was just the latest edition of the escort fighter that radically toned down even without its additional weapons positions. Flying Fortresses would have been an easy choice for the Luftwaffe despite the high cost and lives; There is little doubt that the theory of strategic bombing was well tested, disrupting German industry and slowing down the Nazi war machine was an effective and very expensive way of waging war throughout the conflict.

Germany never had a four-engine equivalent to the B-17, but its scientists did produce a novel and potentially very effective weapon that risked very few German lives and caused considerable panic among its opponents. Powered by an air-breathing pulse jet engine, the v1 was The precursor of a new generation of weapons, its main achievement was to cause blind panic among the civilian population because with limited guidance it was not possible to aim accurately despite being a very intelligent weapon. The v1 could be shot down by ground fire and by fighter jets. rapid flight, but there was no defense for Hitler's second weapon of revenge, the v2 ballistic missile, a brilliant and sinister product of Brown's loving team that took the technique of aerial bombardment to a whole new level. one unforeseen by any of the allies, meanwhile American scientists had developed the automated fire control system and were working to perfect the pressurized fuselage that allowed high-flying bomber crews to operate without the restrictions of earlier aircraft such as the B-17.

His philosophy was to perfect the existing ones. Technology that could quickly be mass produced These innovations along with many others were combined magnificently in the B-29. This was the last development of the conventional piston-engine bomber that utilized America's enormous production capacity, but the B-29s were never used in Europe, their primary target. When Japan was in the Pacific Theater, automated artillery proved to be a noticeably better defense for aircrews than anything that had been available to the B-17, but the B-29 was a conventional weapon in accordance with American philosophy. to perfect what was known to exist.

One notable exception: the atomic bomb, the ultimate high-tech weapon of World War II. Only one B-29 was needed to carry such a weapon and change the course of history. Humanity had lost its innocence given the enormous destructive power demonstrated throughout the war by heavy vehicles. Allied bombers culminated in the astonishing destruction of atomic explosions. There is no doubt that by the end of the war the long-range heavy bomber had become the most important weapon of the time or at least the means of delivering it. However, there was also

great

interest. In German weapons captured and sent back to the United States, two in particular were tested by American scientists, although their limited range suggested that their usefulness might not be very great, but a more serious challenge to the German bomber's dominance was also emerging. long range even though As early as 1946, the proposed Snark ICBM offered an extremely useful range of over 5,000 miles, although it did not become operational until the early 1950s.

This extensive reworking of the v1 concept was to be a great success, but The delivery of atomic weapons in the late 1940s was exclusively assigned to the traditional long-range heavy bomber and the B-36 assumed the role of the first truly intercontinental bomber, it would protect its enormous mass by using a large number of weapons positions. to defend what some considered to be the defense they sometimes referred to. Like the big stick or the peacekeeper, the B-36 used a combination of piston and jet power to extend the reach of American strategic air commands to any potential target in 1947.

The v2 rockets originally built in the penitentiary under Germany were improved with a second state made in the United States. providing a range that made the Air Force very interested, interest was increased by the belligerent acts of the Soviets in Berlin and Czechoslovakia the following year The Soviet Union, an American World War II ally, caused additional concern when in 1949 demonstrated its own ability to detonate a nuclear device, starting one of the deadliest races in history in the early 1950s. Conventional aircraft, now swept-winged and fully jet-powered, were still considered the most more reliable nuclear vectors and therefore the best deterrent against what was rapidly emerging as the Soviet threat: a clear cooling of relations between the two superpowers was further accentuated by the conflict in Korea; the stage was set for a cold war with nuclear sabers clanging on both sides;

Crucial to this risky game was the best means of achieving this and, to the extent possible, Conventional aircraft were concerned that the US Air Force had no better vehicle than the first all-jet intercontinental bomber. The famous Boeing B-52. The B-52's already considerable range was enhanced by huge auxiliary fuel tanks that could be jettisoned after use, giving the aircraft maximum improved aerodynamics the best means of delivering atomic weapons the B-52 was also the logical option, if not the only one, for the scientific development of the new and even more lethal hydrogen bomb here, at a high security base in the Pacific, technicians install a new next generation nuclear device similar in size to the bomb nuclear bomb that devastated Hiroshima but more than 100 times more powerful.

Russia gave a big boost to American defense since the beginning of the Cold War. American research had been inspired by the achievements of Peenemünde and... At White Sands they used the country's largest financial commitment to a single defense system and developed the first arsenal of truly intercontinental ballistic missiles with the urgency of a war of threats and technology. America's talent for mass production was said to be at work in a defense system that eclipsed the manned bomber program from this stage when ICBMs became the primary means of achieving America's nuclear deterrent. They faced an equal, if not greater, number of Russian missiles that combined with other weapons from both sides in the strange formula known as mutually assured destruction.

However, this Minh syringe managed to maintain a balance with so much devastation available that neither side could seriously consider a nuclear war without ensuring its own extinction, but there was a disadvantage: the Ray missile was an all-or-nothing option, on the other hand , the manned strike could be sent towards its enemy in a fine mix of saber rattling and risking The B-52s remained in service equipped with short-range air-launched missiles could be launched a safe distance from the target some, such as the hunting dog, were supported by a conventional wing and powered by an air-breathing aircraft a concept not totally removed from Peenemunde's v1 technology in a quantum leap in the evolution of the manned bomber came with the remarkable xb-70 valkyrie the b- 52 would be a tough act to follow, but North American Aviation delivered a presentation that was as brave as it was brilliant: The xb-70 program remains today an example of combining ingenuity and high technology to achieve otherwise unattainable results. .

Air force parameters for the new bomber stated that it should fly three times the speed of sound at an extreme altitude beyond the reach of Soviet defense systems, the xb-70 would certainly have ensured its own defense through its performance. and, despite the impending dominance of ICBMs, it still offered Air Force generals a flexible manned bomber. Alternatively, it was a valuable card in the game of brinkmanship, but suddenly the show became a thing. Trust in high-flying, very fast bombers was shattered with a single act. The missile was to be the nemesis of the manned bomber when the Soviets demonstrated the precision of surface-to-air anti-aircraft rocket once again Germany's wartime technology suggested the next step the variable sweep wing design had been under development in Germany In the final stages of the war it had later been developed by the American Explanation Program.

It took many years of research to perfect the swing-wing concept. The first practical use came with the most notable airplane. General Dynamics F-111 demonstrated the variable swept wing theory that allowed the pilot to change configuration from a high-speed Delta to a conventional straight-wing position for approaches to targets below enemy radar was essential to the success of the flight. low. The development of terrain following radar allowed the pilot to select impressively low altitudes to which the F-111 would automatically adjust by following the contours of the terrain. below, but although the f-111 demonstrated the effectiveness of flying undetected under enemy radar, it was not a heavy bomber, perhaps the same technology could be developed on a larger scale.

The Air Force request for proposal published in 1969 called for, among other things, low-altitude travel. control a nuclear toughness the ability of the aircraft's electronic system to resist the effects of a nuclear explosion again the north american company took the lead now under its new brand

rockwell

presented a concept that encompassed all the latest innovations, including swing wing technology, but in the proportions of a long-range heavy bomber to prove the concept an exhaustive Windtunnel program tested the shape, proportions andfunction of the swing wing proposed by Rockwell, they penetrated in miniature every flight characteristic and operational idiosyncrasy of what was to be the B1 project, it was subjected to the most thorough scrutiny throughout the process.

Verification process models were used in many different ways. Here another scale replica of the v1 using the same non-radar reflective materials as the final aircraft is tested on a moving platform. Its ability to hide from radar coming from any angle is completely exempt from the largest and The most impressive model of this process was the final large-scale mock-up. This faithful representation of the designers' ideas gave the manufacturer and the Air Force the feel of the final aircraft in those years before computer technology made the mockup unnecessary. Last chance to explore the practicality of the concept before committing to production costs.

Even details like hinged doors and access panels are faithfully modeled so that both ground and flight crews can evaluate nearly every physical detail of the finished aircraft. A variety of models of weapon charges. Both the exterior of the plane and the interior of the bomb bays look absolutely convincing and provide the closest possible view to reality, as does the cockpit design and even the wing turning mechanism works exactly as it will in the production version of this level. Perfection is a test for the model maker, but manufacturing the actual model was a much greater challenge for the engineer.

There had been problems with the F-111's first wing box on which the swing wing rotated. The B-1B would withstand a load many times greater. that the f-111, so this facet of its operation was tested the hardest, as always with United States military aircraft, the greatest consideration was placed on the service's most indispensable asset, the preservation of the aircrew was a major priority and with the b1 project it would be a substantial challenge. Rockwell engineers approached the problem of crew survivability from a crash standpoint in exactly the same way that General Dynamics had done with the F-111 crew capsule, but for the B1 with a crew of four. people would have to be much larger and the tolerances would be greater.

There was always concern about the effects on the plane's crew, not only because of the ejection force, but more importantly, because of the impact of landing, the F-111 capsule had worked well, but at this scale and with a weight of 9,000 pounds the problems multiplied, there was a real danger of damage to the crews' spine on impact, so Rapid Action airbags were developed to cushion the effect of the module hitting the ground due to the nature of the mission. of the V one, the airbags would have to work on land and water, meanwhile in Palmdale, California, construction of three prototypes began, the b1 project was already underway.

If its long-term future was far from secure, as with most major defense projects, it was going to be an ongoing problem, the Senate's criticism of the enormous cost of the B1 and the usual inter-service competition for the military budget were equally difficult for Rockwell executives to understand. handle as new technology was for Rockwell engineers here, the dedicated test stand is used to evaluate stress tolerance and demonstrate the integrity of the basic design of the being, that integrity would have to be confirmed before any aircraft with the The B1's performance expectations could be finally allowed to fly in service after years of gestation and months of production.

The first B1 was displayed to the public on October 26, 1974. Its elegant lines were emphasized by its bright white finish. At the time, it was the largest swing-wing aircraft in the world. The first b1 with serial number 7 4 - oh 1 5 8 taxied onto the Palmdale runway on December 23, 1974 for its maiden flight. Original plans called for five flying prototypes and two for structural testing, but due to program cuts, only three aircraft were ordered. The second and third of these would not be available for flight testing for over a year, so on the first flight to the first aircraft more precautions than usual were taken without a replacement ready.

The loss of this prototype could cause the entire program to crash, no wonder then. That the first short flight to Edwards was to be made with the wheels down nor was any attempt made to alter the position of the enormous swinging wings, but the two-man crew adjusted the jet's exhaust system, this complicated arrangement is sometimes known as turkey feathers For obvious reasons, controlling the final stages of up to 30,000 pounds of thrust at full afterburner is a difficult but vital function. Edwards is the traditional test base, once called Maroc, this Air Force installation has been home to many important test programs here from the dry California desert the first B1 with Rockwell's hopes in the Air Force and the The rest would undergo the most exhaustive flight tests while its detractors look for the slightest defect to capitalize on.

There had already been problems with cost overruns had been added due to the government's decision to produce fewer test aircraft, which substantially increased the unit cost, In addition, the decision to stretch the early delivery schedule created problems with the plane's 3,000 subcontractors. The logistics must have been a nightmare, although the first short flight of the B1 was a completely successful exercise. Its future was still far from certain and much of the real criticism that the program was going to encounter had little to do with the performance of the aircraft, rather the arguments were of necessity, philosophy and politics, did the Air Force really need a new bomber?

How valuable was a revocable man? Genuinely informed deterrence assessments of whether the B1 could meet its mission requirements were less easy to find, and in this context of uncertainty, engineers and test pilots would have to prove that it was Rockwell's super bomber as testing continued, the example of the b1 that flew with soul was After carefully passing through several stages of the test program, soon the enormous, powerful and complex landing gear was to be retracted and extended years before, when Rockwell was still called American and was testing the xb-70 valkyrie on its first prototype mission, the train failed. to retract properly, but B's initial attempt at a clean profile flight was a complete success with something as complicated as the landing gear.

Tremendous effort is invested in pre-flight testing, in the end the one that really counts is in the air for the entire 1975 Rockwell single. Flying B1 performed a series of tests, including the crucial sweeping function of the wing from the straight wing to Delta shape. There was extensive testing of General Electric's F-101 jet engines and the delicate task of in-flight refueling, necessary even for an aircraft with the If It Rains, was tested in high-level flight at over fifty thousand feet. and then went down to the deck for the most important tests under the radar barrier flying at over six hundred miles per hour at less than two hundred feet.

Under these circumstances, the small veins of the low-altitude flight control system were vital. Government cuts to the program meant that only three prototypes had to be built, the first for flying and the second for structural testing. By the end of 1975, stress testing was completed and the aircraft was released to be equipped for flight, but would not be available until May of the following year. In January 1976, the third aircraft built for flight testing went into operation. This aircraft would concentrate much of the complex avionics equipment used in the p1 program, especially the Boeing built an offensive electronic system, a vital part in the b1 mission, inside the cockpit of these prototypes, a complicated series of dials and gauges surrounds the cathode ray tubes.

If you look closely, you can see the fighter-shaped control columns, unusual on large aircraft directly behind the pilot and co-pilot the other two crew members sit in their positions the operations of the defensive and offensive systems use the point culminating in the development of radar not only to identify and target the enemy but also to defend against attacking opposition fighters is a far cry from the air gunner nestled in the rear of the B-17, the B1 crew flies comfortably, but in combat They would face the same risks as always when fighting the bandits of the late 20th or 21st century while testing of the first three aircraft continued with the speed and altitude envelope.

With a fourth aircraft being steadily pushed to be authorized by August 1976, production began its first stages of construction with this last B1 underway, it seemed that the program had gained enough momentum to outlast its critics with so much research behind it and so many problems solved that it seemed sure. The Rockwell bomber would continue in production, but on June 30, 1977, the newly elected Carter Administration canceled the project and the b1 program was halted. A unit cost of more than $100 million was not the least of the reasons for the cancellation, but there were others. The influencing factor was the earlier successful test of a unique combination of two proven pieces of American hardware: a Minuteman missile and a C5 transport aircraft.

If it could be demonstrated that the C5 was capable of launching the missile in flight, then it could offer the Air Force an extremely cost-effective form of recoverable deterrence. The survivability of a mass transport aircraft when approaching the combat zone may not have been very good; The additional range offered by the missile may have combined to produce some form of deterrence if the experiment worked, although it was not enough to be adopted as a complete system, the air launch of an ICBM was nevertheless a spectacular achievement, It may still have some potential, a much more concrete threat to the B1 came in the form of the air-launched cruise missile or ACM, these are intelligent and extremely deadly.

Prior to weapons extension, its wings and tailplane fold flush with the main body, so that many of these missiles can be carried under the wings or in the internal bomb bay of a B-52. The ALCM program that was quickly implemented by the Carter Administration gave rise to aging. b-52 a new opportunity as a suitable launch system the cruise missile uses small air-breathing jet engines and with its extended wings and subsonic speed obviously owes something to the original cruise missile the german v1 of the second world war, but Thirty years of technical evolution allowed the addition of similar concepts to the terrain following radar first used on the F-111.

This produced a weapon that was both economical and effective and greatly expanded the range and survivability of the B-52. One thing was certain. After Carter's decision to cancel the B1, the aging B-52 would have to remain America's only revocable long-range deterrent, but while more life could be squeezed out of these remarkable aircraft, it was equally obvious that a In the long term a new launch platform of some kind was inevitable and, supported by dedicated bomber versions of the F-111 and ALCS, the striking power of America's strategic airports was beginning to wane despite distaste for converting transport aircraft to carry cruise missiles.

It had been known for many years that survival over or even near enemy airspace required specialized aircraft and missile transport would be limited to a type of launch much less challenging than what the Air Force would expect from a B-52 replacement, clearly a long term. A range penetrator was needed, although Cotter's decision had canceled production of the B1, had allowed some funds for continued testing of the first three aircraft and to complete construction of the fourth, it was with these four aircraft that Rockwell began to resurrect the program, but it had been a long time since the cancellation and if the swing-wing bomber ever came into production, it would be very different from the original concept;

In some respects time had worked in the aircraft's favour, new ideas were now available and with flying test vehicles on the other hand, their qualities could be quickly verified. The most important change in strategic thinking was the revised attitude towards high speed. The first parameter for the v1 had been that it could fly at over fifteen thousand feet and speeds exceeding Mach at twice the speed of sound and then, when an enemy radar approached, the aircraft was expected to drop at two hundred feet and a high subsonic speed to make its final run undetected, but it was later thought that Mach 2 speed performance was nothad no real strategic value, low and slow of more than six hundred. miles per hour Oslo was seen as the best way for a long-range penetrator to reach its target.

Reducing the maximum speed requirement would allow other benefits to be included in a new aircraft and would also limit costs. Much greater emphasis was placed on making the plane invisible thanks to the use of non-reflective materials. The new bomber would appear to be less than 1% the size of a B-52 on enemy radar screens. In-flight refueling was given even higher priority to achieve optimal range, as there were unfounded criticisms. From the first results of low-level aircraft, an important change was implemented for crew survival by eliminating the crew ejection module that had never been perfected in favor of conventional ejection seats quite suitable for the slower flight version.

With revised Rockwell specifications and the urgent need to solve the B-52 replacement problem, the Reagan administration announced in October 1981 the decision to build 100 Rockwell bombers that would be called the B1 beam, the four previous prototypes that had done such valuable work. to test the basic concepts and then the modified ones would continue in the test program as the b1 a, it is quite possible that if these four original aircraft had not been available, the complete b1 beam, the reborn bomber project would never have started, the b -1b would have many new features, including a modified and greatly improved Bomb, these cavernous areas can now be adjusted to accommodate different weapon loads and fuel requirements.

Clearly, given the success the cruise missile had had, they would also have to adapt because the B1 B would be the replacement for the B-52 that the new aircraft would have. to accommodate conventional and atomic devices in a variety of sizes and configurations to meet a variety of operations Given this need for flexibility and the far-reaching scope of the B1 project, it is difficult to imagine that not long ago the use of transports such as the c5 to carry cruise missiles and that this combination was supposed to replace the classic b-52 while the b-1a continued to demonstrate that new performance specifications work on the b1 B was underway in Palmdale, the total cost Of 100 b1 B was would cost twenty billion dollars or more than two hundred million dollars per plane, but with the lessons learned from the interruption of the previous program, at least the B model was sure to be completed and this meant, in the long term , the best value for money for much of the b1 bees cost goes into sophisticated avionics equipment, fixed antennas and satellite dishes that literally project from every angle of the fuselage, collecting information for their computers to analyze.

From this data, the crew will make decisions that may well resolve the outcome of a storied mission. The importance and fate of the plane and those who fly it could also be at stake, all things considered, perhaps the Rockwell swing-wing bomber isn't so expensive after all, many types of skills and technology are employed as dozens Thousands of pieces come together and the gigantic technological puzzle that constitutes the construction of a modern bomber begins to take shape. In mid-1983 the first production model B-1B was ready to make its public debut and looked so much like its predecessor that the new

planes

are difficult to tell apart Unlike those that first appeared almost a decade earlier, the modified air intakes and a small window for radar operators are subtle but effective clues to the untrained eye.

However, performance variations are not sudden. The B-1B flies with half the speed potential of the A model. It uses 21st century materials to become nearly invisible to enemy fighters and missiles and is therefore much more likely to complete submission and all the time. is on its deadly journey gives the tactician weapons as crude as the v1 flying bomb and which later evolved into the sophisticated and extremely deadly cruise missiles that would be carried by the old B-52s and which were eclipsed by the development of ballistic missiles that began with rockets German v2 and eventually became The powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles that completely dominated the subject of nuclear systems for more than 30 years, the Man Vana survived using another German innovation, the variable swept wing, in the early 1990s. 60, the idea was greatly refined and used in conjunction with terrain following radar.

It emerged as the F-111, a highly successful medium attack bomber, and in the early 1970s the concept was further developed into the B1, the ultimate high-speed, long-range manned bomber, but others would pass. 10 years and the arrival of even more advanced construction. materials and another generation of avionics before the later model, the b1 B, entered service a high-tech masterpiece, the best that the aerospace industry had to offer had finally arrived, it will fly well into the 21st century and, with the time, it will undoubtedly become a similar legend. As for the aircraft, it replaced the B-52, but clearly the B1 B, the reborn bomber, is already one of the great aircraft in the world.