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B1-B Lancer

O

Obi-Wan B.O.B.

Member
From 1986-1990 I was a structures mechanic on the groundbreaking B1-B Lancer. A very impressive craft. It's pretty danged impressive when you see a bomber with the wingspan 30' wider than a 727 go vertical from the runway (I repaired many a tailcone due to over-enthusiastic pilots pulling off this maneuver just a little too close to the ground) as well as out turn an F4 at low altitude.

Challenge: Make a foamie B1-B the INCLUDES a working set of the distinctive variable-sweep wings.

Bonus challenge: Make the canards functional as well.
 
Piotrsko

Piotrsko

Master member
Canard? We called them trim tabs
I worked for the place that made a 8ft diameter fuel tank for front bomb bay so the test plane wouldn't dog squat on the ground with the wings back.
 
O

Obi-Wan B.O.B.

Member
Piotrsko said:
Canard? We called them trim tabs
I worked for the place that made a 8ft diameter fuel tank for front bomb bay so the test plane wouldn't dog squat on the ground with the wings back.
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The TSO’s called them canards. Oddly enough, one of the few surfaces of the B1 that I don’t think I ever had to work on. :D I did, however, spend 36 of the most miserable hours of my service time working on backside of the inside (in other words, on the OTHER side of the wall you would be looking at as you are inside the bombay and looking towards the left wing root) of the bombay on two consecutive Texas July days. I was a the skinny guy in the crew back then so I got to go into all the tight spots.:rolleyes:

Fortunately, about 18 months into my service there, they sent me to advanced composites training and found out that I had a real knack for that kind of work. From then on, when I wasn’t on the flight line, I was doing repairs in the composite room at the shop, one of only two work areas in our shop with AC. ;)
 
Bo123

Bo123

Elite member
Obi-Wan B.O.B. said:
The TSO’s called them canards. Oddly enough, one of the few surfaces of the B1 that I don’t think I ever had to work on. :D I did, however, spend 36 of the most miserable hours of my service time working on backside of the inside (in other words, on the OTHER side of the wall you would be looking at as you are inside the bombay and looking towards the left wing root) of the bombay on two consecutive Texas July days. I was a the skinny guy in the crew back then so I got to go into all the tight spots.:rolleyes:

Fortunately, about 18 months into my service there, they sent me to advanced composites training and found out that I had a real knack for that kind of work. From then on, when I wasn’t on the flight line, I was doing repairs in the composite room at the shop, one of only two work areas in our shop with AC. ;)
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The don't look big enough to be called canards. But I guess I should argue with an engineer :rolleyes:;).
 
O

Obi-Wan B.O.B.

Member
Bo123 said:
Wait what did you do? Where you not an engineer?
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No. I worked aircraft structures. In other words, the body, panels, and structure of the aircraft, both metals and composites. We were also the ones who made all the fuel and hydraulic lines.

That means sometimes I was fixing stuff that pilots and crew chiefs broke, and sometimes I was making right what the engineers got wrong.:)
 
Bo123

Bo123

Elite member
Obi-Wan B.O.B. said:
No. I worked aircraft structures. In other words, the body, panels, and structure of the aircraft, both metals and composites. We were also the ones who made all the fuel and hydraulic lines.

That means sometimes I was fixing stuff that pilots and crew chiefs broke, and sometimes I was making right what the engineers got wrong.:)
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Ah ok.
 
C

Clintonious

Member
I’m going to resurrect this one with a +1! Extra special super magic bonus golden star if you can work in the ground mapping radar system that allowed this to fly just off the deck through the mountains so you could deliver your nuclear payload without being spotted by radar! I’m thinking you should be able to shoot the creek at full throttle without much trouble, once you get the electronics worked out ;)

As a second place option, the f14 sweeping wings were neat too… I guess.
 
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