Photo: USAF/Master Sgt. Nicholas Priest
At the time of writing, the American military relies on only three full-fledged bombers, affectionately called the Bees, or Bomber Trifecta: the veteran B-52 Stratofortress, the alien spacecraft-shaped B-2 Spirit, and what I personally consider to be the best-looking of the bunch, the B-1B Lancer.
With its fat bodies and slim wings, the Lancer is also one of the most impressive of the bunch, holding 50 world records for speed, payload, range, and time of climb in its class.
The thing can fly at Mach 1.2 (921 mph/1,482 kph) and can carry the largest conventional payload (75,000 pounds/34,019 kg) of both guided and unguided weapons in all of U.S. Air Force's (USAF) fleet currently in service.
Powered by four General Electric turbofan engines and with large enough fuel tanks (265,274 pounds/120,326 kg), it can strike targets continents away, from altitudes that can reach 30,000 feet (9,144 meters).
So, we’re dealing with a very impressive machine while in its natural environment, but it seems that with the right photographer and the proper setting, the Lancer can look equally as impressive while performing more mundane tasks, like allowing itself to be pushed into a parking spot.
Case in point the pic we have here, taken back in June at Andersen Air Force in Guam and recently made public by the Air Force.
This particular Lancer is deployed with the 34th Bomb Squadron based at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, and at the time it was being parked after it had just returned from “a Bomber Task Force integration mission in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The squadron that flies this beast is the 4th-oldest USAF active squadron, having been formed in 1917. It has been in charge of flying a good chunk of the rather limited number of Lancers (just 62 of them are in active duty) ever since 1994.
The thing can fly at Mach 1.2 (921 mph/1,482 kph) and can carry the largest conventional payload (75,000 pounds/34,019 kg) of both guided and unguided weapons in all of U.S. Air Force's (USAF) fleet currently in service.
Powered by four General Electric turbofan engines and with large enough fuel tanks (265,274 pounds/120,326 kg), it can strike targets continents away, from altitudes that can reach 30,000 feet (9,144 meters).
So, we’re dealing with a very impressive machine while in its natural environment, but it seems that with the right photographer and the proper setting, the Lancer can look equally as impressive while performing more mundane tasks, like allowing itself to be pushed into a parking spot.
Case in point the pic we have here, taken back in June at Andersen Air Force in Guam and recently made public by the Air Force.
This particular Lancer is deployed with the 34th Bomb Squadron based at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, and at the time it was being parked after it had just returned from “a Bomber Task Force integration mission in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The squadron that flies this beast is the 4th-oldest USAF active squadron, having been formed in 1917. It has been in charge of flying a good chunk of the rather limited number of Lancers (just 62 of them are in active duty) ever since 1994.
Google News