The video in this post features US Air Force B-1B Lancer strategic bombers operations at Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford.
On Oct. 6, 2021, B-1B Lancers, supporting equipment, and personnel from the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, Dyess Air Forces Base (AFB), Texas, arrived at RAF Fairford, England, to execute the long-planned Bomber Task Force (BTF) mission, a regularly scheduled US European Command and US Strategic Command joint mission series.
In the below videos by Dafydd PhillipsDafydd Phillips, you can see B-1B Lancer Take-off, Touch And Go, and Steep Banking Climb.
The Rockwell B-1B is a long-range, supersonic bomber with variable-sweep wings. It is operated by two pilots and two combat systems officers.
The Rockwell B-1B is 146 feet (44.501 meters) long, with the wingspan varying from 79 feet (24.079 meters) to 137 feet (41.758 meters). It is 34 feet (10.363 meters) high at the top of the vertical fin.
The bomber’s empty weight is 192,000 pounds (87,090 kilograms) and the Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) is 477,000 pounds (216,364 kilograms).
The B-1B is powered by four General Electric F101-GE-102 after burning turbofan engines. This is an axial-flow engine with a 2-stage fan section, a 9-stage compressor, and a 3-stage turbine (1 high- and 2 low-pressure stages).
It is rated at 17,390 pounds of thrust (77.35 kilonewtons), and 30,780 pounds of thrust (136.92 kilonewtons) with an afterburner. The F101-GE-102 is 15 feet, 0.7 inches (4.590 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.2 inches (1.402 meters) in diameter, and weighs 4,460 pounds (2,023 kilograms).
The B-1B has a maximum speed of Mach 1.25 (830 miles per hour (1,336 kilometers per hour) at high altitude, or 0.92 Mach (700 miles per hour, 1,127 kilometers per hour) at 200 feet (61 meters). The Lancer has a service ceiling of 60,000 feet (18,288 meters), and an unrefueled range of 7,456 miles (11,999 kilometers).
It can carry up to 84 Mk.82 500-pound bombs, 24 Mk.84 2,000-pound bombs, or other weapons. The B-1 can carry the largest conventional payload of both guided and unguided weapons in the U.S. Air Force.
100 B-1B Lancers were built by Rockwell International’s aircraft division at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, between 1983 and 1988. As of February 2018, 62 B-1B bombers are in the active Air Force inventory.
Even today, the B-1B is evolving as a weapons platform. The aircraft continues to receive technological upgrades and cutting-edge standoff munitions.
The B-1 has come a long way in its first 35 years of combat and has supported the Air Force mission and helped in maintaining the freedom of the United States. And decades later, the B-1 continues to evolve to meet the mission, ready for today’s fight and tomorrow’s needs.
