Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Chef
A good friend of mine who has over 4000 hours in the F-16 (not very common...also an Embry-Riddle grad) told me that when he graduated from flight school, the guy who graduated top of his class was given choice of assignment and he chose B-1. It is my understanding (and I could be wrong) that B-1 pilots are considered among the USAF's cream of the crop.
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Well, I only wrenched on them, but I was fortunate enough to get a ride on one. It was back in '02 and I have video, but need to get it from 8mm to digital format. When I do, I will post it. My old airplane (tail 6-098) is at Dyess AFB in Abilene Tx. and the one I rode on (tail 071 "Mr Bones") is in the boneyard at Davis Monthan. I have a buddy that is full time Reserve at Barksdale and he took the Buff in the picture through a phased inspection recently.
Just so folks will know, the Bone was no easy creature to wrench on. I had no idea how hard I worked until we moved to a different airframe after we lost the B-1's. Chef, you having dealt with them surely remember the upper spring panels which required a shitty press to clamp down on them with a force of 4000 pounds to remove and install them. We had some hydraulic lines go bad that ran up through the wing pivot pin, and man, we were busy on that sucker for a minute. Yup, they could beat you up, but when you got it off the ground, it was worth every busted knuckle.
