B-1b Lancer explosion...pics

[Slonotch]

Well as many of you know I was in the Air Force and was a crew chief on the B-1b Lancer. Well I got out in May 05', but still have many friends in and still on my old bomber. As of a few months ago my bomber (EL86--116) was deployed in Al UDeid, Qatar. Well upon landing the main landing gear torque link bar snapped and swung around and breaking and cutting all hydro lines to the jet. So this means no brakes, flaps, slats, speed brakes.... nothing worked well as the bomber came to a slow crawl the pilots and crew evacuted through the crew entry ladder. Since no one was in the bomber during this crawl it went into the retaining barriers at the end of the runway and crashed. A few minutes after it hit the barriers the hydro fluid eventually leaked onto the engines caught fire due to the heat from the engines. As the fire spread throughout the bomber 86--116 was fully loaded with JDAMS a high tech high explosive bomb. Well when the fire heated up the bombs well you can only imagin what happened they all went off during the night.......This series of loud explosions was heard in many parts of Doha, and people living near the air base said the blasts "shook the ground".

This is what a B-1 should look like......
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/B-1B_Lancer_On_Display.jpg/800px-B-1B_Lancer_On_Display.jpg

Link to CNN report....."Fire and bombs contianed" yeh right.......
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/04/bomber.crash/index.html

This is what a B-1 looks like after 3 JDAMS go off inside of its bomb bays....Remember this was the bomber I personally served on for years.....it is defentantly sad to see her in this state....She was a good bomber!!!
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9544/qatar1sq9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/4759/qatar2ap5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/305/qatar3bo3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Notch93]

Is that the same one we were talking about a while back on SFS? **** shame to see it in that shape. Has to hurt you a lot, since you worked on it for such a long time.:patriot:

[Blacksheep]

That sucks man.

[rpc3]

My room mate in Grand Forks N.D. was a B-1 Crew chief I was a Crew chief on KC-135R ( flying gas station):yes1: Mine had crashed before I crewed it . and this is the funny part (it ran out of jet fuel):lol1::lol1: one mile from the run way. but it was rebuildable tail number 00313.

[BW90GT]

That thing was a beaut, sorry to hear that, as said about, "That sucks."

[SVTSkip]

I sure hate to see that for ya. I was depressed when I found out the Navy sank one of my old Ships to make a reef out of it. I'm sure you felt the same way, we had years of memories built up, so it's no longer a pice of machinery with a bundle of components, it's a friend ! :patriot:

[Slonotch]

we had years of memories built up, so it's no longer a pice of machinery with a bundle of components, it's a friend ! :patriot:EXACTLY......when your deployed your bomber is the only thing also from back home.....and since you spend soooo much time with it while deployed, you grow very close to it....it is kinda like our cars, but different!!!!

[Slonotch]

My room mate in Grand Forks N.D. was a B-1 Crew chief I was a Crew chief on KC-135R ( flying gas station):yes1: Mine had crashed before I crewed it . and this is the funny part (it ran out of jet fuel):lol1::lol1: one mile from the run way. but it was rebuildable tail number 00313.What was a B-1 crew chief doing at Grand Forks unless he transfered to the B-52???? Sorry to hear about your tanker, but man that is kinda funny/ironic that a tanker crash due to no fuel.....:yes1:

[Slonotch]

Is that the same one we were talking about a while back on SFS? **** shame to see it in that shape. Has to hurt you a lot, since you worked on it for such a long time.:patriot:Yup...that was it. I just got the pics....I have more, but you get the jist!!!! I heard there is video...so I am trying to digg that up!!!

[SVTSkip]

EXACTLY......when your deployed your bomber is the only thing also from back home.....and since you spend soooo much time with it while deployed, you grow very close to it....it is kinda like our cars, but different!!!!

Thats what I was getting at exactly ! Of course for us we slept/ate/showered/etc on the ship, and some of us always, but the rest of us at least for the deployment lived aboard, so it was your home, and what was taking you back to your family as well. I feel your pain Bro ! :patriot:

[Notch93]

Yup...that was it. I just got the pics....I have more, but you get the jist!!!! I heard there is video...so I am trying to digg that up!!!

I'll try and see if I can find the video also.:yes1: The main thing though, is that everyone who was on the plane made it off safe.:patriot:

[bonesgt]

Such a sad ending to a beautiful bird!

[rpc3]

What was a B-1 crew chief doing at Grand Forks unless he transfered to the B-52???? Sorry to hear about your tanker, but man that is kinda funny/ironic that a tanker crash due to no fuel.....:yes1:

in '88,'89,and 90 we had 14 B-1's and 14 tankers (KC-135R's):yes1:the B-52's the last one was leaving when i got there in '88.