At a whitewater slalom race years ago on the Ocoee River in TN. There was a couple F4 Phantoms, (probably from the TN air guard) did a pretty low pass. A few minutes later we heard them coming again, this time very, very low. At the race course they went vertical and kicked in the afterburners. Absolutely incredible. Guessing that one (or both) of the pilots was a paddler.
I was first on scene, when a B1B's terrain guidance failed. It was in West Texas, I'll not give the exact location. I, also, watched them for years, use our bleed water tanks, on the hill above Duval's Sulphur mine, as targets. Their visits were, at 500 kts., brief, but beautiful. RIP to the crew and engineers aboard that bomber.
It was originally slated to do the deep penetration interdiction role of the F-111 but with a Mach 2 computer for the TFR. For some reason that I've never been able to find out, this didn't happen.
The B-1A was designed as a Mach 2 high altitude penetrator with nuclear/cruise missile delivery the main objective. Then when Gary Powers was shot down and missiles started getting close to the SR-71s it was decided that low level interdiction was the best bet at avoiding enemy SAM sites (With the US leaning towards "Stealth". So the B-1A was cancelled in favour of looking at other things (Namely the B-2). Then a bit further along down the line the States realised that they had a bit of a gap in their Capability because the B-2 was taking so long, and the B-52s weren't good enough because they were far too vulnerable to everything that could be put against them. So a new proposal was drawn up for a long ranger interdiction bomber (As something to stand in until the B2 arrived), and the B-1A was a candidate because it had good runway stats (being able to take off from shorter runways) and it was already tested and capable of carrying enough ordinance. But it still needed to be modified. It was reduced in size IIRC and it had its intake ramps remove and the intakes tuned for low level supersonic flight, meaning it was no longer capable of mach 2 at high altitudes. Then because there was turbulence down low that messed with the flight characteristics the 2 little stabilising fins were added under the nose. And that is why the B-1B is the B-1B and not the B-1A
@@_Anato_ The B-1A was well after the Gary Powers incident. Actually, that would have been the relevant issue of the B-58 Hustler. The B-1A was cancelled over budget cuts in the 1970s due to the Nixon administration initiatives; it had the terrain following ability but after the missile gap was falsified the main method for nuclear attack by bombers from that point was a supersonic dash at low altitude. Hence the B-58 at reduced ability with the newer B-1 and F-111 were employed for that purpose. The B-1B was a result of Ronald Reagan rebuilding the nation’s military might and bringing the B-1A with technology improvements and cuts out of the grave.
@@MattH-wg7ou Aircraft below 10,000ft are supposed to remain at or below 250 knots, however you can be granted clearance to exceed that speed by ATC, or for military aircraft operating in TZ's.
There are lots of exceptions to that. VR routes can be flown faster, and it also does not apply for military aircraft within active MOA's and Restricted areas. Also if the aircraft's minimum safe speed is faster than 250 knots than they can fly that instead, which has been the case for some military planes over the years (one extreme example would be the F-104 which depending on loadout could have a stall speed of around 200 knots).
Yep, but if your jet can go 500kts at 500ft then the speed limit doesn't apply to you, I guess was my poorly articulated point. I am aware of the standard rules, although my first comment would indicate otherwise. But 540-600kts ground speed at 100-500agl on VR routes, in MOAs, Warning areas, etc is an everyday thing. Also, as you mention, there are standard waivers that are on the books for fighters and others that need it, where flying below 250kts is either dangerous or terribly inefficient. Standard en route speed for an F-15 for example is 350C.
20 years ago...somewhere in there...I was standing in someone's front yard out in the woods/mountains of southeast Oklahoma. There's an airport, biggest one in this part of the state, FSS on the field, a VORTAC just south of the airport, about 10 miles north of this house. It was cloudy that day. Base was maybe two thousand feet. I hear what, obviously, were jet engines at a low level. I look up just in time to see a B-1 skimming along right at the bottom of the clouds. It appeared for just a few seconds and then disappeared back into the clouds.
In the early 1980's my family and I were on our way from San Jose, CA to Las Vegas, NV. We were passing Edwards Air force Base, we heard this low rumbling sound getting closer and closer. All of a sudden a B-1B bomber past over head followed by two small jets, (not sure what kind of jets) but they were booking! They were flying very low to the ground and the bomber's wings were in the delta wing position. A beautiful site..
One of the coolest experiences of my life was when a B1 used my white Chevy Service Astrovan, as target practice on the 14 up past Edwards (probably 2003-2005-ish). I was probably not quite at California City area. I didn't hear the initial incoming pass but sure as hell heard and saw him pass by me. With the windows down cruising at 70+ and radio blasting my whole van shook and rattled! My dad was US Air Force and was SAC, so growing up around military jet, I immediate knew it was a B1-Lancer. I watched him climb hard out of this bowl area we were in then saw his banking silhouette, wings open, slowly fade to my left; first in front of hills/mountains then behind mountains, then gone. Not 3 mins later I caught the glint of his windshield barreling straight towards me, literally on the deck coming over a small hilltop. I'm sure the laser designator camera could totally see me cheering with a huge smile on my face! Immediately banked straight up so I could get the full sound of the exhaust. Something tells me they didnt miss ;)
Just a tad windy up on yonder peak-- very impressive aircraft, one of my favourites, I have seen heard them a few times in US, but only once in the UK where I`m from. Still reminds me a little of Concorde.
That is awesome. From what I've read about the terrain following radar on the B-1 is the pilot can step the plane down to 200ft. and even lower during combat operations in any weather including night missions. Apparently this type of flying causes extreme stress to the airframe and I think it is severely restricted to extend the life of the aircraft. B-1 is my favorite aircraft yet I have never seen one in person. Maybe someday...
You should hear them take off. Was at Nellis in early 05. One took off, set off car alarms. As soon as those alarms were cleared, his wingman launched. You can guess what happened next.
I used to work at the Boeing Apache helicopter plant. Those aircraft also did terrain following if it was needed, albeit a much lower altitude. They called it NOE, for nap of the earth.
I was out in the desert a few years ago, not far from EAFB and had a B1 do exactly this to me! Much to my surprise, my friend got her camera up just in time to catch it,
I had 2 come over me like that near the Savannah River when I was deer hunting once. Thick forest and you could not see them coming. I honestly thought I was done for. No noise and all of a sudden all hell broke loose. Now I am not going to say I shat myself, but I came very very close to it. It was an awesome but humbling experience.
We had one pass over us while elk hunting in NM....he was doing the exact same thing, following terrain. Everyone knows how loud they are.....they are 10X that loud when they pass over at that height! You could hear it coming, oh, about 15 seconds before it passed over us. I had time to stop what I was doing, open my pack, take out my camera, remove the lens, turn it on and wait a few seconds to catch two shots coming over the mountain. It passed directly over us....impressive sight. It blew an elk herd clean out of the county that we were watching. It was much louder than the B2 Stealth Bomber that passed over us at the Rose Bowl in 2017 and he hit the throttle when over the stadium. That Lancer is L-O-U-D.
I was told by a former FB-111 pilot that they had three settings for flying "nap of the earth" or terrain following radar. Most pilots flew the soft setting demonstrated by the B-1B here, some flew the more violent middle setting and nobody flew the hardest setting because everyone blew chow on that setting.
driving cross country from Winnamucca to Gerlach a few years ago, came up over a small rise to look down on a B-52 flying @ about 75 ft' off he deck going like hell.
Yep, this kind of thing goes on out here all the time, I love watching the V-22 ospreys doing special ops training runs on the north west side of the base.. it's awesome.
Looks like out by California city I was working there one day when I saw a jet making passes back and forth, so I drove down there to see it As I got closer I could see it was a f111 making low passes so I drove closer and I couldn't see it anymore I got out of my truck looking for it and the next thing I knew he flew directly over me at not more than a couple of hundred feet. There was no sound until he was over me, then a wall of sound came.i was jumping up and down yelling ,it was better than the thunderbirds at the air show when they do their sneaker pass It was fun living in the antelope valley there was always something flying around . I've seen the B2,the Blackbird, f117, the 747 carrying the space shuttle and more
Was stationed at NWC China Lake back in the '80s. It's just what 75mis north of Edwards. Used to see some of the coolest stuff there and just driving down, was it hwy 287. Seen B-1B on more than one occasion doing this. Good times there, good times...saw a lot
Bone flying at a pretty high altitude above ground level (AGL). Looks like 3-500 feet AGL. During Red Flags back in the 70s, I saw B-52s so low their shadow was as large as the airframe and they had to climb to turn. Estimated altitude was 25-50 feet AGL. We were flying F-4s at 100 ft, 5-g turn tactical (4-g was pretty standard turn). WSOs had to tell pilots what the turns were since nose gunners were padlocked on the dirt in front of us.
Talking of Red Flag, just one word... Buccaneer. But got to say, seen pictures of B-52 doing a fly by of air craft carrier, which made you think he was going to need floats.
I remember reading a newspaper article back in the late 80s of a B1 pilot recounting his experience after striking a pelican during low level supersonic flight testing in California. The 300 million dollar plane went down in 63 seconds, three crew members lost their lives. The Air Force said they would discontinue low level flight testing until the planes can be redesigned to thwart bird strikes in the future. Seeing this video reminded me of that article and as cool as it is, it's as dangerous as it gets. =O
It wasn't in CA, it was in CO. It wasn't a pelican, it was a Sand Hill Crane. It wasn't a flight test, it was a regular training mission for the schoolhouse. Other than that, you got most of it correct.
There was 3 of them parked up at the bottom of raf fairford runway 3 yrs ago and they all needed maintenance, I havnt seen a display from a b1b since 2007 raf Fairford airshow as gone down hill over the years , Still anice plane I must say .👍🇬🇧
I was camping in the desert west of Fish Springs NWR at the southern edge of the Dugway Proving Grounds in mid October 2015 when a B1B screamed past at about 250-500AGL and doing about 550Kn. Sadly I didn't have my camera in my hands as I did not know it was coming until it screamed past. 30 seconds later another one screamed by at about the same height and speed.
Bones set off car alarms on takeoff. I was on the K-D Rhine cruise north of Lorelei Rock in late 2011 when a Tornado buzzed us. Loud, but not B-1 loud.
I live close to West Point, NY, & years ago, Air Force was playing Army in football, & I hear something very unusual, it was the B2 Bomber flying very low & slow, all I thought was, I’d hate to have that thing pissed at me, what a sight,
Years ago I was driving west through north eastern Colorado when I saw a B-1 flu across my path at about 500 feet. A couple years later a B-1 on one of these low level flights went through a flock of geese and the crew were killed.
The only B-1 loss due to a bird strike that I am aware of was due to one hitting a pelican, but yes it killed 3 out of 6 crew members that were on board (there were 2 instructors on board in addition to the usual crew of 4, and since they didn't have ejection seats, they were unable to bail out in time). This accident happened down near Pueblo, CO in 1987.
These fly through the barstow area from time to time, folks always assume they're heading to nellis from edwards and barstow is pretty much in the middle. Seems random though, sometimes you see a couple in one day for a few days running then nothing for months. Alot of random badassery thundering through the desert
There is lots of training and testing that goes on out there. That is one of the largest military airspace complexes over land in the United States. You have the Navy doing testing up at China Lake, USAF testing at Edwards, Army exercises at the NTC at Ft Irwin, and then Nellis and its exercises to the East. If you are seeing stuff around Barstow though it is probably in support of the Green Flag exercise which runs in conjunction with the NTC at Ft Irwin.
@@Twobarpsi Yes it is. That valley where the B1-B is heading is full of wind turbines. It's like a funnel. I've gone wave gliding just south of there, where you use the waves from heavy winds to get some serious uplift.
@@Twobarpsi Oh yes, I've been watching his videos at least a year now. Gliders are a fantastic way to learn to fly. Come to think of it, my first glider flight was in those hills in the video to the east (Tehachapi). My bucket list is to go gliding in the alps.
Did I really see a government meeting where this was described as having done several close air support missions? Surely that’s not this aircrafts primary role? Seemed really strange to suggest downgrading the a10 for this, amazing aircraft though it is....the two just aren’t the same
During the war, B-1 flights would loiter over the Baghdad area at high altitude for long durations waiting for calls to drop precision guided bombs on locations where Saddam and company were suspected of hiding. This was after air defenses had been suppressed. The F-117 was used in that role before the air defenses were suppressed. Maybe these missions were what they were referring to. I'm not sure I'd call those close air support. They could have used A-10 or AC-130, but either one of those opening up with the canon in a densely populated area could cause a lot more collateral damage than a 500# PG bomb, not to mention the depleted uranium being scattered around. Hellfire missiles would be too small to bring down buildings.
@@MrKentaroMotoPI i see what you mean, it’s the definition being “close” but I didint know about the loitering tactic. Didn’t know the AC130used depleted uranium either I thought it was just standard minigun ammo and the shells from the main cannon
@@aliray1165 The AC has had such an assortment of guns... I just assume that any anti-armor gun can use DU rounds - it's just another shell. The AC's mission intent is to loiter. It does that really well, but I don't think the AC versions flying during that war had bomb hard points. I recall footage of an A-10 exchanging fire with batteries located in a tall Baghdad building. The A-10 was dropping flares and firing the canon. It made swiss cheese out of the building very quickly. An effective weapon, but difficult to be precise with. Of course, the A-10 can carry precision guided bombs but - then again - I don't think it had that capability at the time either. So, we're back to the B-1!
@@MrKentaroMotoPI I remember that footage well if I remember correctly, the A10 in question was doing some of the most extreme maneuvers I’ve ever seen one pull, it was banking Left, right, turning on a dime and firing flares in all directions, that pilot was just owning that particular engagement, it was incredible to watch. Yeah the building didn’t take long!
Nope, just get a VFR sectional (can buy them online or at most small airport FBOs). Look for lines on the chart marked "VR" with a four digit number following, like "VR1059" for example (3 digit VR's have one or more segments above 1500ft). Those represent a low altitude visual route used for military training. Find you a good place along one of those that is relatively near a base that uses tactical jets (B-1s for instance are Ellsworth AFB in SD and Dyess AFB in TX), and you too can potentially see jets flying over at high speed and low altitude!