LAST B-1B LEAVES PALMDALE; BOMBER MAINTENANCE MOVING TO OKLAHOMA.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer A B-1B bomber made a low, rumbling pass over the giant hangar where it was assembled more than a decade ago, then headed east to McConnell Air Force Base McConnell Air Force Base (IATA: IAB, ICAO: KIAB) is a United States Air Force base located in Wichita, Kansas. Today, McConnell is home to the 22d Air Refueling Wing, the AFRC's 931st Air Refueling Group, and the Kansas Air National Guard's 184th Wing. in Kansas to end an era for Palmdale. A few hundred workers and dignitaries watched as the last B-1B to receive maintenance at Boeing's Site 9 took to the air, marking an end to 16 years of work that included building 100 B-1Bs and then performing overhauls and modifications on them. ``It's like when your oldest child leaves home,'' said Joseph Rinaldi, a mechanic who spent 15 years on the B-1B program. ``People aren't harping on it. Overall the mood is pretty good. When you come to an end of an era, it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to move on.'' Palmdale is losing the airplanes to an Air Force effort to consolidate B-1B maintenance work at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. The Site 9 assembly plant, built by Rockwell International Rockwell International was the ultimate incarnation of a series of companies under the sphere of influence of Willard Rockwell, who had made his fortune after the invention and successful launch of a new bearing system for truck axles in 1919. in 1982 specifically for assembling B-1B bombers, will be closed and workers shifted to other programs or laid off. Boeing, which acquired the B-1B work when it bought Rockwell's military aircraft operations in 1996, announced plans to close out the work in March. Other aircraft work at Site 9 will be consolidated at neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. Air Force Plant 42's Site 1. Boeing has laid off or will lay off 162 Site 9 workers by January. An additional 112 workers will stay on with the company on other programs, said company spokesman Mike Mathews. The impact of the loss of the program on Boeing's Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley work force has been somewhat offset by the building of two Joint Strike Fighter A strike fighter is a fighter aircraft which is also capable of attacking surface targets, including ships. It differs from an attack aircraft in that the aircraft remains a capable fighter. prototypes at Site 1. Boeing has hired 81 new workers for that program. ``The question is, why didn't we put more of those being laid off on the Joint Strike Fighter? We placed all we could on JSF (JavaServerFaces) A standard framework of components for building rich user interfaces for Java applications. JavaServer Faces run on the server, but are displayed on the client. JSF - JavaServer Faces ,'' Mathews said. ``The guys didn't have the skills we needed for JSF.'' Before the last B-1B left, program officials thanked the Boeing workers for their efforts. ``We appreciate all you have done,'' said Les Lackman, Boeing's site manager. ``You have every reason to be proud of yourself as we close out this chapter of B-1 history.'' Among those on hand for the event was Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, himself a former B-1 worker. ``This is an opportunity to give tribute to everyone who worked on the program,'' Ledford said. ``It's unfortunate we can't retain these programs. The B-1 was the rallying cry Noun 1. rallying cry - a slogan used to rally support for a cause; "a cry to arms"; "our watchword will be `democracy'" war cry, watchword, battle cry, cry catchword, motto, shibboleth, slogan - a favorite saying of a sect or political group 2. to get legislative support. If (state and federal legislators) would work cooperatively, we (could) retain these programs.'' The B-1B work at Palmdale is ending as the result of changes to Air Force maintenance policies aimed at cutting costs and consolidating work. In the past, the Air Force had a maintenance schedule that called for overhauling the 93-plane B-1B fleet every four years. Under that schedule, Tinker was not able to handle all of the aircraft, which meant four to five would be sent to Palmdale each year. Now the Air Force is going with a maintenance schedule of doing the bomber work over a five-year period, making it unnecessary to send planes to Palmdale. Boeing still works at Site 1, where the company modifies the space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. fleet and is building two Joint Strike Fighter prototypes. The company also plans to use the site for assembling any future experimental aircraft. Milestones in Antelope Valley B-1B Lancer history December 1974: First B-1A makes maiden flight Noun 1. maiden flight - the first flight of its kind; "the Stealth bomber made its maiden flight in 1989" flying, flight - an instance of traveling by air; "flying was still an exciting adventure for him" from Air Force Plant 42 to Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. to begin test program. June 1977: President Carter cancels B-1 production but allows testing to continue. January 1982: Backed by President Reagan and authorized under a congressional mandate to put a new bomber in service within six years, B-1B development and production contract is signed by Rockwell International. March 1982: Ground broken for Palmdale aircraft assembly plant. August 1984: B-1 prototype crashes at Edwards, killing Rockwell test pilot Doug Benefield. October 1984: First B-1B flies to Edwards for testing. June 1985: First operational B-1B delivered to Strategic Air Command. June 1986: Rockwell begins layoffs of B-1B workers in Palmdale. July 1987: On an acceptance test out of Plant 42, the 58th B-1B sets 18 world records for speed and payload (1) Refers to the "actual data" in a packet or file minus all headers attached for transport and minus all descriptive meta-data. In a network packet, headers are appended to the payload for transport and then discarded at their destination. . January 1988: 100th and last B-1B bomber rolls off assembly line, but work continues on upgrading flight control systems. March 1992: Air Force Secretary Donald Rice says $2 billion will be required to fix shortcomings A shortcoming is a character flaw. Shortcomings may also be:
January 1992: Edwards B-1B test program shuts down when Defense Department cuts funding for a short-range, nuclear-tipped missile. September 1992: Edwards reactivates B-1B program to test computer software for guiding smart bombs. March 1995: Rockwell gets $232 million contract for modifying B-1Bs to use GPS navigation See GPS. system and carry smart bombs. October 1998: Last B-1B bomber departs Air Force Plant 42 because maintenance work is shifting to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Box PHOTO (1--Color in AV Edition only) The last B-1B bomber to receive maintenance at Boeing's Site 9 in Palmdale takes off on its way to McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas. (2--Color in AV Edition only) (Ran in AV and SAC Editions only) The bomber rolls down the runway at the Boeing plant, whose work on the B-1B is being moved to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. David R. Crane/Daily News BOX: (Ran in AV and SAC Editions only) (MILESTONES IN ANTELOPE VALLEY B-1B LANCER HISTORY (See text) |
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