Rockwell B-One (aka B-1 Lancer)

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Another subject that does not get as much attention as it deserves.  With a coulple of the Revell 1/48th scale B-One kits in the stash I would like to have a space large enough to display one if it ever gets built.  Until then, I can at least think about what I can do with the kit that does not entail building it straight out of the box in accordance with the kit instructions. 

One of the options I have considered is a U.S. Navy version that would be assigned to a VPB(H) squadron which in this case is an abbreviation for Fixed Wing (V)-Patrol (P)-Bomber (B)-Heavy (H).  Colors would probably be similar to the TPS scheme or in that theme for a sea control maritime surveillance mission among other things.   

With three full weapons bays you can certainly add a lot of ordnance or a couple of auxiliary fuel tanks and a rotary launcher.  For the bolder modeler out there that has no fear there is the conventional weapons module that looks like the top half of the auxiliary fuel tank with bomb racks mounted on the underside that could be fabricated from plastic card and a lot of imagination.  As for myself, I will probably stick with something simple like a rotary launcher with AGM-84 Harpoons and fuel tanks. 


Click on html or image to view link and additional images at Wikipedia - Rockwell B-1 Lancer


(image source: Wikipedia/United States Air Force - [url=http://www.af.mil]www.af.mil[/url])

B-1B Fact Sheet
Boeing B-1B product page
B-1B history page on Boeing.com
USAF B-1 System Program Office

[Maverick]

Beyond the usual suspects of created profiles (eg: RAF, CAF, etc), I've always like the idea of the FB-1 concept.  Heavy air dominance platform with AAMs of various types out the ying-yang or EB-1 'Ultra Wild Weasel', once again, ARMs & CBUs of all varieties and plenty o' them.

I do like the Navy idea though, one I hadn't thought of.

Regards,

John

[LemonJello]

I have one of these 1/48 monsters in the stash as well, I tend to pick up bits and pieces for it as I come across deals (SAC metal landing gear, and a set of resin afterburners are rattling around with all that plastic).  I could see one with AAMs on TERs or MERs external to the bomb bays, or you could have the rotary launchers with a mix of AAM, AGM, smart and iron bombs for a real multi-role/multi-mission capability.

Imagine a pair of Bones operating together in the SEAD or Iron Hand mission!

Oh, and this beast would not be getting the digi-cammo treatment from me, either.

[elmayerle]

How about a "Pathfinder" version with a mix of SRAM II's, ACM's, and long-range ARM's (AGM-76, perhaps?)  to open the way for other bombers to follow. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I have one of these 1/48 monsters in the stash as well, I tend to pick up bits and pieces for it as I come across deals (SAC metal landing gear, and a set of resin afterburners are rattling around with all that plastic).  I could see one with AAMs on TERs or MERs external to the bomb bays, or you could have the rotary launchers with a mix of AAM, AGM, smart and iron bombs for a real multi-role/multi-mission capability.

Imagine a pair of Bones operating together in the SEAD or Iron Hand mission!

Oh, and this beast would not be getting the digi-cammo treatment from me, either.

The weight of that Revell B-One certainly warrants consideration of using the SAC metal landing gear. 

Maybe find enough excess Phoenix pallets to mount a dozen or so AIM-54 externally on either side of the weapons bays?  That would be one way to address the carriage of air to air missiles. 

It would certainly lose that sleek looking appearance with all of the extra weapons mounted externally.  The Monogram 1/72nd scale kit had a bunch of cruise missiles and some very generic looking weapons pylons for each of these shapes that were to be mounted along side of the weapons bays.

How about a "Pathfinder" version with a mix of SRAM II's, ACM's, and long-range ARM's (AGM-76, perhaps?)  to open the way for other bombers to follow.

 

Have definitely thought about that off and on.  Wanted to use AGM-78 Standard ARM but that requires a special adapter so carrying it internally would not work.  Mounting it externally would be the only way to go and that sort of defeats that low radar return if you start hanging corner reflectors all over the aircraft.  Must have been around the same time as I was rationalizing this that the idea for a conventionally armed AGM-69 started looking like a really good idea.  Easy enough to do just by painting a yellow band around the missile body where the warhead is located and maybe painting the missile in a light gray instead of the traditional white that was used for this weapon. 

The AGM-76 option does sound interesting but that would require a different launcher adapter that is not going to allow you to just drop the missile from the weapons bay, it would have to be carried externally.  So more corner reflectors again.  That conventional SRAM still looks like the best option to me. 

[GTX_Admin]

Satellite launcher?

Fixed wing?

[LemonJello]

I like both the pathfinder and the maritime strike versions - now use one of those for a dio - Bone sitting on the tarmac with a bomb trolley of three rotary launchers pulling up to install in the bomb bays (your choice of ordnance) with a crew running out to the bird from an underground bunker or maybe a couple of vehicles?

Also, why not paint one up in your favorite airline livery and make it a SST? The bomb bays are converted to luxury travel suites.

[elmayerle]

One other thought for the Pathfinder version, Skybolts on external hardpoints and ACMs internally (or, if not Skybolts, perhaps retro-engineered Kh-41 clones?).  The AGM-76 (q.v.) was a proposed air-to-ground ARM derivative of the AIM-47 and I could see it being used by the Pathfinder with continuing upgrades in seeker, rocket motor, and warhead.

[taiidantomcat]

[Stargazer2006]

Oh, no... 

Not this horrid Bill Gunston design from Osprey Combat Aircraft series!! I'm sure some guys around here must like it and may have gone all dreamy about it when it came out circa 1988, but I always thought Gunston was completely off the mark with his imaginary designs, and I still find it hard to cope with them after all this time...

[Jeffry Fontaine]

One other thought for the Pathfinder version, Skybolts on external hardpoints and ACMs internally (or, if not Skybolts, perhaps retro-engineered Kh-41 clones?).  The AGM-76 (q.v.) was a proposed air-to-ground ARM derivative of the AIM-47 and I could see it being used by the Pathfinder with continuing upgrades in seeker, rocket motor, and warhead.

Wicked idea.  Mounting a couple of Douglas AGM-48 (GAM-87) Skybolt ASM on the B-One would certainly be interesting.  Maybe with conformal carriage of some sort.  Might be a good way to use a couple of 1/32nd scale Phoenix pallets from an F-14 kit to make the couple of conformal carriage mounts along the edge of the weapons bay doors.  I have a couple of candidate missile shapes in the desired length to width ratio that might pass for a Skybolt when fins are added.  Just need someone to donate the 1/32nd scale Phoenix pallets to see if this would work. 

[simmie]

Many years ago I did have the idea of B-1 with the engine installation off the Boeing Supercruiser.

The intakes have an 'S' shape to slow the air down, but it also stops radar from seeing the face of the by-pass fan.

[LemonJello]

Fair warning: I haven't had my coffee yet...

Bone with forward sweep wings? At full forward sweep, you'd have a delta planform much like the Concorde.

[Jeremak]

For "pathfinder", and "continental defender" (anti-shipping, air dominance patrol plane), I would propose antoher feature: long fence on back, starting behind cockpit, and going to the tail. I would house or ECM equipment for "pathfinder", or side-looking radar for "defender"

[elmayerle]

For "pathfinder", and "continental defender" (anti-shipping, air dominance patrol plane), I would propose antoher feature: long fence on back, starting behind cockpit, and going to the tail. I would house or ECM equipment for "pathfinder", or side-looking radar for "defender"

That was done on B-1A No. 4 and the equipment moved into the aircraft with the redesign to the B-1B.  It would still look plausible, but I think there's better ways to accomodate either set of equipment.

[Cliffy B]

Just wanted to share with this with you guys.  Its a patch I designed for a current B-1B flight instructor for his students.

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu194/CliffyB/Artwork/B-1BPatchWeb.jpg

[jschmus]

Just wanted to share with this with you guys.  Its a patch I designed for a current B-1B flight instructor for his students.

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu194/CliffyB/Artwork/B-1BPatchWeb.jpg

SWEET!

[Rickshaw]

Just wanted to share with this with you guys.  Its a patch I designed for a current B-1B flight instructor for his students.

http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu194/CliffyB/Artwork/B-1BPatchWeb.jpg

Thats very good.  I think I'd have preferred the word "there" instead of "here", though.

[upnorth]

I always thought the B-1 would be a good electronic warfare platform.

The internal volume is there for all kinds of jamming goodies and I imagine you could get most of them in without the need to clutter up the lines with any major lumps and bumps.

Mind you, the crews would likely take to nicknaming it "Electro-Bone". If the sense of humour I've seen typical to military women is followed, I can only imagine the sort of nose art an all female crew might come up with for that. It might preclude ever seeing one in the static park of an airshow. 

[GTX_Admin]

Oh dear...

[Volkodav]

Considering the recent release of the photograph of the fast boat target being taken out by a 2000lb LGB dropped by a B-1B, the obvious role would be Maritime Patrol Bomber. 

[GTX_Admin]

One done by SentinelChicken a while back:



It could almost have happened...

[jschmus]

Considering the recent release of the photograph of the fast boat target being taken out by a 2000lb LGB dropped by a B-1B, the obvious role would be Maritime Patrol Bomber.

I had to look for this.  Found it:
http://theaviationist.com/2013/09/17/gbu-10-boat/#.Ujy4K5DD-fA

[kitnut617]

A few years ago, a B-1 visitor to Calgary International (it couldn't land at Lethbridge Airport for the airshow there so over-nighted in Calgary) had to stay for a lot longer than planned.  It seems that the pilot was too eager to get the wings swung forward for take-off, he did it while taxiing around the perimeter track ---  which didn't have enough space to the perimeter fence ---- It took down about a hundred yards of the fence plus a good portion of the wing tip     

[Volkodav]

One done by SentinelChicken a while back:



It could almost have happened...

  I love that one, who needs a super duper F-111 when you have a Bone!

[GTX_Admin]

Well, the rumour is that back in the early 90's (I believe) some were offered to both Australia and the UK...

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Still waiting for someone to suggest the B-One R dedicated reconnaissance variant :)

[Volkodav]

Well, the rumour is that back in the early 90's (I believe) some were offered to both Australia and the UK...

If so that would be as sad as the Leo 2s, Marders and M-109s offered at the same time, the Kidds offered in the early 2000s and Brigade of Ghurkhas offered in the early 70s

[taiidantomcat]

Still waiting for someone to suggest the B-One R dedicated reconnaissance variant :)

There is the BONE-R proposal with the R standing for "Regional" :

[upnorth]

Still waiting for someone to suggest the B-One R dedicated reconnaissance variant :)

There is the BONE-R proposal with the R standing for "Regional" :

"Regional"?

Sounds like an airliner variant...which could be pretty cool...

Just don't give a fleet of them to Virgin.... the innuendos would never stop.

[ysi_maniac]

Lancer Liner

[ChernayaAkula]

Looks cool, but I hate to think of the burden this would put on stressed-out cabin personnel, always rushing to calm down frightened passengers yelling "THE WINGS ARE COMING OFF!" every time they're altering wing sweep. 

[Diamondback]

Why not combine Air Dom and Pathfinder into one load-out? You've got plenty of space and tonnage... just the thing to carve a big enough hole for the B-52 force to get through en masse.

Then there's the matter of popping those pesky subs and ICBMs, especially those nasty road/rail-mobile buggers, before anybody has a chance to push their local Little Red Button... mobile command posts, whether surface or air, the pathfinder Bones oughtta be able to tackle.

[ysi_maniac]

Fixed geometry Lancer. Lighter, sturdier, best performance, ...  :)

[LemonJello]

Fixed geometry Lancer. Lighter, sturdier, best performance, ...  :)

Now, that is pretty bad-@$$. 

[ChernayaAkula]

Wicked! 

[taiidantomcat]

Agreed with the above! That is really cool!

[ChernayaAkula]

Neat B-1 whif on HyperScale - LINK(with more pics)

[taiidantomcat]

Rotary Aim-54s  Thats a fine BONER, no two ways about it.

[GTX_Admin]

Random thought:  scale-o-rama 1/72 B-1B into 1/48 platform. Maybe give it a two man crew in tandem arrangement (F-14 or F-15B/D/E or similar cockpit?) plus two engines rather than four.  Should result in a platform that would be slightly larger than a F-111.  Maybe do as either a competitor to or replacement for the F-111?

[GTX_Admin]

Neat B-1 whif on HyperScale - LINK(with more pics)

Wasn't there something similar to this in some of the Dale Brown novels?

[ChernayaAkula]

^ In terms of armament, yes. Not so sure about the airframe mods, though. Last Brown novel I read was Battle Born. Musta been about 10 years or so ago. Don't remember whether the "Überfortress" (don't remember the actual name) had a butterfly tail.

Love the scale-o-rama idea. Maybe couple it with ysi-maniac's fixed wing idea.  :)
With a fixed wing, I wonder about putting the engines into the wing roots, H.P. Victor-style....

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Rotary Aim-54s  Thats a fine BONER, no two ways about it.

Moto-Bone[R]

The V-tail certainly sets it apart from the regular B-Ones. 

That is one impressive weapons load too. 

[finsrin]

Comparing various kits, found B-36 wings are decent match to B-1 fuselage.  Plastic surgery is necessary but looks doable.
Ruff concept picture is attached.

[Old Wombat]

Woh!

[taiidantomcat]

Brilliant!!

[finsrin]

Would open up front and rear of engines to become jets.

[finsrin]

Paging back, both the ysi-manic configurations are sweet  :)
And both could built in styrene.

[M.A.D]

A long, long time ago, I played with the notion of a direct scaled-down version of the B-1B as an F-111 replacement.
It used two instead of four F101 turbofans, crew of two, two weapons bays (instead of three). I'll attempt to find my paperwork (yes, it was so long ago, that it was pre PC days for me!  )

From memory it was just a smidgen larger and heavier than the F-111, but in essence, I think such a design would have been very effective in terms of cost, performance and capability! In essence it was a straight out mini-B-1B!

M.A.D

 

[GTX_Admin]

random idea:  fixed FSW

[ysi_maniac]

MDD contender to B-1

[finsrin]

Looking good 
Hmmm....    That work with 1/72 B-1 and 1/48 F-4 ?

[ysi_maniac]

^^^^^
B-1 1/144
F-4 1/72

[ChernayaAkula]

That's fantastic! 
Ysi, how about swapping the 1/144 B-1 cockpit for a 1/72 F-4 Phantom cockpit?
Got something similar planned with a 1/144 B-1 and a 1/72 F-15, but the Phantom wings look too damn cool. I thought about podded engines as on the Concorde. I think they even had quite similar proposals for what would eventually be the F-14 and F-15.

[elmayerle]

MDD contender to B-1

Very nice!  Though I'd expect an option with a scaled F-15 wing, too.

[ysi_maniac]

Fixed geometry Lancer. Lighter, sturdier, best performance, ...  :)

Hi Evan, see above because almost 4 years ago I posted this ^^^^^.

[The Big Gimper]

U.S. Patent 9,963,231 B2 was awarded on May 8th to Boeing. It depicts a number of cannon configurations that can be stowed in a B-1B's weapons bays and extended down outside of those bays for use.

(Yes I checked the the date. It's not April 1st)



http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/20782/boeings-been-granted-a-patent-for-turning-the-b-1b-into-a-gunship-bristling-with-cannons

[Kelmola]

Can the system be mounted on any weapons bay able to accept a CSRL? Because then this opens the door for B-52 and B-2 gunships too...

[GTX_Admin]

Cool!

[GTX_Admin]

[Burncycle]

I was inspired by a 1/144 scale B-1 Bomber next to some 1/72 scale fighters -- would be interesting to see a  "medium" bomber based on the B-1 design, similar in class to the F-111, perhaps a competitor back in the 60's. 

In this case, same layout as a B-1 but with two engines instead of four, and because of the layout you get a 2nd internal bay (versus the F-111's single bay).

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Burncycle says:

I was inspired by a 1/144 scale B-1 Bomber next to some 1/72 scale fighters -- would be interesting to see a  "medium" bomber based on the B-1 design, similar in class to the F-111, perhaps a competitor back in the 60's.

In this case, same layout as a B-1 but with two engines instead of four, and because of the layout you get a 2nd internal bay (versus the F-111's single bay).

Great idea!  Maybe try for two larger engines to replace the original four units.  Something from the F-35 perhaps?

[jcf]

Something like the FB-11H proposal, perhaps

[GTX_Admin]

Interesting - I don't recall seeing the B-1A's escape capsule portrayed too often:

[ysi_maniac]

Something like the FB-11H proposal, perhaps

I love this. 

[Kerick]

There was a proposal for a bomber version of a stretched F-22.
Would F-22 or F-23 wings look good on the Bone?

[ysi_maniac]

Some years ago I draw this.

http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=7007.msg121268#msg121268

[The Big Gimper]

Steve Trimble @TheDEWLine

Quick summary: Boeing is working on a new 22,000lb-rated pylon for B-52 that may allow up to 3 ARRWs on each hardpoint. The image below shows the B-1 with six ARRWs on the belly. Boeing also has shown a new rotary launch for up to eight HAWCs, although depends on final design.

ARRW: AGM-183 ARRW ("Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-183_ARRW

[The Big Gimper]

Via Twitter. I cannot comment on the providence of this diagram but it looks legit.

My vote is for a KB-1B tanker!

[GTX_Admin]

Saw that one years ago - can't remember where though

[ChernayaAkula]

Supersonic refuelling! 

[GTX_Admin]

The version of the drawing I saw was slightly different though essentially the same.  It was part of a 1979 proposal(?) detailing a scheme for a family of aircraft based upon the B-1.  The wings were to be fixed at a 25 sweep angle and limiting the aircraft to subsonic ops.  This would also allow for reduction in some materials such as titanium thus reducing the cost per aircraft significantly.  Everything else was adaptable.

[GTX_Admin]

This could be an interesting real world one to do:












CFBVs

[ChernayaAkula]

Cool!  Gives it a look reminiscent of Bears, Blinders and Badgers. Really needs Red Stars, a crewed twin 23mm in the tail, and some big f***-off anti-ship missile or two under the belly.   

[GTX_Admin]

Cool!  Gives it a look reminiscent of Bears, Blinders and Badgers. Really needs Red Stars, a crewed twin 23mm in the tail, and some big f***-off anti-ship missile or two under the belly.   

Or maybe have it as a failed state USA in a scenario where it was the US that collapsed in the early 1990s not the USSR...

[KiwiZac]

Bone with forward sweep wings? At full forward sweep, you'd have a delta planform much like the Concorde.

Neat B-1 whif on HyperScale - LINK(with more pics)

Wasn't there something similar to this in some of the Dale Brown novels?

I don't know if it returned after, but during the funeral at the end of Day Of The Cheetah a V-tailed, FSW B-1 variant makes a cameo. I don't have my copy to hand but back at What If? in 2006 I said "XFB-5/FB-115 - forward-sweeping VG wings, smaller than a normal B-1, two engines" and I built it with the Academy-Minicraft box-scale kit:
fb-1155_35293778040_o by Zac Yates, on Flickr
fb-1153_35293778290_o by Zac Yates, on Flickr

And here are some fresh pics to properly show it off (I apparently never tackled the exhausts):
FSW B-1 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
FSW B-1 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
FSW B-1 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
FSW B-1 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
FSW B-1 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

Looks cool, but I hate to think of the burden this would put on stressed-out cabin personnel, always rushing to calm down frightened passengers yelling "THE WINGS ARE COMING OFF!" every time they're altering wing sweep. 

Reminds me of Captain Haddock in the Tintin album Flight 714, when the Carreidas jet's wings are swept back!  (Who else wants a Carreidas jet kit?)

One done by SentinelChicken a while back:


It could almost have happened...

I went earlier with a Lindberg B-1A(?):
RAAF B-1A by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[GTX_Admin]