B-1 bomber crashes in Qatar

[HereSince1628]

Source: CNN

B-1 bomber crashes in QatarStory Highlights
No information on casualties

Al-Udeid Air Base is headquarters for U.S. air operations in Mideast

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. military says a B-1 bomber has crashed at an American air base in Qatar.

Initial reports are that the bomber crashed at al-Udeid Air Base, headquarters of all American air operations in the Middle East.

The official spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because the reports are preliminary.

There was no information yet on casualties.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/04/bomber.crash.ap/index.html

[UpInArms]

1. Reuters: U.S. B-1 bomber explodes on landing in Qatar: Jazeera

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0436849420080404

DUBAI (Reuters) - A U.S. B-1 bomber exploded while landing in a Qatari air base due to a technical fault on Friday, Qatar-based Al Jazeera television reported.

The television station did not say if anyone was hurt in the incident at the Al Udeid air base south of the Qatari capital Doha. It said earlier a B-52 plane had exploded.

A U.S. air force spokesman said he had no immediate report of such an incident and would check.

Al Udeid is used by U.S. forces in the Gulf Arab country, which hosted the advance headquarters of the U.S.-led forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

[Redstone]

2. Piece of crap. Probably the only bad airplane North American ever made, and man,

it's a bad one.

Redstone

[Barrett808]

3. Cool-looking, though. n/t

[Redstone]

7. Still a piece of shit. More lost, by percentage of production, by bird strikes than

any other US military aircraft.

Yes, I know airplanes, and I know that bird strikes are NO joking matter. But even the roundly-condemned Vark could take a bird hit beter than the B-1 piece of crap.

Redstone

[Kolesar]

11. I recall that the ground-hugging radar/avionics, that was the fundmental defense for the B-1B

...did not work. Rockwell/NA tried to make the B-1B a ground hugging airplane, because the supersonic, high altitude, original B-1 could be caught and shot by a Mig. The Air Force ended up with 100 of these airplanes that were no more functional than a 1961 B-52.

[Keefer]

13. "Ground-hugging radar"

Otherwise known as TFR, Terrain-following radar. It worked superbly on the F-111A. I used to maintain it. Tuning the antenna/receivers was a little tricky, but the system worked as advertised. Can you imagine flying 200 feet off the ground at mach 1.2 on "hard" ride?

[maseman]

17. I can't imagine flying my Cessna 182

at 200 feet for long. Scary enough at 120 knots.

[Keefer]

14. Roundly condemned Vark?

The F-111 was a flying masterpiece! I maintained them for 9+ years at Mountain Home AFB.

[Zhade]

18. Osprey.

I win!

[daleo]

4. How much do they cost?

I thought it was a billion per plane, or along those lines?

[Purveyor]

8. From Wikipedia: Unit cost US$283.1 million in 1998 (B-1B)

It's the B-2 that can cost over $2 billion...

[Deny and Shred]

9. I believe it's this version of the b-1. $200 million +

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/b-1b.htm

[Warren Stupidity]

5. Iraq is not a war zone.

Bombing civilian areas is a war crime. Why are we bombing Iraq?

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. "Why are we bombing Iraq?" - Because the "decider" said so.

.
.
.

[TexasProgresive]

10. A flying crematorium.

This bird is a Raygun era piece of flying(sometimes) flaming blivet(10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag)

Carter rightly suspended the B1 program but in comes the stupid is as stupid does bunch and they reinstate it.

No way to prove it because the USAF will not reported it that way but I'll bet it was on fire before landing and not that it crashed and then burned.

[sofa king]

15. Wow, Tex! You pegged that one!

As per the post just after you, the plane was on fire before landing and the crew safely escaped.

How did you know that?

Edit: The folks I knew who knew the B1-B never called it anything other than a "hangar queen." It sat out the entire first Gulf War, being grounded for one reason or another.

The story I heard about the "B" version is that after Carter canceled the first version, North American began stockpiling parts and investing heavily in Republicans. The scheme worked.

[pinto]

12. Update, per CNN. Crew safe, plane caught fire on landing was able to taxi.

Crew got out.

[Aristus]

16. Why did the headline not say "B-1 Bomber takes off", too?

Every time one of those craptastic contraptions takes off, it crashes. More proof, if any were needed, that President Carter was right to kill the program, and Ronald Reagan's Rambo-worshipping ass was deluded to start it back up...