Flying the Mighty B-1B Lancer | Tony Mahoney (Part 2)

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What a lovely guy - very chilled and understated.

We need the Nigel Mansell story. The only driver in history that has been World Champion and IndyCar Champion at the same time.

I completely understand what he's talking about when he mentions differences in culture... I was a LEO, i went from a station where street arrests were king, to station where the highest regarded officer was the one who had never drawn a weapon in 30 plus years.

Excellent interview. I enjoyed Tony's perspective. I was in initial cadre when the AF took possession of the B-1B. Unlike Tony I came from flying the B-52H. So he came from a high powered Lamborghini to a big sports car. I came from a VW buss to a big sports car. I have over 6,000 hours in B-52H and almost 1,600 hours as an instructor pilot in the B-1B. The B-1B is fun to fly, especially going VFR and flying down inside the Grand Canyon and our low level routes. However, when we got "hands off" full Terrain Following it wasn't as fun because we didn't hand fly it as much through the mountains. Fortunately, for pilot proficiency, we also were flying the T-38 so we could check out a T-38 and go out and do acrobatics until we ran out of gas. I loved the crew concept. I had a co-pilot whose wife always made us the best breakfast burritos in the world. As soon as we got to altitude we would take out a bottle of Tabasco sauce and pass out the burritos. This was great especially on long flights to Guam. Prior to flying the B-1B, I was a staff officer at HQ SAC and had input into choosing the B-1B instead of the proposed Stretch FB-111. I personally briefed General Jimmy Dolittle about bomber requirements and he and I (at his request) went out to a parked B-52H and I gave him a tour of the cockpit. (General Dolittle was retired but an active member of the Presidents Scientific Advisory Board). Historical Note: Rumor had it that Rockwell had hidden (in the desert around Palmdale) many of their machines that they used to build the B-1A. When Carter scrapped the B-1 program he sent Feds to destroy all the equipment used to make the B-1A. They never found the hidden machines. Once President Reagan gave the word, the machinery came out of hiding. I saw B-1B number one being built and number 100 being built at Palmdale. Flew most of the early production BONEs. Also, I'm one of the few people still alive that knows why the bomb bay in a B-1B is 163 inches long......but that's another long story.

Nice, thanks fellas....

This was fascinating. Different to many others, hearing such good critical points of the bone in that timeframe

My 30 year memory was inaccurate as I was corrected by another B-1B pilot regarding the location of the RHAW scope in the B-1B. It was in the back not up front where the pilots could see it. However the point I was making was it did not give an accurate direction from where a threat was looking at you from. An extremely confusing distracting device that was therefore useless other than knowing something is looking at you from an unknown direction. Kudos for the contribution the BONE apparently made today.

I was stationed at Grand forks AFB North Dakota in the early 90s we had 21 B1b s stationed there then. We flew them all winter long.

Great Channel! Thank you Sir Mahoney for your service! The :Bone : ..awesome in my books.... notam... flash back to mid 80's late 80's thereabouts... CYAW ( Shearwater International Airshow ) B1B Flying display..... As it was a two day show...I was in attendance both days...The display pilots were at the top of their game! One routine was a swept wing, high speed pass from tree top level.. I kid you not! Vapor off the wings to boot! Well, fast forward to the following year airshow, I was speaking to a USAF Pilot on the static ramp....he was now an instructor I believe on the Talon if memory serves. Well, I mentioned to Him the awesome B1B performance low level high speed the year previous....He looked at me square in the eyes and said ..did you enjoy that pass ? It was me ! Small world.

Yeah, it would have been a tough transition for sure. Love the Bone, but obviously coming from the F-16, it would be a let down. with my background (before the F-16) in the F-111, it would have been easier for me, I think.

Electrictronic countermeasures from a nearby F-111.. The ground could force an intruder up the same way. That's something to watch out for. I wonder if that P-51 had been optimised for low level races.

Very interesting interview! He's totally right that the B-1B is/was BY FAR the loudest plane I've ever heard on the ground. Always set off car alarms when in reheat. And he's right that in the early conventional days, it wasn't a very capable conventional bomber. He must have come in just after they solved the problem of it jamming it's own radar! My only disappointment is that he didn't dive into the mindset of SAC (or bomber ACC) that he hinted at in the last interview. That, unlike fighter pilots, they praised rather than critiqued each flight. Hence the failure to figure out the Raven jamming them (that was my first thought when he brought it up so it's not that hard to figure out). Maybe he just didn't want to rag too much on the bomber community at the time. Funny that he's flown a Bone at Mach .95 and now flies an 18hp ultralight- very different low level experiences!!

Really enjoyed this. Such a varied career. Have a mate who was RIFed and ended up back here on the F111. Must have been around the same time as Tony. The Flag I went to was one of the first with the b1 on a conventional role. We were the only ones who could keep up with them and helped escort them egressing off target as our escort was either “dead” or outta gas by then!

I think this was a brilliant interview - really honest and insightful and not sugar coated. I think it’s easy to forget the politics of decisions within the service and without that can leave service personnel sometimes with a substandard platform and also personnel who find themselves in odd places - as said the platform is different now and as they sometimes can be seen from my kitchen window I’m glad they are still about as it is one heck of a beautiful aircraft.

Very interesting. Thanks for your stories.

This guy really did it all

Great honest interview! Glad he's been to visit Duxford :-)

Great video as usual, ty!

Great and interesting interview. Very diverse career.