B-2s to the Guard

[LearLove]

Is it really true that B-2 pilots carry plywood boards onto the planes with them to use as beds?

I saw awhile back on the history or discovery channel a b2 pilot being interviewed and he said they placed a lawn chair in the cockpit to sleep on on the 36hr flights.

 

[Draginass]

Draginass, you would know, I once did a briefing/report on the B-1 in the guard and government accounting documents claim that the GA, and KS ANG operated the B-1 @ 9,000 dollars cheaper per flight hour due to higly experienced MX personnel (most are E-6 and above). I know several old mx folks from MAFB that claimed this as well. Have you heard this, or do you know it to be true. ?

No, I had not heard that, nor do I believe it. Mx problems/MC rates with the B-1 were primarily due to parts availability under the 2-level maintenance concept, not expertise . . . at least in my experience. Perhaps some guard units had less manning which artificially contributed to a somewhat lower per hour rate or were illegally repairing LRUs rather than sending them back to depot, but $9k is 45% less than nominal. Active units were pretty experienced on the airplane as well. Some problems with retaining 5-levels just like everywhere. Another problem with the dispersed basing was the limited number of tool sets in the initial procurement. Granted, this will not be a problem with the B-2 as the airplanes wouldn't be spread out over 6 bases like the B-1 was.

The caveat is that at the unit level, I was not privy to the detailed costing of other units, so this is my opinoin only, not to be take as gospel.

I'm always skeptical of figure like that, because figures can be made to look like anything you want. Big politics behind the ANG and Reserve, just like everywhere else, with figures compiled to match the agenda.

 

[bagasticks]

agreed, and the government reports that I read were prepared by state governments trying to keep these airframes in their state.