Bone In Action; B-1 Lancer

Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 2002. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Trade paperback. Very good. Lou Drendel and Mariano Rosales and Richard Richar. Format is approximately 11 inches by 8.125 inches. 48, [2] pages, plus covers. Illustrated covers. Illustrations (some color). Cover has slight wear and soiling. Number 179 in their Aircraft series. Lou Drendel has been drawing and painting airplanes for as long as he can remember. This fascination with airplanes, particularly military airplanes, was fostered by his dad, who built solid models of combat airplanes during WWII. He spent his time in the library devouring military history. When he read "Those Devils in Baggy Pants", the World War II chronicle of the 504th Airborne Infantry Regiment, he knew he had to become a Paratrooper. Three years in the 82nd Airborne Division gave me an appreciation for the appeal of calculated risk......and a set of Senior Parachutist Wings. He earned a Private Pilot certificate in 1965, my Commercial in 1966, and started aerobatic instruction that same year. By 1968 he had logged over 500 hours. But he had also gotten serious about painting airplanes and was soon promoting publication. The Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine published an eight-page feature on a series of paintings he had done depicting the Air War in Vietnam. The Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society also published several of his works. Braniff Captain, aviation author, and publisher Len Morgan suggested that he should write and illustrate a book and he would publish it. "The Air War in Vietnam" was published in 1968. Others followed. In early 1972, he went to Eglin AFB and Hurlburt Field for the USAF Art program. This trip was led to several paintings which are in the USAF Art Collection. Squadron ceased operations in January 2021, and had not published any new titles for some time prior to that. In May 2022, the Squadron-Signal line was relaunched. The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It has been nicknamed the "Bone" (from "B-One"). It is one of the Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with the B-2 Spirit and the B-52 Stratofortress, as of 2024. Its 75,000-pound payload is the heaviest of any U.S. bomber. The B-1 was first envisioned in the 1960s as a bomber that would combine the Mach 2 speed of the B-58 Hustler with the range and payload of the B-52, ultimately replacing both. After a long series of studies, Rockwell International (B-1 division later acquired by Boeing) won the design contest for what emerged as the B-1A. Prototypes of this version could fly Mach 2.2 at high altitude and long distances at Mach 0.85 at very low altitudes. The program was canceled in 1977 due to its high cost, the introduction of the AGM-86 cruise missile that flew the same basic speed and distance, and early work on the B-2 stealth bomber. The program was restarted in 1981, largely as an interim measure due to delays in the B-2 stealth bomber program. The B-1A design was altered, reducing top speed to Mach 1.25 at high altitude, increasing low-altitude speed to Mach 0.96, extensively improving electronic components, and upgrading the airframe to carry more fuel and weapons. Dubbed the B-1B, deliveries of the new variant began in 1985; the plane formally entered service with Strategic Air Command (SAC) as a nuclear bomber the following year. By 1988, all 100 aircraft had been delivered. With the disestablishment of SAC and its reassignment to the Air Combat Command in 1992, the B-1B's nuclear capabilities were disabled and it was outfitted for conventional bombing. It first served in combat during Operation Desert Fox in 1998 and again during the NATO action in Kosovo the following year. The B-1B has supported U.S. and NATO military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. As of 2021 the Air Force has 45 B-1Bs. The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is to begin replacing the B-1B after 2025; all B-1s are planned to be retired by 2036.