Tinker AFB prepares resurrected B-1B bomber for return to service

A retired B-1B Lancer is undergoing extensive maintenance at Tinker Air Force Base after being pulled out of the Air Force’s Boneyard to replace one badly damaged in a 2022 engine explosion at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.

The plane was made air worthy earlier this year and flown to Tinker in February where it is said to be given updates and being stripped down for detailed examination. The bomber, nicknamed “Lancelot,” sat in the Boneyard in Arizona for years until the incident two years ago necessitated the need for a replacement in the Air Force’s bomber fleet.

Military Times reported maintenance and upgrades to the resurrected “Lancelot” will take about six months before it joins the active duty fleet.

The Boneyard is really the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and was created at the end of World War Two to handle the storage of unnecessary aircraft. Because of the geological location as well as the area’s low humidity of 10% to 20%, it allows aircraft to be naturally preserved for cannibalization or possible reuse, such as in the situation of the Lancelot.

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