---
title: "The B-1 Lancer Is America’s Forgotten Bomber Hero"
description: "Sleek, seductive, supersonic."
date: "2016-03-16"
modified: "2016-03-16"
authors:
  - name: "Will Sabel Courtney"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/will-sabel-courtney"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/design/2575/the-b-1-lancer-is-americas-forgotten-bomber-hero"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Air Force"
  - "airplanes"
  - "Aviation"
  - "Military"
---

# The B-1 Lancer Is America’s Forgotten Bomber Hero

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Sandwiched between [the unflappable B-52](<https://www.thedrive.com/vintage/2117/a-fascinating-plan-turns-the-b-52-into-a-weapons-battery-in-the-sky>) and [the undetectable B-2](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/2427/heres-some-epic-b-2-bomber-footage-because-america>), [the Rockwell B-1 Lancer](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_B-1_Lancer>) is the neglected middle child of America’s bomber family. Conceived in the 1960s as a supersonic penetrator that would zip through enemy lines and heave thermonuclear warheads at America’s foes, the B-1 program was cancelled in 1977 in favor of the nascent stealth bomber program. President Reagan dusted the bomber off in 1981 as a stopgap until the B-2 was ready, but there was a twist: the top speed would be dropped from Mach 2.2 to Mach 1.25 as part of a plan to bulk up the plane and make it more lethal at lower speeds.

The resulting bomber, dubbed the B-1B, was effectively obsolete by the time the final example rolled off the production line in 1988; by that point, the U.S. Air Force believed Soviet defenses could knock it out of the sky. But it found a second life in the post-Cold War era—not as a courier of nuclear Armageddon, but as a fast-acting attacker swooping in to save friendly forces. Time and again in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, and Syria, the B-1B has been called in to provide air support, saving ground troops with its pinpoint attacking precision. And thanks to the B-1B’s speed and range, the Air Force expects it to play a vital role in the U.S. military’s turn towards the Pacific theatre over the next few decades.

And while [the B-21 bomber](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/2366/air-force-reveals-americas-new-bomber-the-b-21>) is expected to eventually replace the B-1B, that stealthy wedge won’t be nearly as stylish as the Lancer. Those swing wings are vintage ‘60s cool, while the twin windscreens and pointed nose give it falcon-like aggression. And the B-1B’s sleek body and massive, underslung engines make it the hot rod of the skies.

![b-1b-bomber-art-1.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-1.jpg>)
**Flickr.com**

![b-1b-bomber-art-2.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-2.jpg>)
**Flickr.com**

![b-1b-bomber-art-3.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-3.jpg>)
**Flickr.com**

![b-1b-bomber-art-4.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-4.jpg>)
**Flickr.com**

![b-1b-bomber-art-5.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-5.jpg>)
**Flickr.com**

![b-1b-bomber-art-6.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-6.jpg>)
**Flickr.com**

![b-1b-bomber-art-7.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-7.jpg>)
**Flickr.com**

![b-1b-bomber-art-9.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-9.jpg>)
**Flickr.com**

![b-1b-bomber-art-11.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-11.jpg>)
**Flickr.com**

![b-1b-bomber-art-12.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-12.jpg>)
**Wikipedia Commons**

![b-1b-bomber-art-13.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-13.jpg>)
**Wikipedia Commons**

![b-1b-bomber-art-14.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-14.jpg>)
**ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images**

![b-1b-bomber-art-15.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-15.jpg>)
**Mark Dadswell/Getty Images**

![b-1b-bomber-art-16.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-16.jpg>)
**DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images**

![b-1b-bomber-art-17.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/b-1b-bomber-art-17.jpg>)
**Courtesy USAF/Getty Images**

## Author
Will is the former managing editor of *RIDES Magazine* and the former online editor for *0-60 Magazine*. He has worked for *Time Out New York* and *Rolling Stone*, and was the creator of *College Cars Online*, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/willsabelcourtney>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/willscourtney>)