Final Flight of the Watchman
In order to optimize the health of the existing B-1B fleet and to begin making room for the B-21 Raider (coming 2023), the US Air Force has begun divesting 17 Lancers from the fleet. Aircraft with the least amount of usable airframe life were chosen as those that would be divested.
Aircraft 86-0101 "Watchman" was flown to Tinker AFB, OK on April 19, 2021 to become a structures prototyping evaluator. Due to her divestment from the fleet, these are the last photos of the aircraft you will see airborne. We captured her arrival and several passes on runway 18 at Tinker before her very final full stop landing. Its a sad day seeing these aircraft retiring, but content in the fact that we captured the final history of this aircraft.
Thank you Dyess PA for forwarding me their DVIDS photos and information on their sendoff.