B1A

On December 23, 1974, Charles “Charlie” Bock and his team completed the B-1’s initial flight. Before leaving Rockwell in 1981, he logged 600 hours of flight time in that aircraft

On August 21, 2019, retired colonel Charles “Charlie” Bock, who piloted the B-1A on its initial flight, passed away. Bock also piloted the first B-58 Hustler from Fort Worth to Edwards Air Force Base when he was testing aircraft. Bock was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on November 24, 1925.

In 1949, Iowa Aviation Museum graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University. Bock served in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) for a very long time and had a remarkable career as a bomber pilot, fighter pilot, test pilot, and military astronaut nominee. Col. Bock flew 52 combat missions with the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing in Vietnam and 51 combat missions with the 90th Bomb Squadron in Korea. Two tours at Flight Test Operations at the Air Force Fight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, were among the other assignments.

He took involved in a number of the Center’s flight test initiatives and brought the first B-58 to leave the factory for a year of testing. Col. Bock flew the B-50 for the X-2 launch and the B-52 for all of the X-15’s initial captive and launch flights. A YF-12/SR-71 Test Force was established when the YF-12 landed at the Center, with Charlie serving as the Operations Officer. The objective was to help Lockheed increase the SR-71’s operating range.

Bock left the USAF in 1973 and accepted a job as the chief test pilot for the B-1 program at Rockwell International. On December 23, 1974, he and his crew completed the B-1’s maiden flight. Before quitting flying in that aircraft in 1981, he logged 600 hours of flight time.

Col. Bock was in charge of all aircrew training and significantly influenced the design of the priorities and objectives for the B-1 flight test program. He left Rockwell in 1981 and worked as a consultant for Northrop Corporation on the B-2 Stealth Bomber from 1982 to 1984.

Charles “Charlie” Bock logged more than 10,000 hours in more than 100 different types of aircraft throughout his flying career. He also won a number of numerous awards, including the Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, six Air Medals, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Tenhoff Award, and the Iven C. Kincheloe Award, in addition to the Legion of Merit. In 1994, he was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor.

Photo by U.S. Air Force and Iowa Aviation Museum

The Rogers Dry Lake runways were accessible from the 70-minute, 250-mile flight path while the B-1A basic flight evaluation was being carried out

The amazing image in this post depicts the Rockwell International B-1A taking off for its inaugural flight from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California on December 23, 1974. The aircraft landed at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB).

Col. Charles Bock Jr., a veteran USAF pilot and test pilot for Rockwell, flew the B-1A. Col. Emil “Ted” Sturmthal, a B-1 Joint Test Force director and an Air Force pilot, and flight test engineer Richard Abrams were with him. The Rogers Dry Lake runways were accessible from the 70-minute, 250-mile flight path, which was used for the basic flight evaluation.

As a replacement for the B-52, the B-1A was first created in the 1970s. The development and testing of four prototypes of this long-range, high-speed (Mach 2.2), strategic bomber took place in the middle of the 1970s, but the program was discontinued in 1977 before it could be put into production. Through 1981, flight testing was still ongoing.

The Reagan government began the development of the B-1B in 1981 as an enhanced version. The main modifications included an additional structure to enhance payload by 74,000 pounds, a better radar, and an order-of-magnitude reduction in the radar cross-section (RCS). As a result of the considerable modifications made to the inlet as part of this RCS reduction, the maximum speed had to be lowered to Mach 1.2.

In October 1984, the first production B-1 took to the air, and in June 1985, the first B-1B arrived at Dyess AFB in Texas. On October 1, 1986, initial operational capability (IOC) was attained. May 2, 1988, saw the delivery of the last B-1B.

Nearly 50 world records for speed, payload, range, and time of climb in its class are held by the B-1B. The B-1B was honored by the National Aeronautic Association for successfully completing one of the top ten most memorable record flights in 1994. In 2004, the most recent records became legally binding.

Photo by Edwards History Office photo / U.S. Air Force

Source: U.S. Air Force