An American airman used a Flag of Spain to direct a B-1B Lancer bomber

@DefAviation ES 4·26·2024 · 20:51 0

The Bomber Task Force 24-2 deployment of the US Air Force (USAF) concluded on Tuesday, April 23 at Morón Air Base, Spain.

Images of the deployment in Spain of two B-1B Lancer strategic bombers
A close-up tour of a B-1B Lancer nuclear bomber inside and out

As you could read here a few weeks ago, on March 24, 2024, two USAF B-1B Lancer strategic bombers arrived in Morón, from Dyess AFB, Texas, on the occasion of that deployment.

The planes belong to the 9th Bomb Squadron of the 7th Bomb Wing. This last month they have been carrying out training missions in several European countries, in collaboration with different allied air forces.

This Wednesday, the USAF published two sets of photos (here four taken by Staff Sgt. Holly Cook and here another four taken by Senior Airman Zachary Wright) showing the final takeoffs of those bombing raids on Morón during this deployment, some spectacular photos taken at dusk and that you can see along these lines.

In four images we can see, first of all, they are those of Zachary Wright and they show the B-1B bombers seen from the head of the runway at the moment of takeoff, with their four General Electric F101 turbofan engines. GE-102 emitting the propulsion jets typical of post-combustion reactors.

The photos are fabulous, although personally I prefer la spectacular photo by Spanish photographer Jorge Guardia published yesterday on his Instagram account (all his photos seem excellent to me):

All four photos of Holly Cook were taken from the platform. In two of them we see a B-1B taking off with the engines in afterburner.

The plane we see in these first two images is 86-0125 / AF86-125.

In the photo below these lines we see USAF ground personnel observing the takeoff of a B-1B on the platform of the Morón Air Base, along with several vehicles.

The last photo is the most curious: Senior Airman Brady Hackler, crew chief of the USAF 9th Bomber Squadron, directing one of the B-1Bs with a Spanish Flag, in what appears to be a bullfighting pass. A nice way to say goodbye to Spain after this month of deployment.