Why the B-2 is Still a Hanger Queen

Strategy Page ^ | 4/28/06

[Constitution Day]

hangar

[joe fonebone]

The term "hangar queen" reminds me of the late 70's, when you had to keep an aircraft in the hangar to scavange for parts to fix the rest, compliments of Mr. Jimmah carter........

[Psycho_Bunny]

I had the chance to see one of these in the sky, once.  They can only be described as "eerie".

 

[Blueflag]

The aircraft is not a hangar queen in the classic sense -- where any/all of the avionics, hydraulics, powerplant, electronics are down. It really gets down to optimizing the 'sortie maintenance' procedures. The USAF is doing that/ working on that.

The guys that work on the B-2 KNOW it is an honor to do so, and they bust their butts on every detail, including readiness.

While this article is factual, I think it slams the B-2 too harshly. The B-2 is incredibly effective leading edge technology. We've got some learning to do still.

[Grut]

The term "hangar queen" reminds me of the late 70's, when you had to keep an aircraft in the hangar to scavange for parts to fix the rest...

Technically, those were 'can birds' (short for cannibalization), although hangar queens usually were the major donors. And let's not forget that the 'hollow force' of the late 70s existed with the (usual) complicity of the top brass, who had gotten where they were by being enthusiastic about the program -- whatever the program might be.

[TalonDJ]

The B-2 is incredibly effective leading edge technology. We've got some learning to do still.

Yeah. It is valuable operation experience for a technology that is far beyond what anyone else has fielded. Future systems will benifi from it.

[BikerGold]

Why the B-2 is Still a Hanger Queen

Simple...I was on their assembly line. Next question?

[Syntyr]

"I had the chance to see one of these in the sky, once. They can only be described as "eerie"."

True! Saw one at an airshow and even at low altitude you could almost not hear it! It seemed impossible that that big of a machine could just hang in the air like that with such little engine noise. My first thought was thats "spooky"

[mr_hammer]

Wanna play, got to pay! High tech gadgets don't come cheap. If they did everyone would have'em, right?

[ElTianti]

I had the chance to see one of these in the sky, once. They can only be described as "eerie".

That’s a fact. I saw one do a fly over at the Frederick, MD air show. It’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a UFO. When it’s coming at you, all you’ll see is thin black line and you won't hear a thing until it’s directly overhead.

[joe fonebone]

yeah........I remember only being able to fly 2 weeks out of the month, because you ran out of money to buy fuel for the aircraft...........

[EricT.]

I'm thinking that if I paid $2 billion for a single aircraft, I would spend as much time as possible making sure everything was 100% operational. This ain't like parking your old Buick and turning over the engine once a month.

[globalheater]

LMFAO

[tgusa]

It truly is leading-edge technology, even more impressive when you consider how long ago it was designed. 'Course, that was when we were painting the Rooskis as being 10 ft tall, when in reality they were only 5'6".

[globalheater]

Paint robots ?

Like these ?

http://www.durr.com/en/presse/bilder.php?term=ecorp

[truemiester]

I recall a new rule came out in about '82 to reduce the number of "hanger queens", by limiting their stay in the hanger to 120 day. This meant that every 119 days an new aircraft would come in and take its place and a big 'parts party' would be had to move parts from one aircraft to another.
Did not change anything, just doubled the work. Should have asked the maintainer what they though but...naugh...a general would have not gotten promoted!

[johnny7]

I lived in an apartment complex that would scavenge one apartment to fix another... it had a whole section devoted to welfare recipients and was owned by a bank.

Bizzaro-world.

[Constitution Day]

;^)

[manwiththehands]

"They can only be described as 'eerie."

That's why they call it the B-2 "Spirit". But "Spooky Black Flying Ghost" would be more appropriate. :-)