B-1 Returns to Flight After Restoration, Surviving the ‘Boneyard’

B-1 returns to flight after restoration, surviving the ‘boneyard’

After time in storage and two years of “intensive” maintenance efforts, a B-1B Lancer is back in action, deemed combat capable.The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base regenerated the aircraft following its time in the “boneyard,” according to a Thursday Air Force release.The “boneyard,” held at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, refers to Type 2000 storage that keeps aircrafts available to reclaim certain parts for active fle…

The U.S. Air Force Was Going to Retire the B-1B Lancer — Then Operation Epic Fury Proved the Cold War-Era Bomber Still Has No Equal

The U.S. Air Force was preparing to retire the B-1B Lancer when Operation Epic Fury began on February 28 — and the Cold War-era bomber proceeded to carry more conventional firepower into Iran than any other aircraft in the U.S. fleet. Flying from RAF Fairford and from bases on the U.S. mainland, B-1Bs delivered JASSM cruise missiles and precision bunker-busters against Iranian ballistic missile facilities and weapons production infrastructure. T…

The U.S. Air Force Just Pulled a B-1B Bomber Out of the Boneyard — ‘The Rage’ Took 200 Personnel Two Years to Return to Flying

In a sign that the B-1B bomber may not be done just yet from the Air Force’s inventory, the service just added one to the roles of its bomber fleet. The Air Force has brought back a B-1B Lancer, completing a yearslong process to transform a bomber at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma, which had been stored for parts in the Arizona desert, into the new flagship of the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. B-1B, tail 86-0115, which was named “The Rag…

B-1B Bomber “Rage” Returns to Service After Restoration

The B-1B 86-0115, now renamed “Apocalypse II,” returned to service at Dyess AFB after being previously retired in 2021. The U.S. Air Force announced on May 6, 2026, that a regenerated B-1B Lancer bomber has returned to service after a nearly two-year restoration effort that began in July 2024 at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The aircraft is the serial number 86-0115, known as “Rage,” that we wrote about in July 2024 when it was pulled from st…

B-1 Lancer: from storage in the boneyard, back in the air

A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer once parked in the Arizona desert is back in the air after an intensive regeneration and depot maintenance effort led by the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base. Follow Aeronews on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok More than 200 Airmen and civilians from the 567th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron worked extended shifts completing system overhauls and structural repairs, replacing more than …

Retired B-1B “Apocalypse II” Returns to Service as Air Force Confirms Hypersonic Integration

The U.S. Air Force returned a retired B-1B Lancer to operational service at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas on April 22, completing a nearly two-year regeneration effort. 1/ Back from the Boneyard “A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer [(86-0115)] once parked in the Arizona desert is back in the air after an intensive regeneration and depot maintenance effort led by the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base.” pic.twitter.com/ZHPQLrfNw…