7th Bomb Wing, B-1 unit, garners wins in revived Bomb Comp

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7th Bomb Wing, B-1 unit, garners wins in revived Bomb Comp
917th Wing, Barksdale Reserve unit, claims two awards


By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com

As anyone close to Barksdale Air Force Base knows, jets are loud, but there are times when their crews can seem to be be louder.

That was the case today inside Hoban Hall, when members of the 7th Bomb Wing, a B-1 bomber unit out of Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, trekked on stage not once but five times to pick up awards in the 2009 Bombing and Navigation Competition.

By the numbers it wasn’t quite a sweep, as the wing took just under half the 11 awards presented at the ceremony. But in weight of importance the west Texas fliers set the curve, taking the coveted Proud Shield II/Giant Sword II Best Wing award, a giant crystal bowl atop a trophy whose heft, as the proud fliers hauled it away with good-natured elan, may cause a few of them to fail their next flight physicals.

“I’m really happy with the way this all executed,” 8th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Robert J. Elder Jr. said later, as the crews were basking in the moment and chowing down in Hoban Hall. “Our goals with the Bomb Comp are similar to those of the Bomb Comps in the past, which is to demonstrate our capabilities to drop accurate bombs and, with the load comp, our ability to regenerate the airplanes quickly. Then of course we has the security forces competition as well, which demonstrates that we can secure our weapons and our airplanes. It accomplished all of our goals.”

The ceremony, which was absent the festive party air of the past but included a buffet table laden with good food, marked the close of a daylong symposium and weeks of scored competition in bombing, navigation, security, bomb-loading and maintenance. The Boeing Company provided the trophies, many of which were hand-crafted in Barksdale’s wood shop.

The 7th Bomb Wing, whose sleek, speedy bombers are the B-52s chief friendly rival in the bomber world, took that top award and four others: Best Load Crew Team-Conventional and Best Crew Chief Team-Conventional, Best Bomb B-1 and Giant Sword II Best Wing.

The host 2nd Bomb Wing claimed only one award, Best Load Crew Team-Nuclear, in the competition proponents hope will become an annual event. And Barksdale’s sister B-52 unit in the active-duty forces, the 5th Bomb Wing from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., also took only one award, the Best Crew Chief Team-Nuclear.

The Air Force Reserve’s 917th Wing, which flies B-52s, took two prestigious awards: Best Bomb B-52 and Proud Shield II Best Bomb. That would have been unthinkable 15 years ago, when the last competition was held in 1994 under the auspices of Air Combat Command.

“I’m very proud of my guys,” said a happy Col. Ed Walker, the 917th’s commander, who posed with Elder and his fliers for the obligatory trophy photos. He said the crew wasn’t part of his unit’s 93rd Bomb Squadron, but instead is a crew going to the 343rd Bomb Squadron, which will be a Reserve unit operationally under 2nd Bomb Wing, in a reorganization intended to boost the B-52’s utility in the nuclear mission.

The 509th Bomb Wing, the sole B-2 wing in the world, walked away with the award for the best bombing score by that aircraft, which was expected. But it also won a second trophy, that for Best Security Forces Team.

He pointed out that decades ago crews considered dropping a bomb hundreds of feet near the aiming point to be a good result, and now the winner or loser of a bomb drop is measured in mere yards.

And judging by this year’s results, he said, “next year you’re going to have to throw an even better bomb to be a winner.”

Elder said he’s talked with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force about future participation, with positive response, and said he expects if 8th Air Force retains control of the competition it will stay at Barksdale.

“We have these incredible facilities here, and we demonstrated we still can hold those events,” he said. But more important, he said, the competition “helps show both our friends and our foes that we still are committed to this mission.”

This competition was limited to bombers, but in coming years tankers and long-legged F-15 Strike Eagles may compete, as well as select reconnaissance jets and unmanned Global Hawk platforms, he said.

“This was a great day for 8th Air Force and for our Air Force in general,” Elder said. “We in the Air Force understand the importance of the strategic nuclear deterrence mission.”

Virginia Hoban, a daughter of the late Lt. Gen. Richard M. Hoban, first commander of the 8th Air Force when it came to Barksdale in 1975, was one of the people in attendance, sitting in the front row.

She thought her late father, after whom Hoban Hall was named, would be proud of the units and gratified that it had been revived at the base he loved.

“It’s absolutely fabulous to have it back here,” said Hoban, who is fiercely proud of her family’s role in Bomb Comp. “It’s wonderful to see the enthusiasm in this room and the young men and women being recognized for the wonderful job they do for our country.”

She anticipates participation will grow.

“It’s the first year back,” she said. “They’ll cut their teeth and everybody will get hungry again now. That’s what competition is all about.”

Source
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090304/NEWS01/90304034