his summer I got up early one Saturday morning and prepared for an adventure.

I had been invited by one of my email friends to come see him at his office... at Lockheed Martin Information Services - Quintron Operations - Dyess AFB !

I checked all my supplies; 35mm film and camera, digital camera, extra battery packs, map to Abilene, and of course... Oreo cookies to snack on.

It looked like it would be another 105ºf day and I had already been warned that it would be extremely hot up in the cockpit of a B-1 out on the tarmac.  I wasn't worried, I knew the aircraft would have to be on fire to keep me out. I wore a pair of shorts and picked out my best USAF T-shirt to help fight the heat. 

After about a 200 mile drive straight West of Dallas, I arrived in the city of Abilene, Texas. I looked at my notes and found the phone number I was looking for and dialed. Seconds later, I heard the voice for the first time that went with all the emails I had gotten. The voice and the emails belonged to Michael Newberry. 

Mike is a Configuration Management Technician and one of his jobs is to make sure that when the B-1B has any glitches or fixes, the simulator has the same glitches and fixes, so pilots and designers can test out real-life scenarios without endangering anyone. (at least that's what I got out of it, I could be way off)

Forget all that ... because the important part is, he gets to work with a big full size B-1B cockpit that rolls, yaws, and pitches all over the place with accurate 3D mountains rushing by and realistic engine sounds. All this, AND he gets paid for it!

Click below to read the story and see the pictures from my visit.