Self-supporting
Despite being a relatively small
operation within the greater scope of
the host 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess, the
337th TES is a mostly self-supporting and
self-contained unit. Hernandez explains,
‘We have two aircraft that are actually
7th Bomb Wing machines that are
loaned to us. They fall under the 337th,
and we’ll modify those aircraft, change
the software, whatever the case may
be. Our maintainers take care of them
for the most part, but the bomb wing
does the heavy maintenance. Those jets
are interchangeable, though. If one is
broken or otherwise unavailable, the
bomb wing is still required to provide us
with a pair of aircraft. That’s something
that we continue to work with them on,
because they do have an operational
requirement. However, our two aircraft
are specifically funded by Congress. We
have our own specialists, and our own
crew chiefs. We do all that in-house at
the 337th.’
The jets are modified specifically for
the test mission, with, for example,cameras mounted inside the cockpit
to record instrumentation and data
during test flights. All modifications are
designed to be low-impact, meaning the
jets can quickly be returned to ‘normal’
and returned to the fleet. According to
Hernandez, ‘The wing is very supportive
of what we do. Occasionally we need to
remind them of the importance of our
mission, but they understand and know
how much we support the host wing.’Build, teach, and lead
On the other half of the building is the
77th Weapons Squadron, part of the
prestigious USAF Weapons School. While
the school is headquartered at NellisAFB, the B-1 element is hosted at Dyess
for logistics reasons.
Lt Col John ‘Miles’ McClung, the 77th
WPS commander, says, ‘Put simply, our
mission is to build, teach, and lead —
to provide the finest weapons officers
possible. We create not only tactical
leaders, but also critical problem-solvers
and thinkers. Our graduates won’t
look past a problem, but will look at
it differently because they’ve gone
through this program and we’ve put
them through so many iterations that
they have the ability to think about
things differently than they used to.
In a combat situation, a ‘patch-wearer’
[weapons school graduate] canAbove: In the
right-hand pilot
seat is a USAF
Test Pilot School
graduate. This
is unusual for
the 337th TES,
which demands
crews with an
operationally
relevant squadron
background.
Inset: Down the
back — a weapons
systems officer
evaluates some
of the latest
kit, in this case
enhancements
to the Block 16
cockpit displays.UNIT REPORT // 337TH TES, 77TH WPS
32 June 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
30-35 B1 Weapons Test C.indd 32 19/04/2018 15:42