#north dakota photographer

[wildlifetracker]

American bison (Bison bison). Sage Creek Campground, Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

[abandonedhousesofruralamerica]

[wandering-jana]

A prairie dog mid yip.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park-North Unit, North Dakota

Sept. 2022

[minecraft2013]

[nhaelm]

Red-wing Blackbird

Canon 2000d

[shailorae]

Create what you feel☀️✨️💙

[wildflowersnweed]

There’s nothing like a pair of rainbow shoes and fresh dirt. Can’t take the country out of the girl.

[zooophagous]

I see a post, that asks the question "you are now married to your phone background, how fucked are you?"

I close the app and look. When was the last time I considered my phone background? I can't even remember it.

On the screen before me is a purple wildflower, a bergamot, or "bee balm" plant, photographed in North Dakota in 2019 in a family member's back yard.

I am married to a bergamot. She is tall and shapely, moreso than myself, though her choice of purple raiments matched closely my own. She is my favorite color. Maybe that's how we met? Why I decided to woo her?

My wife the bergamot is a socialite. She has more friends than I. Every morning she gossips with a cabbage white butterfly, and cruelly shares their secrets with the rusty patched bumblebees, who compete for her affections with the domesticated aapis mellifera, which trail at her purple coattails like lapdogs.

Her favorite friend, however, is the ruby throated hummingbird. More insect than avian though it does contain a vertebral column, it iridesces like green beetle wings and in my heart I feel jealousy as my bergamot bride and the hummingbird kiss.

I sit with her for a season. Under the sun and the heat and the biting flies. She is covered in dewdrops and in spiders. I spare her from caterpillars and lavish my affections on her with a cup of water.

The world turns at last to its cool side, my bergamot changes her purple coat to her dusty toned night gown. She lies down to sleep and is buried beneath a bed of fresh snow come October.

Love so fleeting, marriage so brief, could I forget my bergamot and move on? Could my love be perennial and evergreen even when my beloved is not? It is winter and my bride is dead. How fucked am I?

[elixir]

Malls Across America by Michael Galinsky

In 1989 Michael Galinsky, a twenty-year-old photographer, drove across the country recording this change: the spaces, textures and pace that defined this era. Starting in the winter of 1989 with the Smith Haven Mall in Garden City Long Island, Galinsky photographed malls from North Carolina to South Dakota, Washington State and beyond. The photos he took capture life in these malls as it began to shift from the shiny excess of the 1980s towards an era of slackers and grunge culture. Malls Across America is filled with seemingly lost or harried families navigating their way through these temples of consumerism, along with playful teens, misfits and the aged.

[robertmatejcek]

Untitled Pinhole Photographs (Rural Inkster, North Dakota) - pinhole photographs - paper negatives, 2 minute exposures +/-, aluminum can &camera, caffenol developer - robert matejcek - 2024

“And as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention.” - Bret Easton Ellis - American Psyco

tags:

[usafphantom2]

B-1B Named Rage Brought Out Of Mothballs To Fly Once Again

Previously placed in long-term storage, the bomber is now flying again, with only two B-1B attrition replacements left at the boneyard.

Posted on Jul 20, 2024 12:55 PM EDT

Recently retired Lancer Rage takes to the skies above Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona

Cayden Smith

After three years at the boneyard, a B-1B Lancer, nicknamed Rage, has been resurrected and is flying once more. The re-appearance of the aircraft comes as the Air Force’s B-1B bombers look to be in the twilight of their service career.

Aviation photographer Cayden Smith recently pictured B-1B Rage, with the serial number 86-0115, flying at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), located at the base, manages the Pentagon’s adjacent aircraft boneyard in Tucson.

B-1B Rage pictured flying at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base. Cayden Smith

Cayden Smith

Rage was one of 17 B-1Bs retired in 2021 which ended up at the boneyard. This was to help consolidate the B-1 fleet from 62 to 45 aircraft to help improve overall readiness rates and cut costs before completion of the type’s replacement, the B-21 Stealth Raider.

Moreover, Rage was just one of four B-1Bs placed into what’s known as Type 2000 (reclaimable) storage. Essentially, as we have explained before, this means the aircraft are maintained in a fashion that makes it easier and quicker for them to return to service should the need arise, due to any potential future combat losses or accidents. Type 2000 storage is one step down from Type 1000 “inviolate storage,” which prohibits any part of the aircraft from being removed. Yet even in this type of storage, it can still take months to get aircraft ready to resume their operational duties.

Rage pictured flying at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base. Cayden Smith

It seems highly likely that the bomber has been restored to operational readiness to replace the B-1 that crashed at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota earlier in January this year. As part of the aftermentioned consolidation of the B-1B fleet in 2021, there are strict legal requirements set by Congress for the service to maintain a fleet of 45 B-1Bs.

The remains of the B-1B after the aircraft came to rest adjacent to the runway at Ellsworth, in satellite imagery dated January 6, 2024. PHOTO © 2024 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION

The B-1 fleet has seen its fair share of incidents and accidents over recent years, alongside general readiness issues. Notably, in 2021, an issue with the augmenter fuel pump filter housing led to a fleet-wide grounding.

This is not the first time we’ve seen a recently retired B-1B come back from Tucson to replace another due to an accident occurring.

In April this year, a B-1B nicknamed Lancelot — also retired in Type 2000 storage — was flown to Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, to complete the regeneration process before joining the Air Fleet. This was in order for it to replace another aircraft that was written off after a catastrophic engine fire during routine maintenance at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, in 2022.

Lancelot pictured earlier this year. U.S. Air Force photo by Clayton Cummins

Parts of B-1Bs have also been removed from the boneyard for various non-flying test purposes, too.

Other bombers have also been removed from the Bone Yard and placed back into service. In May 2019, the B-52 Wise Guy, serial number 60-0034 touched down at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana to replace another one of the bombers that crashed and burned at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, three years before. Before that, the B-52 Ghost Rider, serial 61-0007, returned to service at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, in February 2015 to replace a B-52 written off after an electrical fire broke out during routine maintenance in 2014.

While the size of the B-1 fleet has significantly downsized in recent years, the Air Force still values the Lancer. Efforts have been made to extend the life of the bombers prior to the introduction of the B-21, including flight envelope restrictions having been placed on the fleet, as well as systems and potential weapons upgrades.

A B-1B during a Bomber Task Force mission over the Pacific Ocean, June 25, 2022. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Nicholas Priest U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Nicholas Priest

The mission-set of the B-1B has also shifted back primarily to long-range strike after years of providing close air support and strike support for counter insurgency operations during the Global War On Terror. These extremely long sorties — which can last nearly 40 hours — point to the kinds of operations the service likely expects to conduct with its new B-21.

Moreover, the type is also prized due to its load-carrying capabilities, including the potential carriage of larger weapons and possibly hypersonic cruise missiles. The B-1B’s ability to carry many stealthy cruise missiles over great distances is already extremely relevant to a potential fight in the Pacific against China. These include the ability to fire Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASMs), allowing the B-1B to target entire floatillas over great distances.

With this in mind, the B-1 fleet — now including Rage — will still be put to good use until it eventually faces retirement for good, but it is a bit concerning that two of just four attrition reserve airframes are already regenerated back to the relatively tiny fleet.

Hat tip: thanks to aviation photographer Cayden Smith for allowing us to use his pictures of Rage in this article.

Contact the author: oliver@thewarzone.com

[retropopcult]

October 1940. "Grand Forks, North Dakota." A scene last glimpsed here, also photographed by John Vachon for the Resettlement Administration.

[abandonedhousesofruralamerica]

[wandering-jana]

Coal Vein Nature Trail.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota.

Sept. 2022

[minecraft2013]

[nhaelm]

American Red Squirrel

Canon 2000d