Kenneth Katz, an aviation author who has written about the B-1 and other military aircraft, will lead a panel discussion focused on the Rockwell B-1 Lancer as part of the EAA Aviation Museum Speaker Series on Thursday, April 16, at 7 p.m.
Ken, EAA 1086171, is a retired aerospace engineer and served as a flight test engineer at Edwards Air Force Base while he was on active duty in the Air Force. An avid general aviation pilot, Ken has been fascinated with the flight test side of the aerospace industry throughout his entire career. That fascination led Ken to become a published author. He’s written three books on different aircraft, including The Supersonic BONE: A Development and Operational History of the B-1 Bomber.
“I’ve had a long fascination with the B-1,” Ken said. “It goes back about 50 years. The father of my best friend growing up was an engineer on the B-1 program, and would actually make some of the electronics for the airplane. He would bring home B-1 swag. It was cool for that reason, but of course it’s a gorgeous airplane. It’s something I’ve always been fascinated by even though I’ve never worked professionally on the airplane.”
Ken will discuss the B-1’s developmental history — from its origins in the 1960s, to its first iteration in the 1970s as the B-1A, to its revival in the 1980s as the B-1B. While never having worked directly on the B-1, Ken is one of the foremost authorities on the aircraft through the research and interviews he’s done over the years.
“I started with a high degree of research, intensive research, on the B-1 about a decade ago,” he said. “As I moved forward, I did base visits. I met a lot of people in the B-1 community by use of Facebook and built a reputation as a pretty serious researcher. Not only did I have a tremendous number of interviews, I had in excess of 40 interviews with people all through the history of the B-1, but those people also provided me with their private stashes of documents and photographs. I believe my history of the B-1 is by far the most in-depth, comprehensive history [of the aircraft] that’s ever been written.”
One of the key points Ken wants to convey about the B-1 is that although the aircraft is an impressive piece of engineering and holds that undeniable “cool” factor, it’s a program that took on much greater significance than simply being an aerospace marvel.
“The kinds of people who are going to buy a book about the B-1 or attend a lecture are airplane buffs. But that’s not the primary way to understand something like the B-1. The B-1 is a tool of national security and always has been, and it’s a product of politics,” Ken explained. “Many of the people who made the most important decisions about the B-1 really couldn’t care less about airplanes. They’re some combination of politicians and policymakers, and they have other concerns. … Sometimes we think with the military, who has all the cool airplanes, that cool airplanes are the purpose. But that’s not the purpose at all. The purpose is to achieve certain national security ends.”
Ken’s two co-presenters for the presentation are Col. John Chilstrom and Col. Fred Swan, who both served on B-1s — Chilstrom as an aircraft commander/pilot and Swan as a weapon systems officer.
Thursday’s presentation is free for EAA members and youths, and just $5 for nonmembers. If you’re unable to attend, all Speaker Series presentations are recorded and will be available to members to watch here at a later date.