Air Force base bids farewell to B-1 bomber era

WARNER ROBBIINS - Pilots with Robins Air Force Base&#39;s 116th Bomb Wing have shut down the engines of their B-1 bombers. <br> <br> They had their last training exercise in the aircraft yesterday. <br> <br> The base&#39;s six remaining B-1s (Ones) will be flown out in the next few weeks by aircrews from the planes&#39; new home, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. <br> <br> The 116th, a Georgia Air National Guard Unit, learned last fall that it would be losing its supersonic bombers. <br> <br> They also learned they would be merging with an active-duty unit at Robins, the 93rd Air Control. <br> <br> Around October first, the combined unit will be renamed the 116th Air Control Wing, the first-ever ``blended&#39;&#39; outfit composed of active-duty and National Guard personnel. <br> <br> The Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, an intelligence-gathering aircraft already housed in small numbers at the base, will be expanded to take over the hangars left vacant by the B-1s (Ones). <br> <br>