An Air Force colonel set to take over Ellsworth Air Force Base’s 28th Bomb Wing later this month harshly criticized the culture of the South Dakota bomber squadrons he’s preparing to oversee in a scathing crash report last year.
Col. Erick Lord will be the next commander of the 28th Bomb Wing. Senior Airman Jo Pepin-Rust, an Ellsworth spokesperson, told Military.com in an email that wing commanders “change out every two years as part of routine leadership assignments.”
Lord is presently the deputy commander of the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Col. Derek Oakley is the current commander of the 28th Bomb Wing, according to an online biography.
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Notably, Lord heavily criticized and blamed, in part, the culture of squadrons at the 28th Bomb Wing, which he is now tasked with leading, in a crash investigation. He was the author of a July 2024 accident investigation board report into the circumstances of a B-1B Lancer crashing on the Ellsworth runway in January of that year. That analysis led to a leadership shake-up at the base, and several firings of commanders followed.
The B-1B Lancer, while on a training mission, crashed about 100 feet short of the runway and skidded 5,000 feet before bursting into flames. The four aboard the bomber ejected, and two were injured but later released from the hospital.
Lord, in his report, pointed to “an unhealthy organizational culture that permitted degradation of airmanship skills” as one of the main reasons for the crash. He also took aim in the report at a crew member’s weight, and a family member said Lord’s comments were unfair and disrespectful, Military.com previously reported.
The 2024 incident marked the first time in more than a decade that a Lancer had crashed.
In the wake of the crash report, Col. Mark Kimball, then the commander of the 28th Operations Group, was fired from his role “due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command, based on the findings of an Accident Investigation Board report into the Jan. 4 crash of a B-1B bomber at Ellsworth,” Air Force Global Strike Command told Military.com at that time.
Several months later, in September, Ellsworth announced that another commander had been fired. Lt. Col. Carsten Stahr, commander of the 28th Force Support Squadron, was removed from his role. An Air Force Global Strike Command spokesperson told Military.com it was unrelated to the crash report, but a reason for the leadership change was not provided.
The crash damage to the B-1B and the runway was estimated to be worth more than $456 million.
Due to that damage, an undisclosed number of Lancers had to be flown across the country to Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and approximately 250 aircrew, maintainers and other support personnel relocated to support the bombers amid repairs. The Ellsworth runway was closed for nearly a month.
Lord has experience as a B-1B weapon systems officer, and it’s not his first assignment at Ellsworth. He received his commission from the Air Force Officer Training School in 2002 and has more than 2,600 flight hours, including in combat, for Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, Freedom’s Sentinel and Inherent Resolve, according to a news release.
“His career is deeply rooted in the B-1 community, including a previous assignment at Ellsworth as a flight commander and evaluator weapon systems officer with the 37th Bomb Squadron,” Pepin-Rust said in an emailed statement.
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