Forum rules
Welcome to the Leverguns.Com General Discussions Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here other than politics... politely.
Please post political post in the new Politics forum.
An enormous Cold War-era bomber which first flew in 1962 has been resurrected from the Air Force's scrap heap to serve the nation once more. The B-52, nicknamed Ghost Rider, was mothballed seven years ago at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona - the so-called boneyard where decommissioned planes are kept in storage. It took to the skies once more on February 13 after months of painstaking restoration, which saw damaged parts such as the fuel lines and hydraulic steering systems replaced to make her airworthy once more.
The mighty B 52, first flew early fifties to my knowledge, not due to be decommissioned until 2040, at which time some will be 90 years old, along with the 747 the greatest aircraft to ever leave the ground. If it ain't a BOEING I ain't going.
This remarkable bomber was introduced in 1952 as I recall. We had a squadron of them at Wurtsmuth AF Base, Michigan when I was stationed there in the 1970's. Headed down the runway they sounded louder than thunder.
TR
Fire Up the Grill - Hunting is NOT Catch & Release!
During the "Crisis" my excellent FIL flew the B52 over various targets including Cuba, and was ready to send the commies to nuclear hell when ordered to do so. The bombers, ( they were numerous) were flying and refueling these behemoths in air via tankers, I like to think that these pilots had a little something to do with Khruschevs decision to back off. FIL is one of my heroes and the most MAN I know. He is 84.
Once while flying a resupply mission in Vietnam with C7A Caribou, we were at maybe 5000 feet altitude or so over the jungle and strayed much too close to an Arclight strike from B-52's, hundreds of bombs exploding in seemingly neverending lines, IIRC there must have been 3 strings, maybe more. Most spectacular sight you could ever imagine, we could clearly see and feel the waves of concussion from the bombs. Captured enemy soldiers universally claimed they feared the fire from the B-52's above all other dangers.
If you're into fiction to any degree: Flight of the Old Dog; Dale Brown
The basic premise is take a B-52 and equip it with the most modern, top secret hardware imaginable straight out of Area 51. Written by a former air crew member. great stuff. I should pull it out of storage for a re-read
...Proud owner of the 11.43×23mm automatic using depleted Thorium rounds.
Flew "D"s and "H"s out of Carswell from '77 through '84. Spent a lot of hours looking bassackwards out of the D's. They are indeed a great airplane and have a lot of memories of mine.
You know the old joke about the last Apache being airlifted to the scrap yard by a Huey?
Well, the BUFF will likely be going head to head with the Herc to see who gets there last. But it will probably be a C-47 carrying the scrap.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
That picture reminds me of the old joke we used to tell about the F-16 jock flying against the 52 in an exercise. He was showing off accelerating past the old Buff, doing loops around him asking over the radio, "can you do that?", the Buff driver calmly comes over the radio and says, "No, but can you do that?". The F-16 driver says "what, you didn't do anything" to which the buff driver replies, "Yeah, I just pulled two of my engines to idle.". Nuff said!
Mdl53 wrote:That picture reminds me of the old joke we used to tell about the F-16 jock flying against the 52 in an exercise. He was showing off accelerating past the old Buff, doing loops around him asking over the radio, "can you do that?", the Buff driver calmly comes over the radio and says, "No, but can you do that?". The F-16 driver says "what, you didn't do anything" to which the buff driver replies, "Yeah, I just pulled two of my engines to idle.". Nuff said!
Not military related, but my Dad was an airline pilot and he transitioned Bonanza airlines from DC-3s to Fokker F-27s. He taught and trained and transitioned every pilot to the new AC.
On one flight he was overtaking a Bonanza DC-3 headed into Las Vegas, so he feathered the stbd engine to pass his buddy in the left seat. The DC-3 Captain called him up as he sailed past and said "now feather the other one Stubb."
The closest I've ever been to a B-52 was probably a couple hundred feet ( seemed like a hundred if that ) looking straight up.
It was back when they flew them out of Griffiss AFB in Rome NY. Some very low level flying following the lay of the land in the Adirondacks . I couldn't see 1/2 of the left wing as is lumbered over our camp. Bay doors were open and it looked like our whole camp would have fit inside. It rose a tad and then dropped down over the little knoll behind camp and out of sight.
One of the things we had to learn was how to shut down aircraft in an emergency. While no B-36, the B-52 had levers and switches all over the place. We had a book that showed it all, and we always looked at it before an unfamiliar (or at least infrequently seen) aircraft had an inflight emergency.
The best one was the SR-71/YF-12. It showed a line drawing of the front of the aircraft, a door marked rescue, and a pull handle. Once you had ejected the pilot, you let it burn. If the pilot wasn't ejected, he burnt too.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
As a ground pounder who hitches a ride on blackhawks, chinooks and c130's, I've been enjoying the thread and commentary.
"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance." Declaration of Independance, July 4, 1776 11B30
MrMurphy wrote:The big difference between C-130s and -52s........
They're still making new C130s.
They haven't made a new B52 since the 1960s. And they're STILL flying.
True, and neither is really the aircraft it started out as. But, id does show that a good design will last long after the original planned time frame. When one thinks of the aircraft that have come and gone since the B-52 was introduced, and there were some darned good ones in there, it shows just how great the B-52 is.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
As an Air Force Air Traffic Controller at Mountain Home AFB in the early 70's I had occasion to take some interesting pictures of aircraft. Examples being the SR71 (we were a primary divert base from them) and the subject B52. One HOT summer day I stationed myself in the lights at the departure end of our 13,500ft runway (we could do things like that back then) and take a series of pictures of a departing B52. Due to the slight difference in elevation between the approach end and departure end (me) of the runway the B52 was not in sight. Rising black smoke followed by a rapidly growing shape made for some interesting pictures. Base elevation (3500 ft MSL) and the 100 degree temp meant the B52 would use virtually the whole runway flying over me at a egg throwing height. Remember those panic type dreams of being chased but running in slow motion? Multiply that a few times and you might get the feeling of a B52 coming at you at eyebrow level.The heat,smoke,noise and turbulence was.............memorable.
I also had a similar experience with a Marine F4. And again the NOISE!
"Any man who covers his face and packs a gun is a legitimate target for any decent citizen"
Jeff Cooper
Bullard4075 wrote:As an Air Force Air Traffic Controller at Mountain Home AFB in the early 70's I had occasion to take some interesting pictures of aircraft. Examples being the SR71 (we were a primary divert base from them) and the subject B52. One HOT summer day I stationed myself in the lights at the departure end of our 13,500ft runway (we could do things like that back then) and take a series of pictures of a departing B52. Due to the slight difference in elevation between the approach end and departure end (me) of the runway the B52 was not in sight. Rising black smoke followed by a rapidly growing shape made for some interesting pictures. Base elevation (3500 ft MSL) and the 100 degree temp meant the B52 would use virtually the whole runway flying over me at a egg throwing height. Remember those panic type dreams of being chased but running in slow motion? Multiply that a few times and you might get the feeling of a B52 coming at you at eyebrow level.The heat,smoke,noise and turbulence was.............memorable.
I also had a similar experience with a Marine F4. And again the NOISE!
We had a squadron of F-105 Wild Weasels that rotated back from Viet Nam. They had trouble getting into the air on hot summer days in the desert. In fact, if a flight of 4 Phantoms had taken off before them, they had to wait for the air to "thicken up" a bit.
Had a couple end up in the desert at the end of the runway. After the squadron commander ended up there, he issued an order that they were to abort if not airborne by a certain point.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
