The Mother of All Bombers...

[Principal Skinr]

I'm planning to go to Oshkosh this year. They will have a B-52 there. I've seen one do a flyover at they Indy 500 but have not seen on up close, on the ground. I'm pretty excited about it, if the trip up there pans out.

Correction....Other than the B-52D at the National Museum of the USAF. I've not been close to a G or H on the ground. Can't wait.

 

[Bugzilla]

I'm planning to go to Oshkosh this year. They will have a B-52 there. I've seen one do a flyover at they Indy 500 but have not seen on up close, on the ground. I'm pretty excited about it, if the trip up there pans out.

Correction....Other than the B-52D at the National Museum of the USAF. I've not been close to a G or H on the ground. Can't wait.

Flyover is the best part of Indy. The P51 and the Stealth bomber were 2 of my favorite of the 30 or so I saw.

 

[bgcatty]

What we need is for a few B-52 bombers to drop a few bomb loads on Iran and turn the sand and everything else there to glass with the heat generated by the bombs. That would solve the nuisance that is Iran!

 

[Alamo]

The first production B-52, B-52A-1-BO tail number 52-001, took its first flight on this date (5 Aug) in 1954. It had rolled off the production line on 18 Mar1954. It was the first B-52 to have the side-by-side seating; the YB- and XB-52s had the B-47 style/fighter style inline bubble canopy arrangment.



If you go to the link below the second picture showing the 18 Mar 54 rollout, it looks like the vertical stabilizer is missing. It isn’t, the tail was so tall that the vert stab was hinged so it could be laid over and the whole plane would fit in the hangers of the era. This is not some thing that was done frequently, I think I remember reading somewhere that it took about seven hours to lay the thing over, so most maintenance was done or with the tail sticking out of the hanger.

5 August 1954 | This Day in Aviation

 

[xwing]

Excellent view of BUFF at full crab starts at 4:23. Runway edge lighting takes a beating tho.

That's crazy! What's the story on it?

 

[Alamo]

That's crazy! What's the story on it?

I think he just didn’t know that he was running over the edge lighting. I’ve read that that’s happened before, but this was the worlds record for number destroyed.

 

[Alamo]

Don’t let the thumbnail fool you, 9 B-52Gs and five KC-135As. All using variants of the P&W J57 engine with water injection.

 

[IN New Guy]

Cool story time. 1985 on the flight line at Mt Home AFB, ID. The Wing was conducting an Operational Readiness Exercise. I am working on the afterburner of an F-111, when the sirens go off and loud speakers call out ALARM RED, MOPP 4, TAKE COVER. I jumped out of the Ardvark and ran to the nearest bunker on the ramp. I dived in and rolled onto my back, looking straight up. As I started putting on my protective mask, a B-52 came screaming over at low level. It raced right down the flight line, with it's bomb bay doors open. I just stopped and took it all in. Beast was loud and shook the ground as it passed overhead. Pretty much knew I was obliterated, if it had been a real bomb run.

Of course, in the real world, things would have to be pretty bad if a Russian TU-95 was able to get directly over an Allied base.

Hey Snoop, I think I flew that mission! I was a B-52 instructor at Castle AFB, CA (now closed) in 1985, and we did a low-level pass over some airbase up north to kick off their ORI. The tower and the wing senior leadership knew we were coming but that was it. The first guy in approach control denied us an overflight due to the exercise about to kick off, and so did the second. We contacted tower and we were cleared in. I did an airborne radar directed approach on the airfield and we opened the doors as we flew over. Kinda fuzzy on the details since it was so long ago, so I can't swear it was Mt Home. But I do remember the flight. It was kinda fun, really.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Hey Snoop, I think I flew that mission! I was a B-52 instructor at Castle AFB, CA (now closed) in 1985, and we did a low-level pass over some airbase up north to kick off their ORI. The tower and the wing senior leadership knew we were coming but that was it. The first guy in approach control denied us an overflight due to the exercise about to kick off, and so did the second. We contacted tower and we were cleared in. I did an airborne radar directed approach on the airfield and we opened the doors as we flew over. Kinda fuzzy on the details since it was so long ago, so I can't swear it was Mt Home. But I do remember the flight. It was kinda fun, really.

It looked awesome seeing the bomb bay doors open as the BUFF screamed down the flightline. Of course, if it had been the real deal, I would have been vaporized by a stick of MK82's sending us to the afterlife.

 

[Alamo]

Good view of BUFF landing gear crabbing the fuselage into the wind for takeoff:

 

[jwamplerusa]

The west can write history however it wants, carpet bombing civilians is sad.

Then don't start a war.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Then don't start a war.

He gone...

 

[KellyinAvon]

Good view of BUFF landing gear crabbing the fuselage into the wind for takeoff:

Crosswind-schmosswind! The BUFF became operational 70 years ago. Now I must check the Military BS Stories thread and see if I posted any BUFF stories

 

[Cameramonkey]

Then don't start a war.

Holy crap. Dig up the dead from 2020.

I had to look the dude up. Go banned by da mouse in 2020 for wishing he or his family were severely harned by Covid so he would take it more seriously.