The B-52 is 58 years old today.

[Don S]

First B-52 flight April 15, 1952.

Former B52 Pneudraulics tech. 1965-1968 Seymour Johnson AFB
Riding launch truck for tail number 256 that never made it home.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Definitely a bummer about the "256" Don, but I gotta agree the B-52 is an awesome plane that has more than payed for itself. I've never seen one "live" but it's on my list!

 

[Don S]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

I forgot to post it in the original post, but 256 is the one that lost the bomb

I was lucky enough to be working midnight shift in 66 & 67. The flight simulator was 4 railroad cars long and came in about every 6 to 8 months and parked right in front of the shop.
I got to be friends with the night crew that did the repairs and changed all those tubes and cleaned the tubular cards for the computer that made the simulator work. I also got to fly that thing many times .... WHAT A BLAST, will remember that forever.
One of the guys asked me if the cockpit looked anything like the real aircraft. So off we went to the hanger. Up the hatch and into the cockpit he went. "How do you turn the power on" he asked...... just like the simulator I said. In the dark, he turned the power on, wow, just like the simulator he said.
All that happened yesterday in my mind, but 40 some years ago in real time.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Isn't it amazing that memories like that are so clear! That is great. Now if we could only remember what we had for lunch last week

 

[JB]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Ummmmm. Say, Don.

My gonculator says that 1952 was 58 years ago.

I have often wondered how long the European theater war would have lasted if we had BUFFs over Germany at 50,000 feet.

 

[Don S]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

I heard it on the news, they probably did say 58..... Just the 52 number got stuck in my head and I got to thinking about it
And of course it came out wrong. But it is the 52's Bday

 

[WizeOne]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Ummmmm. Say, Don.

My gonculator says that 1952 was 58 years ago.

I have often wondered how long the European theater war would have lasted if we had BUFFs over Germany at 50,000 feet.

Kind of like if they had machine guns at the Alamo!

I always thought about that as I watched Fess Parker.

 

[rbh]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Don, that has always been one of my favourite planes. But can you imagine all the upgrades that plane has gone through over the years.
I wonder if there is a secret B-52 forum out there for all the techs.
(and what parts would be 470 equivalent)

 

[mphy98]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

I was stationed at Anderson afb in guam back in the day and was a ecm on the buf. It was a very good airplane. got us home every time. you know what the nickname stands for? BIG UGLY F****R. The first time I saw it take off from the flight line and saw the outboard wheels snap in and the wings drop almost to the runway, I said ain't no way I am getting in one of those. Boy was I wrong.

 

[Don S]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Don, that has always been one of my favourite planes. But can you imagine all the upgrades that plane has gone through over the years.
I wonder if there is a secret B-52 forum out there for all the techs.

I wondered the same thing http://www.stratofortress.org/

 

[mscher]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

I was stationed at Anderson afb in guam back in the day and was a ecm on the buf. It was a very good airplane. got us home every time. you know what the nickname stands for? BIG UGLY F****R. The first time I saw it take off from the flight line and saw the outboard wheels snap in and the wings drop almost to the runway, I said ain't no way I am getting in one of those. Boy was I wrong.

If you were in towards the late 80's, you may have flown through our low-level ECM evaluation ranges (1CEVG) , in MT, ND and SD. It was always interesting to watch B52's disappear behind 200' hills, to avoid our simulated Russian SAM tracking signals. Lost them from radar, they were flying so low. Loved the full-speed flyovers too.

Rock solid aircraft. The grip ridges and knurls, on the internal aluminum ladders, were worn smooth from constant use. In those days, B52's spent more time in the air, than they did on the ground. Constant arial re-fueling.

We will never build another aircraft quite like it.

 

[bassman284]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Back around 1979 or 1980, when I was still trucking, I was driving on a county road in east-central Iowa and I topped over a hill and saw a B-52 crossing my path - BELOW me. It was cruising the valley about a hundred feet off the ground. I stopped breathing. Lucky I didn't wreck the truck.

I did some checking and found out they were practicing low level flights in the area.

I got to see a few take off and land at Barksdale when I was in the Air Force in the late '60s. I love that airplane.

 

[Outsider]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

The 'Buff' was a good aircraft. The KC-135 is what made it 'great' ...

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

That's quite the aircraft.

 

[bekosh]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

I have often wondered how long the European theater war would have lasted if we had BUFFs over Germany at 50,000 feet.

WW2? About 1 hour. Rhine to the Oder.

 

[j_martin]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

First B-52 flight April 15, 1952.

Former B52 Pneudraulics tech. 1965-1968 Seymour Johnson AFB
Riding launch truck for tail number 256 that never made it home.

I remember that. I was on the USS Everglades, which went to Spain from Naples, Italy, anchored offshore, and constructed a dump gate for a barge. The barge was then loaded up with crash debris, and towed out into the North Atlantic and dumped.

It was tough being anchored within sight of shore for weeks and unable to go ashore.

Are we old, or what?

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Don, I didn't know you were a mechanic on the old buzzard. As a newly minted airframe mechanic, I have always wanted to thank the untold heros, the ones that are behind the scenes, the ones everyone forgets about, the mechanics that kept those birds at the ready 24/7 to defend this nation.

Thank you Don, for everything you did to keep number 256 in the air until its final day.

 

[DJ]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

What an aircraft.

Dad was just about to transition into them, as pilot, when he decided to bail out. Left S.A.C. (Strategic Air Command).

I think he always had second thoughts about that. But, I'm glad he did.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Re: The B-52 is 52 years old today.

Great airplane. For months after Hurricane Katrina, I had an apartment in Bossier City, LA, where Barksdale AFB is located. My apt. was very close to the flight pattern for the base. While I certainly knew what a BUFF is, I had never been around them.

In a way, they remind me of a Pelican. Very funny looking, but they sure can fly! One thing that took me a long time to get used to, however, is that they fly in a nose low attitude. I mostly saw them in the pattern, when they had flaps deployed, so I guess this a characteristic in that configuration. Still, its strange when you are not used to seeing it.

Here's to "old iron!"



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