B-52s still at the ready

Kewl,

They are talking about installing new engines on the B-52H and keeping them in service beyond 2050. These will make it past 100 years of service.

I assume the Bone, will be retired before the B-52H.

 

Jim, I started as a mechanic on this bird in 1951 and then I was accepted as a Production Illustrator in 1952. I worked on the XB-52, YB-52, and the B-52A. I figure that is 67 years ago and I still get a bit emotional when I look back at it. I saw the first take off in 1952 and did a lot of work on drawings to show how to build the airplane and how to install the wiring and tubing. I still have a few of them.

 

No need to get rid of a pickup truck that gets the job done right just like new! That's exactly what the B-52 is imo.

 

Boeing got the clue to the plot when they designed the B-47. The B-52 doubled it and improved it. Then the commercial airliners, starting with the 707, made it better and became the standard from which all other successful swept wing jet airliners were derived. The B-52 hit the design sweet spot almost 70 years ago and it still does a good job of everything that is required in a subsonic weapon system: adaptability, reliability, and durability.

 

Bob- Only problem now is she has the radar cross section of a refinery, but she makes a grand stand-off weapon launcher in a high threat environment and can overfly with an arsenal of munitions in a low threat environment. All H models (only ones currently flying) are being updated to carry the latest in PGMs as we speak.

Only the B-52H and the B-2A are nuclear capable, too. The B-1Bs were all rolled into the conventional role.

 

So pilot who was born same year that B-52 was new isn't allow'd to fly it anymore because of the old age.

 

That service record starts to sounds like one Eiffel tower.

 

I remember when I lived in Sacratomato. There was always one landing and one taking off.

 

I'll be 92 soon and I started work on the B-52 in 1951-1952. It flew in April 1952. My oldest son was born in 1951.He would be way too old to fly the B-52. All of this time flies stuff is getting difficult for me to believe.

 

There are actually 3 AF pilots Grandfather, Father and Son who have all flown B-52's. (2 are retired.)

 

I have some piks and negatives laying around of a B-52D from the 441st B.S., out of Mather AFB. The pic from the mid to late 80's, is from the D.M. AFB transient airplane ramp. I believe it was the last operational unit to fly the D.

 

The B-52D and B-52G were flying out of Mather in 1972/3 when I was going to Nav/EWO school. Like you said, the D soon retired and the conventional capability transferred to the B-52G. The G eventually retired and its FLIR and other equipment was transferred to the B-52H. Seems like they were flying Bs or Cs out of Castle in the early 70s, too,

 

I can't remember what model it was but when they installed the fan engines and boosted the thrust the brakes would not hold the airplane at full power. If I remember , traction was always a problem with the B-47 and B-52 due to the bicycle landing gear arrangement and strong positive incidence in the wing. I remember an engineer saying that they would never design another airplane with a bicycle gear. Braking was a serious problem, hence the drag chute on the B-52 and the chute on the B-47 when deployed to slow the airplane down on final so the engines could be kept spun up. Long power lag when spinning up then.

 

Bob- The B-52H was the only model with turbofans, the rest were all straight turbojets.

 

Thanks, that was in the back of my head....but so are many other things, now.

 

That would be great table to sit, those discussions about differences of different versions of plane would be worth hearing.

 

The video at the start of this thread was, I think, made last month not at Minot AFB but at RAF Fairford in England. Not only are these aircraft still at the ready from their bases in the USA, they can still be deployed to Europe and operated from here.

 

Dad was stationed at Minot. It's a missle base. He had a "program" book from Minot with a B-58 Hustler on the front cover. The 52's are the oldest bomber in the arsenal that are still flying and the oldest bomber in aviation history to still be flying and see action. Remarkable.

 

How many hours do these B52 airframes have on them. ie whats their structural age, also what about corrsion.

 

Most of them have had the wings re-skinned and beefed up and some in other areas. They were designed for smooth high altitude missions but when they were used in lower level missions and in more turbulent air they began to exhibit cracking and fatigue mainly in the wings. They keep rebuilding them.

 

Bob- Affirmative, have seen several B-52s low level on the old Oil Burner (OB) low level routes. Amazing how much those wings flex on a turbulent day at 500' AGL. Have actually had the terrain following radar (TFR), see a B-52 and treat it like a hill and gently pull up over the BUFF well before we had to take evasive action.

 

Always interesting stuff, Taz. To call the B-52 wing covering "skins" is a backward stretch. They are more like plates than skins, some are an inch and a half thick in places.

 

Affirmative

 

They are a year older then my Mother... Its amazing, they are still in service today.