B 52 Back from the dead

[RolandDeschain]

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[Bull Barrel]

Believe it or not the newest B52 was built in 62.

 

[JFB]

thanks for the article. stuff I didn't know about

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Believe it or not the newest B52 was built in 62.

When I was in the USAF 1960 I went to school on the B-52 but ended up working on OLD B-47Es, most were 7-8 years old Service life of 16 years and 2032 of all models built.

Now this is a takeoff water-alcohol injection with ATO bottles fired. This is an E Model with the external ATO Bottle racks. The rack is dropped after burn out. I never got tired of watching this take place. Notice the B-36s in the back ground

At the same time we considered the B-52Ds old also since the new Gs were coming into SAC the Ds were all of 6 years old. The Vietnam war saved the Ds until 1978-83 service life of 21 years +-

Now think about this. Say it is 1944 and we are going to war with a 57 year old combat plane and a design that is 70 years old. That would have meant it was built in 1887 and designed in 1854 From the time the Wright Brothers flew in 1903 until the first B-52 flew was 49 years. :wink: From 1909, when the airplane was really useful, to 1950s the service life was just a few years for most combat planes. Yea the jets had a lot to do with some of the usefulness but even some of their time in service was short.
In some ways we have come a long way in others not so much.

On December 8, 1965, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara had announced a long-term phase-out program involving several versions of the B-52 and their replacement by the General Dynamics FB-111A. Under the original plan, all remaining B-52C, D, E, and F aircraft were to be gone by the middle of 1971. However, because of the demands of the Vietnam War, the B-52D lasted much longer than expected, remaining in service several years after most of the other "tall-tailed" Stratofortresses had been retired. The B-52D fleet remained virtually intact until late 1978, when 37 examples were retired to storage at Davis-Monthan AFB. The final phaseout of the B-52D took place in 1982/83 when over 50 were sent to storage. Several were sent to join museum collections across America and even overseas.

 

[caryc]

Wow Jim, great pic but, no smog device on that critter? I'm curious though what are the little wheels between the engines for?

 

[427mach1]

When I was in the USAF 1960 I went to school on the B-52 but ended up working on OLD B-47Es, most were 7-8 years old Service life of 16 years and 2032 of all models built.

Now this is a takeoff water-alcohol injection with ATO bottles fired. This is an E Model with the external ATO Bottle racks. The rack is dropped after burn out. I never got tired of watching this take place. Notice the B-36s in the back ground

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Very cool picture, Jim. I work at the Lockheed Martin plant where 386 B-47's were built under license from Boeing. All of the approximately 2000 B-47's produced came through this plant at some point for mods or updates, although I don't recall the details. For those not familiar with the B-47, it was actually something of a hotrod for such a big airplane, as shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cIgTAtj4E4

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Wow Jim, great pic but, no smog device on that critter? I'm curious though what are the little wheels between the engines for?

Cary,
The water alcohol mix used for take off in B-47s J-47s and B-52s J-57s did not burn as clean as JP-4 but it allowed for more power and reduced heat.
Since the wings droop and it has a bicycle landing gear it needed the wheels behind the engines.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

427Mach1
Yes the Pilots that I have talked to loved flying the 47 and the way it handled for a bomber.
The video refers to what was called in my day was "The High Speed Low Level Attack" There were what was called Oil Burner Routes all over the US for practicing these attacks and they were depicted on our Sectional Charts. It would probably scare the crap out of the Bug Smasher Pilot to see a 47 or 52 coming at them at 500' and 500MPH It was meant to allow the 47 to come in under radar and missiles to launch The Bomb. The Navy trained Skyraider Pilots to do the same thing. Both of these threats were advancing very rapidly in mid 50s-60.
In 1961 we lost two 47s and crews in one month while they were practicing these attacks. We were told it was do to wing failure. Even though we would remove the drop tanks to relieve stress on the wings it still happened and it was stopped.
As a side note all the crews that flew the 47 that their mission would be a one way trip into Russia. No way to refuel them with a KC-97 for the return even if they made it past the missiles and fighters . Sad but true.

 

[caryc]

Wow Jim, great pic but, no smog device on that critter? I'm curious though what are the little wheels between the engines for?

Cary,
The water alcohol mix used for take off in B-47s J-47s and B-52s J-57s did not burn as clean as JP-4 but it allowed for more power and reduced heat.
Since the wings droop and it has a bicycle landing gear it needed the wheels behind the engines.

I know the wings will droop when on the ground. Those little wheels don't look very sturdy though, that's what threw me.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I understand the USAF has among its pilots a number of "kids" (into their 40s?) flying B-52s whose fathers also flew that aircraft, which means the plane is older than its pilot. So far, I don't think they've had a case where Father and Son have flown the exact same bird... that would be cool!

Rick C

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Hi,

I understand the USAF has among its pilots a number of "kids" (into their 40s?) flying B-52s whose fathers also flew that aircraft, which means the plane is older than its pilot. So far, I don't think they've had a case where Father and Son have flown the exact same bird... that would be cool!

Rick C

Rick that sure would be possible and surprised it has not happened. If for no other reason than the pure joy of it and the publicity.

I know for a fact Jack that I'm ecstatic that my son and Grandson can fly the plane I build and finished in 1973 when my Son was 5.

Lets say Dad was flying some of the first H models in 1961 that could still be in service today. Hell they don't even need to be the first they quit making them in 1963.
So a son was born in 1963 then he graduated from flight school and qualified to fly the BUFF at 25 years old. That would be in 1988. There have been a lot of BUFF pilots both old and young since then. :wink: This should have already happened since there were only 102 Hs built

 

[RolandDeschain]

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[SAJohn]

The two now flying B-29's came out of the Mohave desert at my career long China Lake Naval Weapons Center. The B-29's were giving to us by the USAF to be used as targets. They also gave us one B-47 which was a real beauty. I removed and used part of the landing gear for our Aircraft Survivabilty Test Facility. Other than that it was in great shape and could have easily been restored to flying condition.

However, they never gave us any B-52's.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

The two now flying B-29's came out of the Mohave desert at my career long China Lake Naval Weapons Center. The B-29's were giving to us by the USAF to be used as targets. They also gave us one B-47 which was a real beauty. I removed and used part of the landing gear for our Aircraft Survivabilty Test Facility. Other than that it was in great shape and could have easily been restored to flying condition.

However, they never gave us any B-52's.

John,
I have read horror stories of people trying to get those B-29s out of China Lake before they were destroyed. Apparently the CO of the base had other ideas and wanted them destroyed.
Luckily he didn't destroy all of them. Were you there at that time???

 

[SAJohn]

Jim,
Yes I was there. At our Aircraft Survivability Test Site were had about a dozen of the B-29s.

My office roommate at the time (late 1960's) was a retired WWII USAF Pacific bomber pilot including time in the B-29's. He once took me through our B-29 boneyard, had me sit in the pilot's seat and explained all of the controls. Next we both took turns crawling down into the bombardier's seat (below, in front of, and between the pilot's and co-pilot's seats). What a view those men had.

When the Confederate Air Force found out that we had all of those B-29s, they contacted our base commander Admiral for permission to come aboard with a crew, fix one up and fly it out at no cost to the government. The Admiral refused. (This was the only base commander we ever had who was soundly disliked by all of us for many other reasons besides the B-29 affair.)

The Confederate Air Force then went to the Secretary of the Navy and Congress where they we granted permission. When the B-29 flew out, just about the whole base came out to the field to watch that takeoff.

In a fit of despite, our Admiral contracted with a private salvage company who came out and smashed most all of our B-29's. The salvage people used a large crane equipped with a giant drop wedge and chopped the planes into smaller pieces which they then hauled off for smelting. Most of these planes were still in relatively prime condition.

Unknown to them, we still had a few B-29's at remote spots and nobody told the Admiral. Later, and at great cost, one more B-29 was later saved.

That Admiral, after retiring to a very high level Civil Service job made another big blunder and was fired. Karma is a witch.

John

 

[exavid]

Ages of aircraft of many types is getting pretty high. There are still a few C47 or DC3s operating, a goodly number of Stearman biplanes flying. My own age surprises me sometimes. When I was born the oldest aircraft could only be 39 years old and that would have been the 1903 Wright Flyer.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

That Admiral, after retiring to a very high level Civil Service job made another big blunder and was fired. Karma is a witch.

John,
Glad the a hole got his just reward. Unbelievable that an officer could do crap like that. Tell me he WAS not an Aviator.
Doc is the other B-29 that escaped him and is now restored and beautiful.

You will like this video of China Lake 1978. It has the B-47 in it that you spoke of and several sad 29s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPRlmyT1WYs

 

[Armybrat]

Look up the Mars Bluff (South Carolina) B-47 nuclear bomb accident of 1958.

The farm that bomb fell on was owned by my 8th grade English teacher’s BIL. One morning in that year when our class began, Mrs. Gregg announced that her “BIL & family were ok”. I had no idea what she was talking about until one of my classmates said the Air Force dropped a nuke on their South Carolina farm by accident.

BTW - I was attending Taipei American School in Taiwan at the time of the incident, so news was a little slow getting around over there.

Wasn’t the B-47 replaced by the supersonic B-58 Hustler?

 

[Armybrat]

double post

 

[SAJohn]

Jim,

As I recall the man in question was the only commander we ever had at China Lake who was not a Naval Aviator. He rose through the ranks as a pencil pushing administrator/program manager.

The first B-29 was, of course, Fifi. When she was about ready to fly out of China Lake, my Air Force friend went out to the airfield and had a long talk with Fifi's pilot refreshing their memories on the handling characteristics of the B-29. An important point that they both agreed on was not to try to light off the old superchargers as even when new they had problems which could lead to engine fires.

John

 

[Jeepnik]

For the non Airedales out there here's a question. Why do the wings of a B-52 move up and down during the take off roll.
Answer - Because if the B(ig) U(gly) F(at) F(ellow) didn't flap it's wings it would never get off the ground.

 

[Acorn]

Anyone remember Slim Pickens as the B52 pilot in "Dr. Strangelove?

Attack Plan R" - Nuclear combat toe to toe with the Russkis...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-KIAsuoMAQ

Going over the survival kit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qqfsQGYus

The B52 gets hit by a nuclear tipped anti aircraft missile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGjbaxVu5IE

The bomb run..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSbPqin3L6E

And then Major Kong riding the bomb down. Man I loved that movie 8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snTaSJk0n_Y

One of my favorite lines paraphrased, “If we fly any lower we’ll have to put sleigh bells on it”

 

[WestTex]

Anyone remember Slim Pickens as the B52 pilot in "Dr. Strangelove?

Attack Plan R" - Nuclear combat toe to toe with the Russkis...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-KIAsuoMAQ

Going over the survival kit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qqfsQGYus

The B52 gets hit by a nuclear tipped anti aircraft missile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGjbaxVu5IE

The bomb run..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSbPqin3L6E

And then Major Kong riding the bomb down. Man I loved that movie 8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snTaSJk0n_Y

Beyond classic!

 

[RSIno1]

Fun is in direct proportion to pounds of fuel burned.

 

[Dienekes]

In 66-67 I was a security policeman humping around alert nuclear-loaded B-52Hs for SAC 8-9 hours a day. That's 53 years ago! Every once in a while the klaxon would go off and pandemonium would ensue with crews running out to aircraft and firing up the engines. They did not taxi out, though.

One fine day they DID taxi out to the active runway, belching black smoke all the way. Scared the hell out of me until they taxied back in. If that had been the real deal I could have planned on being vaporized in about ten more minutes.

The old Rock Hudson movie, Wings of Eagles, was filmed on that base, elephant walk and minimum interval takeoffs and all.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Yep, We had 15 armed 1 1/2 megaton bomb B-47s on the alert pad. When they would have an alert they would taxi out to the runway, go to full power, they didn't fire the ATO bottles, go down the runway for a shot distance then taxi back to the pad. Not a good idea to have all your alert planes in the air with the bomb if the real thing took place.
When they had a practice alert/mission they would get 15 other 47s install the ATO bottles and launch them as if they were the alert planes. REALLY REALLY impressive. The KC-97 Tankers were already in the air.
At that time the tankers were on the same base as the bombers. In fact we had our 40th Bomb Wing B-47Es and the 55th Recon Wing RB-47s plus the tankers for both wings. Makes for a lot of airplanes on base :wink: