USN Photo of the Day: BUFF Intercepted by "Don't Mess With The Navy" Hornets During Rigging Maneuver

ChamorroBible.org ^ | 1st week in May 2008 | United States Navy

[EnjoyingLife]

1st week in May 2008, Western Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Guam, USA -- Two USN F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets intercept the low flying USAF B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber as it performs a rigging maneuver to identify the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68).
Large, medium, and the above smaller photo via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20050822.htm (photo 5).

The Story
Navy, Air Force train together to showcase capabilities
By Staff Sgt. Stephen Teel, 36th Wing Public Affairs, Andersen AFB, Guam, USA
http://www.GuamPDN.com/guampublishing/pacificedge/data/EkEkEFulppeoOcKtLi.htm

[EnjoyingLife]

Two more photos of the USAF B-52 Stratofortress: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2022008/posts

[blam]

What are ‘rigging’ maneuvers?

[TexanToTheCore]

It looks like something to do wiht flying so low over a ship that you rip off the rigging with your landing gear.

[contemplator]

It’s when you fly low enough to see the antennas, masts etc.. Each ship has a unique combination of such things and is used to identify a vessel.

[2banana]

“Goose - it is time to buzz the tower!”

“With a B-52!!!”

[2banana]

It’s when you fly low enough to see the antennas, masts etc.. Each ship has a unique combination of such things and is used to identify a vessel.

You mean that is easier than the big "68" number painted on the tower...?

[Francis McClobber]

To “rig a ship” is to identify a ship by its features. Most all ships in the world can be identified by hull features, superstructure, stack position and markings and what type of cranes, etc they have on board.

Ship driver types love to do this kind of stuff.

[ken5050]

“No, dude, you can’t land....”

[vietvet67]

Great pics. Thanks..

[Hacklehead]

I don’t get it. Why did the B52 need to visually identify the Nimitz? Why would you use a B52 for such a task? Is this just an anacronistic exercise that is part of navy tradition?

[Grut]

LOL! What’s really going on here is the Air Force is trying to prove it has a sea control function and the Navy is trying to prove it doesn’t. This picture is about slicing up the defense budget pie.

[Joe 6-pack]

"What are ‘rigging’ maneuvers?"

Democrat ballot box tactics.

[Jonah Hex]

"Dude, Final Countdown was just a movie!"

[contemplator]

I would assume they are practicing the maneuver, probably because they are required to every so often. You can’t necessarily see the big “68” when flying overhead, and numbers are easily forged. My question is why would a B-52 be doing this, it seems like a waste to use something that big when they could use something a lot smaller and faster.

[oh8eleven]

LOL - that was tooooo easy!

[Travis McGee]

bttt

[Gondring]

My buddy was a BUFF pilot in the Gulf War and told me about flying 50’ off the deck to go under the radar... but he didn’t mean a carrier deck! :-)

[EnjoyingLife]

USAF photo of a B-52H Stratofortress during a maritime intercept training mission: http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=50204

[Thrownatbirth]

Is this just an anacronistic exercise that is part of navy tradition?

I'm sure some hard-charger turned it into an ELINT exercise just to take the fun out of it.

[manapua]

I don’t know if this is the reason, but I know that having a B-52 buzz you can give you the Hershey shakes.

[neodad]

It’s an exercise! The F-18s were probably using the Buff to practice interecepting Bears, which is not an anacronistic exercise.

[cav68]

Looks like photshop to me.

[cav68]

Looks like photshop to me.

[Eye of Unk]

Imagine being buzzed by this B-52.

[onedoug]

...practice?

But...but...but I thought the Navy said it was okay for Russians, Chinese and islamists to buzz our carriers.

[IYAS9YAS]

It's good to know that, when you get something right, it can fly forever. The B-52 has been around for over 50 years. Whoohoo!

It's sad. I was at Davis-Monthan in the early 90s and gave tours on base and through the AMARC (bone yard). They were chopping up Buffs left and right. Didn't even matter if they were historically significant aircraft.

[decimon]

“I’ll just hit the brakes and they’ll fly right by.”

[Squantos]

B52’s are used too attack foreign navies as well as land based targets as you well know. The AC based at Anderson and other Pacific, Indian Ocean and Atlantic bases such as Diego Garcia do this all the time too update data bases and make dry runs against such targets.

BTW did ya hear that the Minot AFB guys failed their ORI (Operational Readiness Inspection) ?? Something really bad going on at that base ......flush all the personnel to other bases (or civilian life) and RIF the command elements.

No excuses.....

[jetson]

nice

[DuncanWaring]

...the Minot AFB guys failed their ORI ...

Was Minot the base that inadvertently dispatched the BUF with nuke-armed cruise missiles a year or so ago? If so, is this ORI failure above and beyond that?

As a side note, I had a roommate in college who got stationed at Minot and was never heard from again.

[Squantos]

Yep but my experience in that arena screams that was no accident. Trainers and Live weapons aren’t even stored in same bunkers to prevent such. They loaded what they were ordered too.

Sorry about yer roomie !........:O)

[Cincinatus]

Muffley: General Turgidson, is there really a chance for that plane to get through?

Turgidson: Mr. President, if I may speak freely, the Russkie talks big, but frankly, we think he's short of know how. I mean, you just can't expect a bunch of ignorant peons to understand a machine like some of our boys. And that's not meant as an insult, Mr. Ambassador, I mean, you take your average Russkie, we all know how much guts he's got. Hell, lookit look at all them them Nazis killed off and they still wouldn't quit.

Muffley: Can't you stick to the point, General?

Turgidson: Well, I'm sorry. Ah... If the pilot's good, see. I mean, if he's really... sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low spreads his arms like wings., laughs you oughtta see it sometime, it's a sight. A big plane, like a B-52, vroom! There's jet exhaust, fryin' chickens in the barnyard!

Muffley: Yeah, but has he got a chance?

Turgidson: Has he got a chance? Hell, Yes……..

[visualops]

I was at Davis-Monthan in the early 90s

Cool, my son is at D-M now.

[lakeman]

Right on target. The Bomber was ued to simulate a Russian or other hostile heavy craft getting too close to a carrier. I have some great memories of flipping off bears back in the eighties when I was aboard the USS Enterprise. Nothing like seeing the enemy up close to get a bunch of young jarheads fired up. LOL

[ops33]

Fin Flash shows the Buff is from Barksdale AFB, LA

[Vroomfondel]

ping

[EnjoyingLife]

"For more than 40 years B-52 Stratofortresses have been the backbone of the manned strategic bomber force for the United States. The B-52 is capable of dropping or launching the widest array of weapons in the U.S. inventory. This includes gravity bombs, cluster bombs, precision guided missiles and joint direct attack munitions. Updated with modern technology the B-52 will be capable of delivering the full complement of joint developed weapons and will continue into the 21st century as an important element of our nation's defenses. Current engineering analyses show the B-52's life span to extend beyond the year 2040." Source: USAF B-52 Stratofortress factsheet, http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=83

Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, USA -- Munitions on display show the full capabilities of the B-52 Stratofortress. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Robert J. Horstman. Image ID: 060202-F-6809H-100

[Non-Sequitur]

My buddy was a BUFF pilot in the Gulf War and told me about flying 50’ off the deck to go under the radar... but he didn’t mean a carrier deck! :-)

Back in the early 80's my ship was doing a Med deployment and made a port call in Sicily at the same time my ROTC roommate's P-3 squadron was deployed to Sigonella. He talked me into going out on a hop with him and we spent some time doing some rigging of the merchant ships. They'd fly parallel to the ship and get a count of the masts and kingposts, then cross the stern to get the name and home port. One of them was a Greek tub with a really long name. The pilot crossed the stern but the observer didn't get the entire name, what with it being in the Greek alphabet and all. So the pilot swung by a little closer and lower. No luck. Tried a third time. Still no joy. Finally the pilot said it was his last chance and made a pass and I swear we were looking up at the name on the stern with the wingtip under the overhang. But they did get the name that time. At least, they claimed they did.

[Non-Sequitur]

But...but...but I thought the Navy said it was okay for Russians, Chinese and islamists to buzz our carriers.

What would you have them do? Shoot down Russian, Chinses or Islamist aircraft in international waters, where they have every right to be?

[onedoug]

I'd say: DO NOT COME NEAR OUR SHIPS OR RISK BEING SHOT DOWN.

Yes.

[Non-Sequitur]

Yes.

And when they continue to fly over our ships, which they have every right to do under international law, then you would shoot them down. Don't you think they might get a bit testy about it? Might start shooting down our airplanes flying in international waters?

[onedoug]

Our naval ships are US sovereign territory. I would no more compromise their integrity than I would our soil.

[Ramius]

Russian aircraft have been doing fly-by passes on our ships for decades, just as we have been doing it to theirs. It’s not something we, or they, want to start a shooting war over.

[Non-Sequitur]

Our naval ships are US sovereign territory. I would no more compromise their integrity than I would our soil.

Doesn't work that way. We have the right to fly where we want in international waters and international airspace. So do they. We routinely intercept them miles away from the task group and escort them while they're in the area. But that's the limit to what they can legally do. Sorry if peace disappoints you.

[magslinger]

SONOBUOY PING!

Click on pic for past Navair pings.

Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.

[mad_as_he$$]

“Negative Ghostrider the pattern is full.”

[onedoug]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1968752/posts

[mad_as_he$$]

Where did you get a picture of the “Old Dog”? Last I knew they were all classified. :-)

[mad_as_he$$]

Wasn’t Minot the origin base of the infamous missing cruise missiles?

[Non-Sequitur]

And?