B-52 celebrates 60 Years

USAF Global Strike Command ^ | 4/11/2012 | Staff Sgt. Brian Stives & Megan Meyer

[myheroesareDeadandRegistered]

The B.U.F.F is my lifetime favorite. Just a big heap of awesomeness.

A fading symbol of the land of my birth.

[mkjessup]

For those who might wonder what might have happened if there had either been NO
B-52, or if a different design had been embraced?

Behold the Consolidated Vultee YB-60, CONVAIR's proposed successor to the B-36:

[Liberty Valance]

[Liberty Valance]

[Liberty Valance]

[Straight8]

Back in the mid 60s, I worked at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota. One of our jobs was located next to the runway fence. To see those 52s doing touch and goes was awe inspiring. The power as they accelerated (at a seemingly impossible angle) was chill producing.

[Jack Hammer]

Thanks - I didn’t know any of that.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Oct. 26, 1962 - Strategic Air Command received the last B-52 from production line

[RobbyS]

The maneuverablity of these giant plane is astonishing. But of course even with commercial airlines it is something else. Yes, ago, I was on a flight when some dumb private pilot strayed right into the path of the plane I was on as we were aappraching (737). To avoid a collision, the pilot pulled up and away, after yelling, hold on!Man, no carnival ride could match that turn. Luckily even the flight attendents were buckled in.

[RobbyS]

The maneuverablity of these giant plane is astonishing. But of course even with commercial airlines it is something else. Yes, ago, I was on a flight when some dumb private pilot strayed right into the path of the plane I was on as we were aappraching (737). To avoid a collision, the pilot pulled up and away, after yelling, hold on!Man, no carnival ride could match that turn. Luckily even the flight attendents were buckled in.

[Yo-Yo]

Why haven’t all these been replaced by the B-2?

The B-52 was built during the era of the Cold War fighting the Red Menace. As a result, over 700 of them were built.

Subsequent aircraft such as the B-1B and the B-2A were built to replace the B-52 in the most critical roles of nuclear deterrent, but they were very expensive.

With so many B-52s in inventory, they can be used very cheaply where payload is more important than deep penetration over hostile territory.

I believe we're down to under 100 active B-52s, so they all will eventually wear out, but no need to replace them all if they're still flyable and can perform a certain mission at a lower cost than buying a new aircraft.

[RobbyS]

War gives urgency to things. The story of the B-29 is instructive. It went to drawing board to operational in about five years. A light year ahead of the B-17. Much the same for the P.51. The Germans leap=frogged all this with the jet. Thank God that Hitler rushed the invasion of the Soviet Union. With two more years to build up and improve his arsenal, I am pretty sure that Goering would have had had operational jets in the skies. We would have still be fighting that war in 1950.

[freedumb2003]

Man, no carnival ride could match that turn.

The Boeing 707 does a barrel roll on (or one of) its first flight(s).