Fresh Start 2002: Nonstop Flight (A Homage to the B-52)

Fast Company ^ | January,2002 | Charles Fishman

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Curtis LeMay was the real father of the B-52. His ideas for the new bomber were incorporated in the first design.

[Valin]

I understand that the ejection seats had a tendency to go off at...inconvenient times.

[DoctorMichael]

........I still remember as a child hearing and seeing these SUCKAS taking off from Westover Air Force Base on manoeuvres........earth-shattering.

[ghostrider]

The KC135 Stratotanker is another old war horse from the B52 era which is still in the fight. Originally designed as a passenger/cargo plane (similar to the Boeing 707), the KC135 was converted to air refueling. It was the companion sitting on SAC Alert with the BUF. It's primary mission was to rendezvous with B52's and offload fuel. In case of nuclear war, the KC135 was tasked to offload max fuel, leaving only enough to get out of the way of the BUF. No one talked about it, because it was classified, but the cold war era "tanker dicks" were tasked for one way missions.

There is another old war horse that is still kicking butt. The Lockeed C130. The aircraft was originally a cargo/troop transport. During the Vietnam Conflict, about 20 of the C130s were converted to AC130 Spectre Gunships. Rigged like an old pirate ship with cannons on the side, the AC130 became the most precise and deadly firing platform. Offloading more than 24,000 rounds a minute, the AC130 could strike with the precision to put the rounds in the a car while circling unseen in the night at distances of 2 miles out and two miles up. It had 7.62mm machine guns for hammering troops in the open, and 20mm gatling guns for hammering troups in vehicles and light bunkers. It had 40mm cannons for blasting "light" targets. Ironically, the 40's were originally used on WWII Navy ships as anti aircraft guns. The "big bertha" weapon on the AC130 was the 105mm howitzer that had canabilized from old army tanks. It is so fitting that Sadam's troops ran in terror from the AC130, and the Taliban got their "15 virgins" from this Korean War era cargo plane.

[keithtoo]

Two words: OH....YEAH!!!!

[keithtoo]

Here ya go. Google.Images, BTW

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

This is a good read but is it really "Breaking News"?

Apparently, the latest fun little game is for people to post articles in "Breaking News" and then say, "I didn't post it as breaking news, it just appeared there by magic." Yeah, right.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

B-52

[LibKill]

A bump for The Hammer of Freedom.

[archy]

... In an era when a 9-month-old laptop already feels retro, when people who keep their cars for six years are considered quaint, the fact that the most powerful military in the world relies on a fleet of 40-year-old bombers is pretty astonishing. It would be hard to envision keeping something as common as a Honda Accord going for more than 20 years.

Author Fishman is presumably unaware that the common Soviet beltfed machinegun and sniper's rifle utilize the Russian 7,62x54 rimmed cartridge designed in 1891, and still quite suitable, as seen in recent photos of their use by both the Taliban forces and those of the Unified Alliance deposing them. As for his comments about old Honda Accords, I'd agree in that example, but he's certainly not firsthand familiar with either my old but faithful 1965 Chevrolety Corvair nor those of many others, both members of the CORSA society and otherwise, and similar groups and indivisduals happier with older Detroit iron rather than the latest import; my 1962 Ford F250 pickup also qualifies.

Indeed, older Harley-Davidson motorcycles of a vintage of those first B52s often command a price above that of a brand-new one from the factory. Depreciation? What's that...?

He is spot on that particular vehicle and aircraft types require specific and knowledgable maintenance procedures and techniques, as true of my old 4-place 1950s Piper Tri-Pacer as of the B52s which have presumably seen far harder use. Routine and generic maintenance, whether by owners or semiskilled low-pay professionals is helpful, but the specifics of the particular machine require the knowing touch of a real expert from time to time for their service lives to continue long in excess of what was intended by their designers.

Of course, those who rebuild and operate steam locomotives that have in some cases survived operation over three different centuries have known this for quite some time.

-archy-/-

[jalisco555]

This is a good read but is it really "Breaking News"?

As I explained in my first post some wierd glitch posted this to both frontpage and breaking news. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Air Force Magazine used to carry a last page strip called "There I Was." One of my favorites was a flight of F-4s escorting a flight of B-52s over Vietnam. The F-4 pilots were showing off, doing barrel rolls and other maneuvers and asking the BUFF pilots "Can you do this? Can you do that?"

Eventually the lead BUFF pilot got tired of it and told the F-4 drivers, "I can do something you guys can't do." The F-4 lead told him to go ahead and do it. A couple minutes later, nothing has changed, the bombers are still flying along at the same airspeed, altitude. The F-4 pilot asks, "Ok, what did you do?"

The BUFF pilot replies: "I shut down two engines and I'm still flying. Now, it's your turn."

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Weird. Having a post going to Breaking News and Front Page is definitely not normal.

This is a good read. Thanks for the post!

[xinga]

One of our sayings was that the Buff “was an aircraft flying in loose formation.” The wings flex about 8 feet after liftoff. On the other hand it’s built like a fortress – if you stand on a 1950s era cars hood you get a scuff mark, if you stand on a current model cars hood you’d get a lawsuit.

Minot, it's not the end of the world...but you can see it from there.

Hey, I heard that Minot wasn’t so bad, that there was a girl behind every tree. (Of course the trick was finding the tree.)

[Valin]

In my 4 yrs I made it a point to stay as far away from sac as possible. On the other hand if you busted someone in sac for a security violation, they stayed busted. Nothing worse then busting some clown and then watching him walk out before you have the paperwork done.

[ken5050]

Mega thanks for the pic...I loved that plane...as a kid, I built about 4 or 5 of the Revel models of that plane..had them hanging from the ceiling in my room....my other favorite was the Vigilante......that was the most beautiful bomber ever built, IMHO

[fnord]

"I shut down two engines and I'm still flying. Now, it's your turn."

ROFL

[Tennessee_Bob]

Thought this patch was appropriate:

[Valin]

I saw one once it said "SAC peace is our profession, war is just a hobby.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Their hearts and minds will follow.

When you think about it, only LBJ's sheer incompetence is the reason Hanoi still exists.