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Mike Huckabee Is Wrong About America’s B-52sAging bombers have lots of life left in them
War is Boring ^ | 8/7/2015 | David Axe

Posted on 08/07/2015 9:30:57 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie

In one of most bizarre moments of the bizarre Aug. 6 debate between Republican presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee — the 59-year-old former Arkansas governor — blasted U.S. president Barack Obama for, Huckabee claimed, allowing America’s military might to decay. And Huckabee decided the U.S. Air Force’s B-52 bomber best represented this supposedly sad state of affairs.

Actually, the Air Force owns 76 B-52Hs. It used to have 94, but in 2008 then-president George W. Bush — yes, a Republican — cut the fleet by 18. One of the 76 active airframes suffered an accident recently and Obama’s Air Force brought back one of the mothballed bombers to replace it.

(Excerpt) Read more at warisboring.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; US: Arkansas
KEYWORDS: 2016election; arkansas; davidaxe; election2016; mikehuckabee; warisboring
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This was really a stupid mistake for Huckabee to make. A really, really stupid for a presidential candidate to make.

The current B52 is really the embodiment of conservative principals and can do attitude. He could have attacked the F-35 but he chose to attack a proven success in the BUFF.

I know his heart is in the right place. He's articulate but his time is past and it's time for Mike to go back to the JV Team.

1 posted on 08/07/2015 9:30:57 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Oh puh-lease! Do you know how old these B52’s are?

I bet they’re older than you. And do YOU drive a 1955 car to work?

Hate on Huck all you want. But he was brilliant last night.


2 posted on 08/07/2015 9:35:33 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (With Great Freedom comes Great Responsibility)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

There are not a lot of original parts left on these beasts. New electronics, new engines, new nearly everything that can be replaced.

I remember getting to Kadena where they were still running them out of there to bomb NV. They got moved to Guam because the locals protested them. So they swapped the KCs at Guam for the 52s. The locals never got that a KC going down loaded with fuel was just as dangerous to them.


3 posted on 08/07/2015 9:36:16 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Yeah I commented last night to a friend that he was wrong on multiple fronts. To me was his insinuation that they aren’t capable. I would argue that although the fleet is aging they are still modernized with navigation and mechanical upgrades. They are still IMHO the best long range bombers on the planet. Why fix what isnt broke?


4 posted on 08/07/2015 9:37:04 AM PDT by aft_lizard
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
My son is in the Air Force and was at a maintenence school. The Sergeants all joked about the b-52, “If it isn't leaking, it's low on oil”.
5 posted on 08/07/2015 9:45:13 AM PDT by 11th Commandment ("THOSE WHO TIRE LOSE")
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

“Seventy six big buffs lead the air parade ...”


6 posted on 08/07/2015 9:45:13 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (The Donald in a china shop. More popcorn, please.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

[And do YOU drive a 1955 car to work?]

Not me, I drive a 1957 Bel Air instead. Built like a brick outhouse.


7 posted on 08/07/2015 9:45:52 AM PDT by DaxtonBrown (http://www.futurnamics.com/reid.php)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Let’s see, cylindrical tube -checck, big swept wings - check, turbo fan jet engines - check. What’s not to like in a load hauler? Well it could use the engine upgrades they have been delaying for decades.


8 posted on 08/07/2015 9:48:18 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Ive given up on aphostrophys and spell chek on my current device...)
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To: DaxtonBrown
You think?

I'm sure you know you're in a very dangerous car. I'd love to own one. But would not take chances with my life with one.

 

Crash test Chevrolet 1959 vs Chevrolet 2009 - YouTube

9 posted on 08/07/2015 9:49:12 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (With Great Freedom comes Great Responsibility)
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To: DaxtonBrown

And the styling of a jet plane....


10 posted on 08/07/2015 9:49:13 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Ive given up on aphostrophys and spell chek on my current device...)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Do you know how old these B52’s are?

The airframes are 50 to 60 years old. Everything else in them is state of the art; putting a majority of the military aircraft in the world to shame in comparison.

11 posted on 08/07/2015 9:50:37 AM PDT by Turbo Pig (...to close with and destroy the enemy...)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Tractor-Trailer truck design has not significantly changed from 1961. Plenty of component development that could be applied to older units.


12 posted on 08/07/2015 9:51:43 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Ive given up on aphostrophys and spell chek on my current device...)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie


13 posted on 08/07/2015 9:53:55 AM PDT by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
This was really a stupid mistake for Huckabee to make. A really, really stupid for a presidential candidate to make.

Not a single person on that stage served a minute in the military. Yet they are suddenly experts on what it needs?

14 posted on 08/07/2015 9:54:54 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Gaffer

i’ve got he original hatchet that george washington used to chop down the cherry tree ... it’s only had three new handles and two new heads


15 posted on 08/07/2015 9:55:47 AM PDT by TheRightGuy (I want MY BAILOUT ... a billion or two should do!)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

His point wasn’t that they need to be taken out of service. His point was that we need to be producing new and better military planes and everything else. We need to be cutting edge.


16 posted on 08/07/2015 9:59:46 AM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: TheRightGuy

They go through Radomes the quickest....bird strikes. Some of the radomes have repairs over repairs over repairs.


17 posted on 08/07/2015 10:02:00 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Responsibility2nd

“I’m sure you know you’re in a very dangerous car. I’d love to own one. But would not take chances with my life with one.”

Shows how ignorant you are. I’d be the last person to die in a crash with most of the newer cars because these are tanks. Also, I keep the car in good mechanical condition and am upgrading continuously (just like the B52s are upgraded).

What I find much more dangerous is people in little new cars zipping around because they feel invincible. So, since I’ve been driving 45 years with all of two fender taps in the whole time, I think I will enjoy myself to the max while you hunker in a fetal position.


18 posted on 08/07/2015 10:02:19 AM PDT by DaxtonBrown (http://www.futurnamics.com/reid.php)
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To: Responsibility2nd

By the way, 1959 is not remotely the same car as the 1957.


19 posted on 08/07/2015 10:03:31 AM PDT by DaxtonBrown (http://www.futurnamics.com/reid.php)
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To: Responsibility2nd; DaxtonBrown
I'm sure you know you're in a very dangerous car. I'd love to own one. But would not take chances with my life with one.Crash test Chevrolet 1959 vs Chevrolet 2009 - YouTube

That YouTube video used one of the X-Frame Chevrolets. DaxtonBrown's Chevy does not use that design. Yes, the people who made that video used one of the most notorious cars to represent the era. Try the same thing with a '61 Imperial (which is banned from Demolition Derby competition as it always wins) or even the '55-'57 chevy lineup, and the results are different.

There were other clunkers of the era. The 1956 Plymouths were known to rust very quickly, for instance.

In any event, when you see a 1957 Chevy used as an every day driver, you don't hit it. You slow down and appreciate it.

How would you have gotten to work back in the '50s?
20 posted on 08/07/2015 10:04:15 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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