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 Americas military might to decay. And Huckabee decided the U.S. Air Forces 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 Obamas Air Force brought back one of the mothballed bombers to replace it.
(Excerpt) Read more at warisboring.com ...
Shows how ignorant you are...
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Happily ignorant. While you plug along in your death trap with no ABS, no airbags, no crumple zones, no stability control and a huge steering wheel ready to come crashing into your chest killing you instantly while I in my modern car walk away without a scratch.
I was stationed over in England in the early 70s. My heating was a water/wood boiler that fed radiators and a heat tank up in the attic.
I had to burn coal in the small boiler, but to get it started I had to bust up old pallets I got from the base to make the starter kindling. I bought a hand axe in the nearest town for 5 pounds. I’ve replaced the handle about two or three times since then and ground the head several times too. That was a big expense to me back then. I keep it now for sentimental reasons as do I still have the socket set my wife got me for a birthday there.
Huck is right. The B-52 is our only vehicle to carry LR nuclear cruise missiles. It's also why the USAF has been pursuing a next gen strat bomber in recent years.
The B-52 will probably be around for another 30 years. It is used as a standoff weapons platform for cruise missiles. Yes it does have a large radar cross section, but with cruise missiles it can hit targets over 1000 miles away.
The B52 is a pretty damn good plane, in a way like the SR71. It’s a poor example to rag on as a POS, The F-35 would be a better choice to dog. You could build a 100 more F22’s with for the price of a B52 replacement and have then now instead of 10-15 years down the road.
We don’t need new manned bombers, that day is gone. Did he offer up a solution, no he did not.
I agree.
For me it was the biggest surprise of the night.
Had me one o’ them fitty sebum Bel Air, bought it eight years old for five hundred dollars. I cruelly mistreated it and then traded it off. I should have found a building to put it in and kept it.
“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. “
And if it’s a hardtop, “Post Car,” or a convertible, it’s worth north of $50k unless it’s a rust bucket. And if it’s been restored, start looking for at least $80k and maybe as much as a buck twenty. Sure wished that I still had the ‘55 210 post car that was my second ever car, but at least in 1964, I had the good sense to replace it with an eleven month old 1963 Corvette Stingray “split window” Coupe that I still own! The ‘50’s and ‘60’s Chevrolets are icons in the motor world.
I disagree, he was also wrong about the numbers. The F35 is what he should have focused on, not a true success story.
A B52 can launch cruse missles from a long way off, they don’t need high speed, and stealth. They need reliability, range, tons of power, and lots and lots of lift.
Not a B 52
“when you see a 1957 Chevy used as an every day driver, you don’t hit it. You slow down and appreciate it. “
Exactly. You prove my point. People steer clear of my 1957, and I drive it according to its abilities. So the end result is I am at less risk than you are. But go ahead and cower in your tin can.
By the way, when I’m done with all the upgrades, my car will be worth $50,000 while yours will be worth zero.
Yup, I forget which jet they modeled the 57 hood ornaments on. But very avant garde.
2 B52 size vertical stabilizers too.
Agree, his answer about transgender was a classic, one I will use. The military is for killing and breaking things to keep us safe, it isn’t a social experiment. I thought all of his answers were right on target last night. I like Trump for what he is doing (breaking things politically)...but Cruz and Huck had the clearest and best thought out answers if all the candidates. Both are extremely articulate.
With the gas filler in the one fin. My 11 year old niece gets a kick out of that. :)
I know EXACTLY how old B-52s are. I flew them.
Comparing an aircraft to a car is not even close to reality.
B-52s have gone through 5 separate complete upgrades of their avionics and electronic warfare systems.
They get an entirely new skin every 8-10 years.
They’re on their 4th set of wings.
Aircraft are designed that, if maintained, to have indefinite lifespans.
There’s not much of the original B-52s, other than the basic fuselage structure, that HASN’T been replaced and updated. . .
Thank you sir, for this info.
I appreciate this new knowledge.
And if it’s a Nomad wagon, it’s going to fetch a good price, too.
He didn’t say it wasn’t a good plane, or that we should get rid of them. Surely you think the military should stay cutting edge. Why not have both the old and the new? It is not either/or. But it is foolish to think we can go on forever with old stuff. Hello?
You are arguing against something he did not say. It is a futile conversation.
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