The Mother of All Bombers...

[Alamo]

There were bombers before the B-52, and bombers after the B-52, but I think the BUFF still holds the title of most awe-inspiring bomber ever built. The ones flying today are only a couple years younger than I am and are still badass looking. Me, not so much.

Via Strategy Page:

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bomber taxis after landing at Andersen Air Force Base (AFB), Guam, Jan. 16, 2018. The Stratofortress is one of six U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bombers and approximately 300 Airmen from Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, deploying to Andersen AFB, in support of U.S. Pacific Command’s (PACOM) Continuous Bomber Presence (CBP) mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class

 

[T.Lex]

Yeah, the story of the Buff's longevity is fascinating. More than anything, it is a testament to what can go right when you build in opportunities for role flexibility. If you need it to carry 20,000 lbs, engineer it to carry 25,000.

 

[femurphy77]

Not to belittle the Buff but to see 1000 bombers approaching your front door would have to be the pinnacle of bombing history.

The Biggest Bombing Raid of World War II: 1000 Bombers Sent to Destroy Berlin | The National Interest Blog

 

[2A_Tom]

Or the most daring raid with no possibility of return and not much of survival.

[h=1]Doolittle leads air raid on Tokyo[/h]
Doolittle leads air raid on Tokyo - Apr 18, 1942 - HISTORY.com

 

[HoughMade]

...or perhaps the B-29 that ended WWII...one speactacular bomb at a time?

 

[Alamo]

Yeah, the story of the Buff's longevity is fascinating. More than anything, it is a testament to what can go right when you build in opportunities for role flexibility. If you need it to carry 20,000 lbs, engineer it to carry 25,000.

In my air force time I was with some E-3 AWACS units, and the E-3 air frame was a the Boeing 707, which of course was designed and built in the same time frame as the B-52. One of the accounts of the E-3 design that I read remarked that when Boeing was designing the first generation of large jet aircraft, there were a lot of unknowns about how they would perform over their life, so the air frame was essentially over-engineered. This cut into performance specs like speed and distance , compared to later airliners, but it made for very rugged air frames with lots of life in them, and the ability to hang lots of stuff on them.


In other matters, the multi-plane raids and the Doolittle raids were of course awesome feats, but as far as I'm concerned, the B-52 is the most menacing looking bomber ever built.

 

[indiucky]

My grandfather was at Monte Cassino when they bombed it unto rubble...IIRC it is considered the most bombs ever dropped on a target...(1000 tons of bombs....)

[video=youtube;wQdFgXjTNZc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQdFgXjTNZc[/video]


[video=youtube;azlV7z955qk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azlV7z955qk[/video]


He said it was the worse military blunder he saw during the war...Every G.I. knew it was going to be twice as hard to take now because the German's went underground and all the the positions they had marked were now rubble and the German's got a whole new set of positions to fight from that were not known...

 

[Tactically Fat]

My wife's grandpa was a B-52 airframe mechanic when it was in the AF. Shortly after the things were put into service.

I wonder if any of the planes he worked on are still in service? I know that many are quite old - but I don't know if there are any of the FIRST ones still flying.

He said that his main job was repairing the mid-air refueling doors. Apparently they were quite flimsy and easily damaged.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Those planes are enormous! They better space them out on the runway so that the island does not tip over

 

[indykid]

My wife's grandpa was a B-52 airframe mechanic when it was in the AF. Shortly after the things were put into service.

I wonder if any of the planes he worked on are still in service? I know that many are quite old - but I don't know if there are any of the FIRST ones still flying.

He said that his main job was repairing the mid-air refueling doors. Apparently they were quite flimsy and easily damaged.

I believe the only airframe still flying is the H model. All others were destroyed in the desert by being cut into parts that were visible to Russian satellites during the treaty to make us more vulnerable.

A long time ago, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft offered to re-engine the B-52 by taking the double pods and replacing them with single more modern engines. The air force said no. I am guessing fuel burn was not as much an issue as the added engine redundancy if an engine has to be shut down.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

There have been faster bombers, bombers with a heavier load-out, more beloved ones. When we could literally darken the sky with B17s/B24s, that was impressive, but a squadron of these could easily have carried more bombs into Berlin. The last H models were built in 1962, FIFTY FIVE YEARS AGO, and they're expected to be in service into the 2040s. Insane! I'm pretty sure there are none of the tall tail ones left, just short tails. I saw the heartbreaking satellite photos of ranks of B52s lined up in the desert with their wings and fuselages chopped up. I knew a guy that was an avionics tech on them back in the 60s when they were running Chrome Dome, 24 hour missions loitering around the USSR waiting for orders to proceed to targets.

 

[Tactically Fat]

I knew a guy that was an avionics tech on them back in the 60s when they were running Chrome Dome, 24 hour missions loitering around the USSR waiting for orders to proceed to targets.

Running the race track!

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

[video=youtube;Hg2vHETwThI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg2vHETwThI[/video]

[video=youtube;VzXHwtlm-kU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzXHwtlm-kU[/video]

 

[Nazgul]

Wife was in the Air Force, we were at Mather AFB in the 90's. Our neighbor flew a B-52 that was 1 year older than he was.

They had crews in an underground bunker on standby 24/7.

Don

 

[BugI02]

Yeah, the story of the Buff's longevity is fascinating. More than anything, it is a testament to what can go right when you build in opportunities for role flexibility. If you need it to carry 20,000 lbs, engineer it to carry 25,000.

Some pretty serious chatter about re-engining the H-models (of which I think there are 76 operational)

The BRM725 is in the same thrust class and will go to 51000+. The Air Force has said it wants to stick with an 8 engine configuration. They apparently would fly the retooled B52Hs until 2050(after which global warming will have killed us all, so no worries )

https://www.defensenews.com/air/201...725-engine-for-b-52-propulsion-modernization/
Rolls-Royce offers engine for B-52 propulsion modernization


The US Air Force Has Taken Another Step Toward Re-Engining its B-52s - The Drive
The US Air Force Has Taken Another Step Toward Re-Engining its B-52s

 

[voidsherpa]

Not to belittle the Buff but to see 1000 bombers approaching your front door would have to be the pinnacle of bombing history.

The west can write history however it wants, carpet bombing civilians is sad.

 

[Thor]

It has proven it's worth. Clinton should be chopped up and laid in the desert with those wasted BUFFs. I have seen them in action...

 

[femurphy77]

I've had the opportunity a few times to witness CALFEX exercises when my dad was stationed at Ft Sill; watching the Buffs come in low and drop a full load of ordnance from a range of about 1 1/2 miles. VERY COOL!

 

[Thor]

The west can write history however it wants, carpet bombing civilians is sad.

War is a reality, people die. Did the Europeans who died under Stalin's assault die any more humanely than those below the 8th AF? The 8th AF would probably win based on how many finally walked out of their concentration camps a decade later. Pick any war, every class of citizen dies. Only recently has technology allowed some to feel that it is more targeted, by the time you 'win' the war this may be a fallacy.

 

[KellyinAvon]

The BUFF is an incredible aircraft. On a hot day at an air show the bomb bay of a BUFF is a great place to cool off. I remember being at a school at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana (home of the 2nd Bomb Wing) back in 95. I was driving around the base's perimeter road to where I was staying, all of a sudden the sun disappeared. A BUFF was coming in for landing, I looked up and saw landing gear and sheet metal.

Years later I was TDY again a Barksdale. From where I was staying on base I could see the tail of a BUFF on the ramp. At 0440, the BUFF cranked up. WOOOOO-BBBBRRRRRR!!! Repeat that seven more times since it has eight engines. I just went ahead and got up at that point.