The Mother of All Bombers...

[Shadow01]

He was banned back in 2020.

I saw that after I hit the post button.

 

[Alamo]

I've got just shy of 3000 hours in the Buff, quite a bit of it as Instructor time. It's one heck of an airplane.

Cool!

Were you upstairs or downstairs?

 

[IN New Guy]

Cool!

Were you upstairs or downstairs?

I was downstairs. Started out as a newbie navigator, then upgraded to Instructor, then as a Radar Navigator (in reality, a weapons system officer/nav combo), then an instructor in that position. Taught at the Combat Crew Training School in various capacities for about 4 years. All that was back in the Cold War days when we flew low-level nap of the earth type flights and pulled nuclear alert on a regular basis. No GPS, no INS, etc. Ah...those were the days!

 

[IN New Guy]

Another cool pic.
View attachment 285727 24 750lb dumb bombs can be carried on the underwing pylons.

The bomb bays were designed to carry nuclear weapons, and originally could carry only about 27 conventional bombs internally. During the Vietnam war, many of the D model B-52’s were converted under the “Big Belly” program to strictly conventional use and were able to carry 84 500-pound bombs in the bomb bays along with the 24 750-pound bombs under the wings for a total of 60,000 pounds of ordnance.

A Photoshopped picture. No way this happened. Besides, this is an H model Buff, not a "D."

 

[Alamo]

A Photoshopped picture. No way this happened. Besides, this is an H model Buff, not a "D."

Too bad.

 

[Alamo]

Excellent view of BUFF at full crab starts at 4:23. Runway edge lighting takes a beating tho.

 

[Alamo]

The rest of the caption notes this is a B-52 flying just above the ocean surface with the picture taken by a RNZAF Scooter.

“Scooter“ was the pilot’s nickname for the A-4 Skyhawk. NewZealand bought A-4F and G models and redesignated them A-4K after local mods. The Kiwis got A-4s in 1970 and retired them by 2002.

You can see the shadow of the A-4 behind the BUFF’s left wing.

 

[patience0830]

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

Fight to win. Kill everybody, burn it all down, salt the ground. Then dare anybody else to **** you off. There'd be a war to end wars.

 

[Mgderf]

Fight to win. Kill everybody, burn it all down, salt the ground. Then dare anybody else to **** you off. There'd be a war to end wars.

There are very few problems in this world that cannot be solved by the proper snd judicious used of high order explosives.

 

[smokingman]

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.

It is still just the son of a B-36 Never grew up to be as big as dad.

The bomber is 162 feet, 1 inch (49.403 meters) long with a wingspan of 230 feet (70.104 meters) and overall height of 46 feet, 9 inches (14.249 meters). The empty weight is 171,035 pounds (77,580 kilograms) and combat weight is 266,100 pounds (120,700 kilograms). Maximum takeoff weight is 410,000 pounds (185,973 kilograms).

Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona

B-36 at the Air Force Museum

www.airplanes-online.com

 

[Alamo]

The bomber is 162 feet, 1 inch (49.403 meters) long with a wingspan of 230 feet (70.104 meters) and overall height of 46 feet, 9 inches (14.249 meters). The empty weight is 171,035 pounds (77,580 kilograms) and combat weight is 266,100 pounds (120,700 kilograms). Maximum takeoff weight is 410,000 pounds (185,973 kilograms).

These are the specs basically for the A - F models, especially for the tail and gross weight. The current H model is even mo’betta.

Operational use and testing revealed problems with low level flight - the vertical stabilizer breaking off - and Boeing did substantial redesign to reduce stress on the tail structure and lighten the aircraft. The vertical stab had 6 feet cut off of it, and it was lengthened from front to rear. The aircraft was lightened while adding wet wings (more fuel capacity), ailerons removed, 2x20mm Vulcan guns in place of the 4 x .50 cal, and many other improved subsystems. This resulted in the G model, followed by the current H model which was largely the same but reengined with the TF-33 engines.

The current spec for the H model is 185K lbs empty, 488K max, 313K in fuel, and 70K weapons. More important than the weight of the weapons is the variety it can carry, especially long range missiles, and the fact it can fly 8800 miles unrefueled, and for hours and hours with refueling.

It’s a beast.

 

[MrSmitty]

The B-52 and the F-15 will be doing the fly bys when the F-22, B-1, and the F-35 are retired…,

 

[daddyusmaximus]

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

The weapons, and tactics used in warfare are in step with the technology and doctrine at the time... but yeah, it would be awe-inspiring, and downright scary as hell to see the sky literally darkened with so many aircraft coming after you.

Then again, each of those bombers carried a much smaller payload, and delivering those bombs accurately on the intended target, through European cloud cover, from high altitude, while under AA fire made the massive raids an absolute necessity in order to guarantee the target was destroyed.

Even leaving nukes off the table... a mere handful of B-52 bombers, or even just one (depending on the target) could easily accomplish the same task as the aforementioned raid.

Knowing how accurate the ordinance is that the B52 now carries, I would rather be targeted by 1,000 shiny new WWII B17s and B24s, than by a single 65 year old BUFF...

 

[MrSmitty]

Watching a BUFF take off is neat, it takes off nose down..they say it really doesn’t fly, so much as scares the ground away….

 

[Alamo]

The B-52 and the F-15 will be doing the fly bys when the F-22, B-1, and the F-35 are retired…,

Eh, maybe the B-52 and some F-16s, but they will be escorted by F-35s. Maybe a few F-15 EXs.

Battle Penguin is not going away anytime soon. Already 1000 of them have been produced and there are many orders yet to be filled. It will be the F-16 of the future.

Total F-15s built is about 1600, many of them old and flown hard, approaching flying hour limits, and only about 100 new F-15EX will be bought, if that many. About 4500 F-16s have been produced worldwide, and some allies will hang onto them and buy a few new ones, but US is not buying any new ones; both active and ANG are replacing them with F-35A.

B-1B and F-22A are much smaller inventories, relatively expensive to maintain, and will be replaced by B-21A and NGAD products. And if the NGAD chokes or delays, I would not be surprised to see an air superiority version of the F-35 developed.

The major reason the B-52H is able to hang on so long is we just didn’t fly it much; it sat nuclear alert for decades and they still have a lot of flying hours in them. This is paired with the development of long range missiles that let it stand way back from the bad guys, and a new engine that will drastically cut engine depot costs to zero (versus the $1.5-2M PER ENGINE overhaul cost every few hundred flying hours).

 

[MindfulMan]

BUFF !

 

[Nazgul]

It is still just the son of a B-36 Never grew up to be as big as dad.

The bomber is 162 feet, 1 inch (49.403 meters) long with a wingspan of 230 feet (70.104 meters) and overall height of 46 feet, 9 inches (14.249 meters). The empty weight is 171,035 pounds (77,580 kilograms) and combat weight is 266,100 pounds (120,700 kilograms). Maximum takeoff weight is 410,000 pounds (185,973 kilograms).

Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona

B-36 at the Air Force Museum

www.airplanes-online.com

Remember visiting the museum for the first time. Walking around absorbing all the details until I was next to a huge landing gear. Then looked up and realized the B-36 was above me.......

Older brother was stationed at Dayton as the only Army officer there. He was a Colonel and was involved with bringing the C-17 online as liason with Boeing. He laughed when he told me they didn't really know what to do with
him so he got a corner office with big windows and a great view and all the perks.

Lots of interesting problems getting it in service properly.

Don

 

[Dog1]

The B-52 and it's longevity is really a fantastic story but I would have loved to have stood and watched a B-36 take off. Six turning and four burning...

 

[Dog1]

BUFF !

I have really got to take a trip up there

 

[MindfulMan]

I have really got to take a trip up there

When it comes to older military planes, there's no equal to the U.S. Air Force Museum.