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  • Lmo1131

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    How many people know in the 60s Bunker Hill Air Base then changed to Grissom AFB was home to a mach 2 supersonic nuclear bomber.

    I spent sooo much of my allowance on models... the B58 Hustler was one of my all-time favorites. It was like an alien spaceship when I was a kid.

    1636495216065.png


     

    KellyinAvon

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    I am glad to see the BUFF getting new engines after all these years. I mean these aren't the same ones that flew ARC LIGHT missions over Vietnam (those were D-Models) or the G-Models that bombed the **** out of the Iraqi Republican Guard (to the point they were surrendering to news crews) in Desert Storm. The B-52H has been around quite a while. The G-Models were retired after Desert Storm, the newest H-Model is older than me. Pretty sure they had the same engines when I was a young whipper-snapper mosquito-wing Airman.
     

    88E30M50

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    I remember spending my lunch hour when I was in the Air Force sitting in my truck, under eucalyptus trees at Travis AFB watching a B52 from Castle doing touch and gos. It was fun to watch the approach with the odd tail high aoa on final
     

    Alamo

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    And we had our own Broken Arrow incident. Apparently there is a spot on the grounds where the debris was buried.
    There is.

    When I was stationed at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio 1998 to 2001-ish one of the divisions in my unit was the Air Force radiation laboratory, which had a radiation assessment team.

    They had a project to go out and assess all former broken arrow sites to see if there were any danger from residual radiation. I got to read some of the reports, and the bee 58 incident at Bunker/Grissom AFB was one of them.

    The bomber burned on the ground, either on the taxiway or the runway I forget which. In the initial cleanup the fuselage was buried in a hole off to the side of the runway, then later it was dug up and cut it off.

    The RAT Could still detect radiation at the two locations, but it was not high enough to worry about, as I recall.
     

    Alamo

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    The B-52 make-over program(s) trundle on.

    The initial integration work on the Commercial Engine Replacement Program will be done at the Boeing facility in San Antonio, and once it’s worked out the actual production installation of new engines will happen at the Oklahoma air logistics center at Tinker Air Force Base.

    Boeing contracted a separate company to design the strut/pylon and the engine nacelles. The F130 engine is somewhat larger in diameter, and the engine pod will be mounted more forward and higher than the current one.

    full-new-b-52-render.jpg


    Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis is supposed to drop about $600 million to build a new facility to build the F130 engines In Indy.

    The nose is cleaner because the blisters for the infrared and low light TV cameras will be removed. The functions of those systems have already been supplanted by Sniper and LITENING pods, which will be carried forward to the new model B52s. Also I think the new radar helps in this regard (see below).

    The cockpit is also getting a makeover, partly as a result of the new engines but also to add new avionics and targeting capabilities.



    Also the BUFF is getting the a new radar, a variant of the one that’s on the FA-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler.

    It looks like the new radar will be ready and installed first, likely driving enough changes in the cockpit and elsewhere to result in a new model designation, like B-52J. Then as the B-52’s head back to the depot for normal depot-level maintenance the new engines will go on, probably resulting in yet another model designation, the B-52K.

    In separate programs, the B-52 will be modified to carry the long range standoff missile, which is has nuclear warhead, and the ARRW, which is a hypersonic missile. The hard points under the wing may also be improved carrying up to 20,000 pounds.

    Every time a B-52 rolls out for takeoff they should play The Beast, the soundtrack from Sicario when they cross the border from El Paso to Juarez.
     

    Alamo

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    Left out a couple goodies:

    Crew size will decrease from 5 to 4. H model has two pilots, a radar navigator, a navigator, and an electronic warfare officer. The three positions are being redesigned to two, presumably taking advantage of automation, and will filled by officers to be trained to fill either position. As I understand it right now one of them plans the mission, IDs the targets, and operates the offensive systems, (missiles, bombs, or whatever), one of them operates defensive systems, and the third one I guess keeps them from getting lost.

    A couple cargo containers have been designed to fit into the B-52. The idea is to allow the B-52 to take its maintenance equipment, or at least some of, it, with it along with five maintenance troops. The goal is for it to be able to deploy to any place with a runway long enough for it to takeoff and land. One cargo container will fit in each bomb bay, but I don’t know where they’re gonna put five maintenance guys. Right now it has room for the five crew members in ejection seats plus a jumpseat. I’ve never been in one but I got the idea that there’s not a lot of extra room beyond that.

    I know the B-52 has carried stuff in the bomb bays before going to/from deployment. A navigator I used to know said they accidentally dropped a power cart while making a simulated bomb run during a return from deployment. What really scared them is they weren’t sure which bomb bay had opened at first and they were afraid they had opened the one with classified material in it.
     
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    MindfulMan

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    It thrills me to think that the beast is receiving upgrades. Heck, I thought it looked old when I was in the Air Force (early 1970's).
    When viewed in the indoor display hanger at the U.S.A.F. Museum in Canton, OH this summer, it still impresses me !

    IMG_6241%20copy-XL.jpg
     

    Nazgul

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    Near the big river.
    Previous wife was an AF officer at Mather AF Base in the 80's-90's. Our next door neighbor was a B52 pilot. The plane he flew was older than he was by a good margin.
    Impressive piece of machinery. The base had an underground ready room he would be in for a week at time. It was neat to see them scramble occasionally .

    Don
     

    Flash-hider

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    I spent sooo much of my allowance on models... the B58 Hustler was one of my all-time favorites. It was like an alien spaceship when I was a kid.

    View attachment 167014




    I spent sooo much of my allowance on models... the B58 Hustler was one of my all-time favorites. It was like an alien spaceship when I was a kid.

    View attachment 167014



    The B-58 was my favorite too. You may ask why? Because my Mom's youngest brother was a navigator in one. Besides it looked just damn fast standing still.
    Just before Bunker Hill changed names, Uncle Paul and his crew flew to BH for the airshow there. We met him and his crew and got, I guess, what I would call the VIP tour. I got to sit on the front seat of the Hustler and I also got to sit in the pilot's seat of a B-52 that came in for the show. Pretty exciting for a 7–8-year-old kid.
     

    MindfulMan

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    The B-58 was my favorite too. You may ask why? Because my Mom's youngest brother was a navigator in one. Besides it looked just damn fast standing still.
    Just before Bunker Hill changed names, Uncle Paul and his crew flew to BH for the airshow there. We met him and his crew and got, I guess, what I would call the VIP tour. I got to sit on the front seat of the Hustler and I also got to sit in the pilot's seat of a B-52 that came in for the show. Pretty exciting for a 7–8-year-old kid.

    Wow ! .... that would be exciting for this 70 year old kid ! {thumbs-up}
     

    Flash-hider

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    Wow ! .... that would be exciting for this 70 year old kid ! {thumbs-up}
    My Uncle Paul was the navigator. I sat in his seat too, plus got to wear his helmet. For several years after that I would make drawings of converting the B-58 and the B-52 into crop dusters. I would send my ideas to Uncle Paul, but I suspect they never made it to General LeMay's desk.
     

    actaeon277

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    My Uncle Paul was the navigator. I sat in his seat too, plus got to wear his helmet. For several years after that I would make drawings of converting the B-58 and the B-52 into crop dusters. I would send my ideas to Uncle Paul, but I suspect they never made it to General LeMay's desk.
    You never know. LeMay may have enjoyed them.
     

    KellyinAvon

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    You never know. LeMay may have enjoyed them.
    So the guy known to history... as "Bombs Away LeMay"... who commanded 8th AF out of England when they fire-bombed Germany... and then commanded 21st Air Force in the Pacific when they fire-bombed Tokyo... killing 100K... and then nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki... and made the C in SAC stand for Cult... would like crop-dusters...

    OK, I'm an old TAC (Tactical Air Command) guy, not a fan of Curtis LeMay or SAC (Strategic Air Command.) He did say one thing I absolutely agree with. "War is about killing. When you kill enough of the other side, they will give up and you can go home." I think Sun Tzu would agree with that as well.
     

    Alamo

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    WTF?

    ''Having identified key flaws within the program, production security, and reviewing the future needs of the force, the existing CERP contract is under review with possible cancellation.''


     

    Alamo

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    And now another Twitter account is claiming two sources saying this memo is fake.


    It’s true that the CERP program cost has risen substantially since contract award but… who knows? CERP is Actually composed of several pieces with different contracts so standby for news!
     
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