THE AMAZING B 52 BOMBER

From what I have read the B-52 first came on the scene in the mid fifeties. What an amazing
aircraft and bomber. Its still around today - vietnam war, desert storm, iraq , aphanistan, etc.
I dont think Curtis LeMay ever realized the true potential of this aircraft. Has been a vital
part of SAC - strategic air command.

gusord

 

Here's a link to a January 1957 Popular Science article on the then-new B-52. I was 10 years old when I read this, and I was certainly impressed.

PopSci Archive Viewer | Popular Science

DaveBj

 

I'm sure he did. As one of the pioneers of strategic bombing, LeMay envision massive bomber fleets that could drop tons of bombs on targets anywhere in the world with pinpoint accuracy in a variety of weather conditions. The B-52 certainly does that. LeMay was also closely associate with the development of the bomber. Remember that SAC was under his command until 1957, and after that he served as Secretary of the Air Force. I'm sure LeMay knew very well about the capabilities of the aircraft. The question is whether he realized it would be in service for over 50 years. For years after his retirement from the USAF, he still received briefings at the Pentagon as a courtesy; so he remained involved in USAF affairs in some degree or anther until his death in 1990.

 

Am proud to say we hd 52s based here in Darwin...Used to sit at the end of the runway and watch them take-off...taxiing..running...running...running...running! And just when you think its going to plow into the back fence it lifts its nose and leaves the ground...it then lumbers into the sky...

 

I've heard it said that the B-52 doesn't take off; it just taxies really fast until the curvature of the earth takes the ground out from under it

DaveBj

 

And to think that this bird will be around for the next 20 yrs. If you think watching the BUFF take off is a sight, have a look at a C-5 Galaxy. That is a slooooooow take off.

 

They decided to land the BUFF currently at IWM Duxford directly instead of at a larger field and dimantling it, as it came from across the Atlantic they couldn't have stripped it down that much.
B 52 Landing at Duxford - YouTube

 

If you think watching one or more take off, you ought to see a whole batch of them practicing low-level ground following bombing runs. Here in Montana they used to fly up and down a couple of a valley or two in our rolling hills. Or out on the "big open" using our Big Sky for all the room they needed. That was a sight, I think these guys were based out of South Dakota, not Great Falls Montana.

 

I have wondered why they never re-engined the -52s with more modern turbofan engines, like are on the Boeing airliners. Anyone know?

DaveBj

 

There were discussions about replacing the 8 Pratt and Whitney engines with 4 Rollys-Royce engines in the 1970s, but nothing came of it. The big price tag (3 billion, if I recall correctly) meant that the idea was put on "hold" indefinitely, despite the additional range and increased fuel economy that this would have provided to the B-52s. Replacing the engines has been kicked around from time to time in recent years as well.

 

That was a rough landing and a pretty old plane. Better than ending up in the boneyard or worse.

 

Dave, according to Wiki, it originally evolved from a 1946 design that included 6 turboprop engines. What a massive evolution through the years and perhaps we will have to be re-using it if our stealth weapons don't gain a longer life at a more reasonable price.

 

..I traveled on a C5..I think to California.....we sat in standard ''passenger'' seats......
..the B52 has a long range and big payload --so it's effective, especially if the enemy doesn't has much air defense -such as in Afghanistan

 

After the war my Dad used his GI Bill to go to college and graduated with a engineering degree and was soon hired by Boeing. His first assignment was working on the B-52..I believe the "B" model..then later on the X-20 Dyna-Soar and then the SST project...my mother also worked on Boeing's Jetfoil project for a while too until the big layoffs in the early 70's.

 

..did you get to tour the area? we got to tour our fighter jet manufacturing plant ...this was decades ago, before they got serious about security
..Boeing had big lay offs then??

 

wonder how much of the bison was stolen from '52 plans.
da bear is the equivalent (?) of the buff, and it has turboprops...no access to my books, so not sure.
edit- thanks for digging this up. good to see BD and Victor again.

 

..there are a lot of interesting old threads out there--and some not brought to fruition
B52 significantly longer combat radius than Bison?
..here's a cool link where you can compare aircraft
BUFF vs Bison:
...Comparison of Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and Myasishchev M-4 / 3M (Bison)

compare aircraft
Compare Aircraft Side-by-Side

 

If they had a tour I don't remember it, I was pretty young at the time..but he told me his experiences at Boeing and have his framed SST print he got from the company on my office wall...he got let go along with 50,000 others between '70-71...turn out the lights.

 

Summer of '66 I slept under the stars in a field on a hillside above the Mohawk on my way to the Adirondacks. . Without knowing it, I was 1000' (?) under the flight path of SAC B52's returning t in the night o Griffiss AFB from their missions. Spectacular.