B52 Stratofortress.

[planedriver]

18 Things You Never Knew About The B-52 Stratofortress

 

It's big. It's ugly. And it's one of the most adaptable aircraft flown in the past 60 years.

 

1) The B-52's first flight was April 15, 1952 - over 63 years ago.

 

 

Wikipedia

 

2) The B-52 was designed to carry nuclear weapons during the Cold War, but it has only carried conventional ordnance in combat.

 

 

USAF

 

3) There were huge leaps in aviation happening when the B-52 was being designed, and it went through 6 major redesigns during the 5 year design period. The YB-52 pictured below was the second-to-last major redesign.

 

 

Wikipedia

 

4) A B-52A was used to carry the North American X-15. The X-15 achieved the record for fastest manned powered aircraft, with a speed of Mach 6.72.

 

 

Wikipedia

 

5) There have been 744 B-52s built, but currently there are only 85 in active service, with 9 in reserve.

 

 

USAF

 

6) The B-52 can carry up to 70,000 pounds of ordnance, or the equivalent of 30 fully-loaded Cessna 172s.

 

 

Wikipedia

 

7) Production ended in 1962, which means the youngest B-52 is 53 years old.

 

 

USAF

 

8) The jet has a unique ejection system; the lower deck crew eject downward.

 

 

9) The B-52 is expected to serve until the 2040s. That's over 90 years of service.

 

 

USAF

 

10) In 1964, a B-52 configured as a testbed to investigate structural failures flew through severe turbulence, shearing off its vertical stabilizer. The aircraft was able to continue flying, and landed safely.

 

 

Wikipedia

 

11) The navigator and radar navigator sit in the lower deck of the aircraft. These are the two seats that eject downward.

 

 

Wikipedia

 

12) To comply with the SALT II Treaty requirements, cruise missile-capable aircraft had to be identifiable by spy satellites. To comply, the B-52 "G" models were modified with a curved wing root fairing.

 

Wings Over The Rockies Museum

 

13) Early models had cabin temperature problems; the upper-deck would get hot, because it was heated by the sun, while the navigation crew would sit on the cold fuselage floor.

 

 

Wikipedia

 

14) In 1961, a B-52G broke up in midair over Goldsboro, NC. Two nuclear bombs on board were dropped in the process, but didn't detonate. After the bombs were recovered, the Air Force found that five of the six stages of the arming sequence had been completed.

 

 

Wikipedia

 

15) In 1972, B-52 tail-gunner Albert Moore shot down a MiG-21 over Vietnam. It was the last recorded bomber-gunner to shoot down an enemy aircraft.

 

 

Texas Aviation Online

 

16) After the Soviet Union fell in 1991, 365 B-52s were destroyed under the START treaty. The aircraft were stripped of usable parts, chopped into 5 pieces with a 13,000 pound steel blade, and sold for scrap at 12 cents per pound.

 

 

Media Span Online

 

17) During Operation Desert Storm, B-52s delivered 40% of the weapons dropped from the air.

 

 

USAF

 

18) Currently, B-52s cost $70,000 per flight hour to operate. And while they might be ugly, they're still a pretty amazing and adaptable aircraft.

 

 

USAF

 

 

[Guest SrPilot]

18 Things You Never Knew About The B-52 Stratofortress. . . . It's big. It's ugly. . . . And while they might be ugly,

What's with all that "ugly" stuff?

"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." "Beauty is only skin deep but ugly goes all the way to the bone."

 

I sojourned through B-47s, B-52s, B-58s, until I wrangled a home with KC-135s. Our wing got 15 of the last B-52s made (H-models with the turbofan engines - state of art in their day - and the short vertical fins) in 1961-62. The 52s were majestic, and they've proved very durable. "Peace was our profession" and peace we had. There was no nuclear war during the "Cold War" and the B-52s played a significant role in keeping things quiet. But B-52s, great airplanes to be sure, were not my cup of tea. We had a love-hate relationship and I had the sense to maneuver over to the tanker side insofar as I could. . . . SAC 379th BW(H), early 1960s (including the "Cuban Missile Crisis" days).

 

The ugly side of the B-52 was post-flight maintenance. It takes a lot to keep something that complicated in the air. A few liters of go-juice and some air in the tires/tyres doesn't get the job done. But I doubt that the B-1/B-2 birds are any better, and I know the B-58s weren't any better.The 58s were neat airplanes in their day, but their day didn't last as long as the 52s. All of them have/had too much to break, malfunction, deteriorate, or just age out: hydraulics, electronics, radar, plain old wear-and-tear . These puppies, Foxbats, they ain't.

 

But for their mission, the B-52s were king of the hill. Name another bomber with such a life span.

 

 

[planedriver]

Interesting post SrPilot, thank you.

 

Like to hear more.

 

 

[Cosmick]

A great Aircraft the B52. Great example "The City Of Darwin" in the Air Museum at Darwin. Big dollars, their defence budget is hard to grasp, must be a lot of people paying taxes in the US of A.