What a fine piece of 60+ year old engineering!

and whats more impressive,.... the story is still being told....

The saying,..... "this isn't your father's Oldsmobile." applies..

They just don't make 'em like that any more.

Before your clean diesel....

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156674

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Not dirty fuel, water injection.

A "wet" takeoff of a KC-135 with J57engines.

The drawback of the system is that injecting water quenches the flame in the combustion chambers somewhat, as there is no way to cool the engine parts without cooling the flame accidentally. This leads to unburned fuel out the exhaust and a characteristic trail of black smoke.

And to think the final proposal was all made in one weekend (because it was due Monday Morning) because the original proposal was scrapped.

I could tell quite a few stories about this aircraft. My first duty assignment in the U.S. Air Force was Barksdale AFB. I would sit out there for hours on the flightline putting fuel on them. I wont't say the quantity of fuel or if there is a method to fuel faster but it was impressive to walk around such a mighty warbird.

You will find stories about pilots performing barrel rolls and the one that lost a vertical stabilizer or the various crashes. I will share one story that you probably won't find elsewhere. Not long before I arrived at Barksdale, they had replaced an engine on the inboard port engine pod. They performed the normal ground testing and once signed off, they took her out for a test run. Some time into the flight there was a serious malfunction in the engine. It destroyed itself and fell to the ground, the shrapnel from the disintegrating engine caused damage to the wing, the body and the mounting equipment for the other engine...which fell off next. One engine landed in a field, the other, I was told landed in a church off base. They flew around monitoring the situation while another jet was scrambled. The other jet inspected as much as they could see and they decided to attempt a landing instead of ditching. The crash crews were already mobilized asan inflight emergency situation had been declared. All operations on the flightline ceased and everyone watched as the wounded warbird landed like nothing was wrong.

They parked her in the old alert pad and salvaged parts for most of my time there. Before I left for RAF Mildenhall, they decided to restore the damaged aircraft instead of scrapping her. Parts were ordered and shipped from the bone yard, and dusty shelves across the Air Force. Eventually she was refueled during the day shift (to find the leaks) and when I came on duty for B-Shift I got to spend the night out there with her taking a full load of fuel back off so they could fix the minor leaks that were found.

I don't recall if I saw her fly before I left but I know she did and was still flying when I asked a buddy from Barksdale I ran into on a deployment.

My time at Barksdale was Summer of '97 to winter '99 if anyone wants dates to try to look up the incident. I am sure she was in the news when it happened before I got there.

SSgt Anon, USAF (active duty: 1997~2007)

Thank you for your service to this great country. GP!

I salute you for your service for our country. I salute all military and support civilians who has protected our freedom.

God (or your Higher Power) Bless America.

Good Luck, Old Salt

I have attended numerous air shows at the nearest AF base and have been totally impressed with this bird. Once they had one on display with bomb bay doors open and open to visitors. Around the plane they had simulated offensive bombs which took up a large area. Was disappointed because we were not able to see the take-off.

Wouldn't want to have to choose between this and the A-10 Warthog. The A-10 is beautiful to the eyes of the beholder.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Watching them land in a heavy cross wind is spectacular.

Salt,

When I got there, Barksdale had a few active duty and reserve squadrons of B52. I was very pleased when I got there because there was also a squadron of reserve A-10. I loved talking to the pilots about flying them while I put fuel on. One told me that not only is she excellent at ground support (tank killing) but due to the unique flying dynamics she could more than hold her own in a dog fight. He said during a Red Flag training mission in Nebraska they would outfight even the f-16's. I asked how because the fighter was so much faster, and was told you can always turn faster when you go slower. So when they had an F-16 on their tail they would turn inside the f-16's radius and get a lock.

I got to sit in one once, the experience was memorable; I could imagine cutting through the clouds in that seat. He also told me that the large canopy frightened many pilots who were accustomed to having more metal and less window. They said it was like standing on top of a large building without a railing.

SSgt Anon

The B52 and the A-10, two old gals who can trade blows with the enemy like 'Demons in Skirts,' to steal an old description of the Scottish Black Tartans. Granted, each uses different tactics: the A-10 flies in close and shoots up Main Battle Tanks, the B-52, hangs up high, and, to quote an Iraqi soldier from the first Gulf War, "I never knew they were up there until the world exploded." Of course, that guy's unit was only NEXT to the target zone: there was nobody left to interview INSIDE the zone that got carpet-bombed.

Both those planes were designed, first and foremost, to 'bring their boys back alive,' and when it comes to the families of the servicemembers, that is the most important goal in an armed conflict. Not that 'the other guy' got trounced, that 'our boys' came back still on their feet.

The Mighty BUFF, when you want to send the very best.

Seen what this bad boys can do during Desert Storm, with their Arc Light strikes around the clock. It was incredibly impressive during the nighttime hours, when they were clobbering Iraqi forces some 20-to-25 Klicks distant, lighting up the sky in a big big way....and yes, the ground did shake a bit. Those poor bastards on the receiving end didn't stand a chance.

Well, the B-52 is the only non-nuclear weapon in the US arsenal that is used to attack and 'kill' TERRAIN:

"Hill #52 is going to slow down our armor advance in two days, I want it removed."

[ one B-52 bombing sorte later ]

"General, Hills number 50 through 57 have been successfully reduced to 'rough terrain."

"Excellent, make sure we have enough Bradleys to ferry the infantry, they won't be able to keep up with the advance if they have to cross that area in Rout Step⁽¹⁾."

Notes:

1. For those who don't know the US march styles, Rout Step is the 'non-march' march. The soldiers are not marching in step, each is walking to his own pace while trying to stay in formation. It is mainly ordered when crossing bridges (to avoid harmonics that could collapse the bridge while the company is crossing) and in rough terrain (where everyone needs to watch their own footing.)
   

Yep, try this with your F35.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wclfY0Meruw

Fond memories from my time at Griffiss AFB in the late 60's.

Ahhh good 'ole Griffiss AFB, home of the 416th BW. I know the place well, as I use to trek up to it to visit the PX and Com. every month or so. The Mrs. needed to quell that Shopping Gene urge! Errr "Shop Till ya drop"....

I'll never forget the time I was driving down the main drag on the base and all of a sudden those ALERT klaxons and rotating beacons up on the power poles started going off. Literally, that scared the crap out of me thinking that we just went to DEFCON 1 and I was about to get BBQ by an incoming Russkie nuke! I found out a little later it was a standard SAC drill. Was very kewl watching the Alert BUFFs and KC-135's scrambling though!!! Whatta racket, what with all that water injection.

It's too bad that they closed it because of the BRAC bull-puppy crappola.

The smoke trails aren't just from water injection. Older engines didn't burn fuel all that efficiently, hence, the smoke.

Older Navy aircraft always had a smoke trail, whether turbofan, turboshaft, or turbojet.

My oldest brother retired from the AF as a BN (bombardier/navigator) for the B-52s. During his 20 years in the Buffs, most of his flying and bombing runs were NOT high altitude. In training to be effective against the Soviet Union, they flew nearly 100% terrain-following missions. ...In an aircraft old enough that sons were seeing their father's initials scratched into areas of the cockpit....or grandfather's. Can you even imagine that large aircraft, with a full load of bombs and fuel, with wings having many thousands of stress cycles......routinely doing terrain-following missions over mountains and into abrupt valleys? Over and over for hours and hours?? My brother learned to instruct the pilots and navigate and drop ordinance while VERY nauseated from motion sickness. An incredible aircraft!

There are wheels on the tips of the wings that are touching the ground as she taxies out to the runway. After they have flown a mission and return, both wing tip wheels are not touching the ground and one is usually higher than the other so that you can walk under it. I could just imagine the distance they must travel when the plane is hanging from the wings in flight.

It was always fun to watch the wings sink to the ground as fuel was loaded onboard.

SSgt Anon

Could any of that be because they leave with full fuel tanks and return with empty fuel tanks.

Actually yes, but more than you think

They have to dump fuel if they are too heavy because bad things would happen if they tried to land wit the wings so heavy. It was fun to refuel thousands of gallons, watch her take off, then declare an IFE (in flight emergency) and land. You would know that they just dumped thousands (tens sometimes). I never heard about any EPA complaints...

SSgt Anon

it was more a statement that a question, but thanks for the extra details.

As far as EPA complaints..... the solution is dilution.

With that said,... Lets not bring up the fuel issues on the SR-71 during and after take-off.

I always thought that dilution was the case. Flying at that speed and spraying it out the fuel would evaporate and disperse quickly enough it probably wouldn't even be flammable.

JP8 will burn in a diesel engine, but is a bit lighter. When spilled on the flightline, it will evaporate in a short time once you put spill pads on the deep puddles.

In the desert, we used large 80k or 210k fuel bladders (if you google for videos you will see some rupture). When they did pop, we would recover the jet fuel and the puddles would be gone in less than a day. Diesel bags that popped left stains and puddles for over a month.

The SR-71 took a different fuel but I never got to fill that one. They left RAF Mildenhall before I got there : (

SSgt Anon

The SR-71 is real strange bird, blue skin and leaks fuel like a sieve when on the ground, matte black and fuel-tight once it warms up to operating temperature from air friction, and it runs on something like a blend of rocket fuel, and the tears of a forsaken child. Don't remember exactly, but it's gas is something esoteric, even for high-performance jet planes.

a lot of that was part of the design criteria,.... considering, that as they were building it, not only were a lot of material weren't available,..... they weren't even invented yet.

And, in a reference to another thread about Common Core math.

Designed using, paper, pencil, slide rule and wrote learned/memorized math by people who actually understood the method and principles involved.

And that is how proofs are made to support theories....

makes you wonder, how Common Core Math would support that.

If they had used Common Core math, we'd still be flying B 17s.

yahh right.

"Peddle Faster Winston'

It really is surprising we didn't blow up a bunch of them while fueling when you think about it.

Chemtrails!!!!!!

"I never heard about any EPA complaints..."

Probably because the area they were dumping fuel on was part of the base, and already designated as a 'hazardous waste zone' that was being monitored, controlled and cleaned up by the USAF. Artillery target zones are probably treated the same way.

A close analogy would be when camping. If the campsite has an established fire pit, you use that area, if the campsite does not have an established fire pit and you are allowed to set up ground fires, you set up your temporary fire pit well away from any evidence of previous temporary fire pits. In the second example, you're moving the fire pit to avoid 'stressing the land' and damaging the root structures of the nearby trees beyond recovery, but in the first example, the established fire pit has already rendered the ground under it barren and lifeless, so there is no further damage if another fire is set up there.

No complaints because.....All the regulatory agencies are part of the same governmental body, controlled by the same executive...(Mr President).

The EPA isn't all about "you made a mess so now we're gonna fine you!" They're actually rather friendly to even the most toxic industries, as long as the proper paperwork is filled out:

• Site surveys, and Environmental Impact Statements, to describe what you are going to do, where you're going to do it, what it will do to the surrounding area, and what steps you're going to take to mitigate the negative effects.
• Policy manuals to explain HOW you will do the mitigation, what tests you'll be doing to confirm the effects of your mitigation, and what steps you will take to correct the situation if the mitigation does not go as planned.
• Reports showing that you are consistently following the policy you've set out, and showing what you are tracking the effects on the local environment and taking steps to improve things, if required.

In short, if it's properly documented like any other Engineering project, the inspectors will be generally 'not-unhappy.' (I'm not sure if some of them are even CAPABLE of smiling, but as long as they're 'not-unhappy,' then that means they're .. whatever passes for 'pleased' among them ... with the way you're running your plant.)

B-52G Stratofortress "Gate Guardian" from the 416th BW, Griffiss AFB, Rome NY. In one of the pics you'll notice the sorties that this particular a/c flew during Desert Storm. Pics were taken in late summer 2009, so I'm sure the a/c condition most likely has degraded somewhat.

Boeing makes 'em to last (B52)

Fairchild made 'em stout (A10)

North American made 'em fast (B1)

Northrup makes 'em invisible (B2)

Join the Air Force.

Travel the world.

Meet interesting people.

And bomb the hell out of them.

Almost!

I joined, traveled, met and passed gas!

SSgt Anon