The BUFF lives

[MG McAnick]

Scott Simon had a piece this morning on NPR's weakened edition about the Boeing B-52. I've known several guys who have flown Big Ugly Fat F***ers. Some were my age, some older, and many younger. I think venerable is a good term.

Click on the arrow in the blue circle to listen here: http://www.npr.org/2016/04/23/475388706 ... ll-kicking

[Joe Guy]

Have you seen this article w/video?

[MG McAnick]

No I hadn't Joe. It proves they are still out there, doing what they were designed to do, and more.

[Bicycle Bill]

No I hadn't Joe. It proves they are still out there, doing what they were designed to do, and more.

"Fly really high and drop shit".  That's not all that complicated a task.

-"BB"-

[kmccune]

The old Buffs they decommsisioned to comply with Salt could probably be resurrected in a pinch, say move over Dale Brown ! Old Dog anyone ?

[Jarlaxle]

I thought I was the only one here that liked those books.

[Bicycle Bill]

The old Buffs they decommsisioned to comply with Salt could probably be resurrected in a pinch.

Not all of them.  You can't just glue the wings back on.

-"BB"-

[Jarlaxle]

Those are the spare parts...

[datsunaholic]

The only version still in service and in reserve is the B-52H, and less than 95 of those exist. With the exception of a few preserved as static displays, all prior models were scrapped, with the last mothballed B-52G being scrapped in 2013. They did quit guillotining them, because doing so destroyed any usable spare parts, but the treaty requirements ensured the destruction of the airframes.

When I visited Davis-Monthan in 2014 there were only around a dozen B-52s visible in storage. Since there are 76 in service (as of last year) and only 94 B-52H airframes existed in 2013, that would probably be all of the mothballed ones.


Edit: I just looked at the Google Earth image from Nov 6, 2015 at Davis-Monthan AFB. It shows 12 B-52Hs intact in the storage section, and 94 B-52s chopped up in the boneyard.

[Jarlaxle]

Well...that's 12 to return to service, and 94 to provide spare parts for the 84 flying!

Of course...with enough determination, ANYTHING can be rebuilt...

[Bicycle Bill]

Of course...with enough determination, ANYTHING can be rebuilt...

Agreed.  If someone can use the original designs and tooling to recreate the De Lorean DMC-12, Boeing should be able to pull out the blueprints for the B-52 and crank out some brand new ones too.
(And the same goes for whoever now owns Fairchild/Republic, creators of the A-10 'Warthog') .

-"BB"-

[Jarlaxle]

Don't even need to do that anymore...with modern CAD-CAM, you can literally scan the parts into a computer and make copies!

Elbit Systems owns what's left of Fairchild.

[kmccune]

Hey ,Jar -I love Dale Brown (Coonts ,pretty good to )
Truly I didnt know they destroyed them that throughly ,I thought they just cut the empennage off .
Now is everyone sure the Russians did the same?How long will those bears last anyway ?

[Burning Petard]

Anything can be rebuilt? In all the aftermath of the gun turret explosion on the battleship Missouri, there were several sources that said it could not be repaired because the skills and technology to work with the heavy armor on that rig has been lost.

Just like the baseball bats used by Babe Ruth and Lou Gerig cannot be duplicated because the slow growth Ash trees used to make them no longer exist. I hate the sound of a hit off an aluminum bat.

On the other hand, I have been told any Ferrari can be 'repaired' as long as one has the id plate from the door frame.

snailgate

[MG McAnick]

"Fly really high and drop shit".  That's not all that complicated a task.

Not entirely true BB. The BUFF did (does?) a lot of low level work too.

https://warisboring.com/these-madmen-fl ... .qpg5phmic

and http://www.jetbombers.com/chapter6.html

This is the incident about a BUFF losing its vertical stabilizer mentioned in the article above http://theaviationist.com/2014/01/11/b-52-no-tail/

I can distinctly remember being down by the river in the summer of '69 when a very low flying BUFF came upon the young-lady-of-the-hour and I. (She's a whole 'nother story.) We barely heard the roar of the jet before it was overhead and the roar became deafening. It seemed to shake the ground. It looked as though he was following the river which snaked through her father's farm.

[Bicycle Bill]

I don't doubt that the BUFF and its crews have been called upon to do low-level work and done it well — or at least as well as any other 135 ton, eight-engined aircraft with a 185-foot wingspan would have been able to do.  But that was not in its original design specs; the idea to fly it low as a penetration bomber against the Soviet Union didn't come along until after the U-2 shootdown involving Gary Powers graphically proved that altitude was no defense against anti-aircraft missiles and sending the USAF and the DoD into a tizzy.

-"BB"-