Honestly, that is just plain absurd.
Aircraft piloted by someone born 4 generations after it left the factory?
The truth is we need a new bomb truck, but we can’t afford it.
Take a trip to Louisiana or North Dakota
The current engines are original to the H models, the last of which came off the manufacturing line in 1962,
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A Rolls-Royce spokesperson said via email that the company plans to establish a new U.S.-based assembly line to build and test the engines, should it win the contract. The engine itself was not disclosed. GE Aviation did not respond to a request for comment.
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“One of the issues is that there was never a clear plan for how long the Air Force was going to continue flying them,” he said. “There was no plan to get rid of them, but I don’t think they had nearly as definitive a statement that said, ‘We will fly this aircraft into the 2050s.’
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Use to watch the B-52’s take off from Mather AFB in Sacramento. My really good friends dad was part of the B-52 24hr standby crews there. What a great bomber.
That would be like using Civil War weapons today.
My dad was USAF and I was born on SAC base and raised on SAC bases until I was 14. Watched many, many a BUFF take off.
Yeah. It’s pretty awesome.
The US probably cannot afford to replace all of those B-52s with new bombers - the cost would likely be astronomical. Therefore we will have 80 year old planes defending the US by mid-century. I don’t see how this is sustainable - either the US develops relatively inexpensive drone aircraft capable of fulfilling the role of the B-52, or we watch China field newer, more capable aircraft in the decades to come.
“Engine Upgrades, Digitization to Keep B-52s Flying Into 2050s”
Nice, but I suspect that most of the B-52 flight crews would prefer the old cable-driven engine controls when flying through (or into) a nuclear battlefield.
...but then again, maybe I’m old-fashioned.
The BUFF, will it fly forever?
Worked on the B52 electronics 1971 thru 1975 in North Dakota and upstate NY.
At that time they used mini vacuum tubes. Produced a lot of heat.
Took apart a radar monitor one time and found a fried mouse.
Saw them go to transistors then integrated circuits with infra red and and video cameras.
The older models were used in Guam and N. Vietnam.
Those had a periscope bombing sights like the WWII planes.
Note the great return on our tax dollars here. Both the B-52s and their contemporary C-130s have been flying since the mid 1950s, albeit with significant upgrades throughout that time.
The B-52 differs from its B-1 & B-2 compatriots in the sheer volume of its payload. Sometimes there is a need for the enemy to experience the shock and awe of a real ‘rolling thunder’ that seems endless. There is no match to it in the Western air forces.
My Great-grand-pa, whom I still remember well, was born in 1868, the year Custer raided the Washita villages. He was eight when Custer was killed. He lived long enough to see the B-52 go into service.
I worked on B-52 bombers and KC-135Q in the USAF back in 1966-1969.
I was stationed at a base that had the G model BUFFs; water burners. There was nothing more awe inspiring than watching six or seven BUFFs and several A model Tankers in a MITO. The noise and smoke was stunning and beautiful.
The base would be covered in smoke for quite awhile after.
thank you all for sharing your experience and expertise.
I get a better history lesson from reading FR threads than a history book.
I have seen B-52’s taking off from the Offutt AFB many times when I was a kid (I am retired now). That was a VERY short runway, at least for B-52’s. The main runway headed west and ended at a manmade cliff. The main North/South runway ran directly under it. One time there was a crash that took out some cars under it.
I wonder if they will be going from 8 engines to 4 engines? Offutt still has an early B-52 on stilts at the front gate.
