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I’ll Be Damned, These Boneyard B-52s Can Still Fly
War is Boring ^ | February 18, 2015 | Joseph Trevithick

Posted on 02/19/2015 8:02:37 AM PST by C19fan

The Air Force is working to get a B-52 bomber back into service after it sat collecting dust for seven years at the famous Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

On Feb. 13, the B-52H—with the serial number 61–0007—left the desert for its new home with the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. This is the first time the Air Force has “regenerated” one of these bombers from the Boneyard back to active duty.

(Excerpt) Read more at medium.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: aerospace; air; aviation; b52; buff; warisboring
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To: Celtic Conservative

“Hell, we could have a good weekend in Houston with all this stuff!”

It was Dallas, then Kennedy was shot in Dallas and they had Slim Pickens re-do the line and say Vegas... if you look closely you can tell he mouths the name Dallas.


41 posted on 02/19/2015 9:03:39 AM PST by Bobalu (If we live to see 2017 we will be kissing the ground)
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To: knarf

Back when Men thought water could burn ...


42 posted on 02/19/2015 9:05:58 AM PST by NorthMountain ("The time has come", the Walrus said, "to talk of many things")
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To: IYAS9YAS

Having to show photo ID? That’s racist!


43 posted on 02/19/2015 9:06:37 AM PST by SoCal Pubbie
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To: knarf

That would be a blast to wander through (I’d bring my own lunch ;’)


44 posted on 02/19/2015 9:08:49 AM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: thefactor

I don’t know about that. But you can go to the one in Mojave. It’s not military.


45 posted on 02/19/2015 9:10:08 AM PST by Organic Panic
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To: EveningStar
Good! Never know when they might come in handy...

Britain Says It Sent Warplanes to Intercept Russian Bombers Off Cornwall
By ALAN COWELL FEB. 19, 2015

46 posted on 02/19/2015 9:18:12 AM PST by GBA (Just a hick in paradise)
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To: molson209

It was so beautiful and practical, that the Ruskies created their own version. I love this plane almost as much as the SR-71.


47 posted on 02/19/2015 9:18:21 AM PST by lefty-lie-spy (Stay metal. For the Horde \m/("_")\m/ - via iPhone from Tokyo.)
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To: C19fan

48 posted on 02/19/2015 9:24:13 AM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: C19fan
O.K., I give up...if the vast majority of these planes are obsolete and unusable, why don't they disassemble them and recycle the parts/metal??

The EPA insists that I recycle my aluminum beer cans so they don't take up space on the ground.....a junk airplane takes up a huge amount of valuable farmland wherever that base is....

49 posted on 02/19/2015 9:40:14 AM PST by terycarl (common sense prevails over all)
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To: C19fan
The reason for the re-engine proposal is not only eliminating the smoke contrails, but also more power at takeoff (220,000 lb. thrust from four F103's versus 144,000 lb. thrust from eight TF33's) and way lower fuel consumption. Just the more engine power makes it easier to carry the massive GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb that weighs 30,000 lb., some 8,000 lb. more than the famous World War II Grand Slam bomb.
50 posted on 02/19/2015 9:43:54 AM PST by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: molson209
The B-52 is like Cockroaches ,they’ll be around Forever ,LOL

What have they done since "Love Shack."

51 posted on 02/19/2015 9:45:30 AM PST by dfwgator
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To: IYAS9YAS

IIRC, the B-52s were being chopped as part of an arms limitation treaty with the Soviets, and they monitored the process with their satellites. Looks like the chopped airframes were permanently left in place as a condition of the treaty.

Wonder how many Tu-95s got chopped by the Russkies? They’ve been building brand new Bear bombers so it hardly matters.


52 posted on 02/19/2015 10:12:07 AM PST by elcid1970 ("I: am a radicalized infidel.")
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To: molson209

Hell of an airframe that can last through 3 generations of the same families flying them.


53 posted on 02/19/2015 10:20:12 AM PST by N. Theknow (Kennedys-Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat-But they know what's best for you.)
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To: elcid1970
IIRC, the B-52s were being chopped as part of an arms limitation treaty with the Soviets, and they monitored the process with their satellites.

Yes. IIRC, there were four cuts made. Each wing at the fuselage, one aft of the cockpit in front of the wings, and one in front of the tail. The wing tips were then moved in toward the fuselage with a bulldozer so that the Soviet satellites could quickly verify that they were looking at demilitarized aircraft vs. intact aircraft. I think it was the SALT II treaty that called for this destruction.

As a side note, when I was there from 1991-1994, they had an (I think) Apache helicopter there that was slated to go to the Shah of Iran. Delivery was set for just after the revolution, and subsequently never took place. It's been sitting at the Boneyard since the 70s.

54 posted on 02/19/2015 10:25:44 AM PST by IYAS9YAS (Has anyone seen my tagline? It was here yesterday. I seem to have misplaced it.)
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To: dfwgator

LOL :)


55 posted on 02/19/2015 10:45:07 AM PST by EveningStar
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To: IYAS9YAS

The Shah’s helicopter was probably an AH-1 Cobra.

I first saw a prototype Apache in Germany in 1982 & we got Blackhawks the following year. But we had improved AH-1s (flat glass canopy) while I was there.

Then there was Saddam’s Mi-24 with the golden eagle paint scheme.


56 posted on 02/19/2015 10:47:42 AM PST by elcid1970 ("I: am a radicalized infidel.")
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To: JJ_Folderol

G/H has 8 engines too. See post #48. I think they’re talking about re-engining the H models to 4 engines.


57 posted on 02/19/2015 10:51:24 AM PST by afsnco
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To: M Kehoe

Same as the RNC, my friend...


58 posted on 02/19/2015 10:53:33 AM PST by FatherFig1o155 ("Most bad government results from too much government." -- Thomas Jefferson)
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To: terycarl

Thats one of the big things AMARG does: spares reclaimation for use in active aircraft.

Thats why there are A-10s and B-1s there, for instance. Many of them are extraneous to operational requirements and are being picked clean/cannibalized to keep the operational fleet flying.

Others are kept in regenerable storage. Like the B-52 from this article. It means they aren’t picked clean (at least as much as other aircraft) so they can be put back into service if needed. As attrition replacements, for instance.

This BUFF was only there for seven years. Not to long ago they regenerated a NASA WB-57 (big wing high altitude version of the Canberra) that had been in mothballs since the 1970s. There are also old Grumman S-2 Trackers and C-1 Traders that are being pulled out after decades there for conversion to aerial tankers and carrier delivery planes for Brazil to operate off it’s ex-French carrier.


59 posted on 02/19/2015 11:01:03 AM PST by tanknetter
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To: RayChuang88

On a different board (aviation related) there was a discussion on the reengining that included some guy that were involved in the last proposal to do that (1980s, I think)

Apparantly there’s a big issue with engine out asymetric thrust that makes the eight engine configuration more desirable. The BUFF needs five engines to stay airborne, and can’t lose more than two engines on a side. Proceedure for losing two engines on one side is to shut down an engine on the other side as well to reduce stresses on the airframe.

I’m guessing that current day engine management software can compensate by varying the power of the remaining engines if one is lost. And that two-engine sustained flight is possible given the extra power available. But which engine goes out probably matters a lot too, with the loss of both inboards putting the aircraft and crew into a very, very bad situation.


60 posted on 02/19/2015 11:11:45 AM PST by tanknetter
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