B-52 Flyby of USS Ranger

Family friend 'N.T.' | Today | Me

[GoldCountryRedneck]

B-52 Flyby of USS Ranger

This picture is real because I witnessed this flyby personally.

This picture was taken in the spring of 1990 as we started our deployment to the Persian Gulf.

I was up in the "tower" with the air boss as the Viking squadron rep for the launch/recovery and these Buff drivers (2 of them) called that they were at 8 miles for a flyby. They had been 'orange air' for a big war - at - sea exercise we were doing When they called 5 miles the boss said "we don't see you" and we heard back "look low".

Out on the water we saw this smoke trail first, (the planes merged with the color of the water) at about a 1-2 miles we could make them out and the two buffs came by at 20-30 feet off the water splitting the ship at about 350kts. Then they pulled up and did a big plan form 180 and said "do you want to see that again" - The air boss said "hell yea" so they went back out and did it again. It was the only time in my 20-year career that I have seen any service jets purposely flying below flight deck level.

One of my reserve buddies showed me this picture this weekend and I got all excited about it. It was always one of those moments at sea that I had talked about.

All the best.

N. T.

[Mr. Silverback]

BUFF pilots fly very, very, very, very low. Or at least, they used to back then.

[NormsRevenge]

damn.. awry ,, yikes..

[barker]

Alfa, you might want to see this.

[NormsRevenge]

Buff is right.. buffing dirt or the waves .. lower than a dambuster

[Mr. Silverback]

I don't think the BUFF is too low...the reason BUFFs usually travel at treetop level is because they're over land. Nothing would stop them from travelling 20 or 40 feet above the waves at sea.

As for size...BUFFS are big jets, but Ranger is immense. A BUFF is about 140-150 feet long, and a Forrestal class carrier is several football fields long.

[JRios1968]

He crashed a few seconds later...1994, Fairchild AFB, Washington.

[Mr. Silverback]

IIRC, the "orange" country in that exercise was a stand-in for Iraq, wasn't it?

[ForGod'sSake]

I call BS. A B52 is ~157 feet long. The U.S.S. Ranger's flight deck is/was ~770 feet long. Some quick division give you ~5 buffs end-to-end on the deck. By taking a larger version of this pic off the web and taking a ruler to the monitor, one can fit almost 6 of the B52 images end-to-end on the deck.

Since the buff is obviously closer than the Ranger, something is amiss. On top of that, my eyeballs tell me there's a loss of proportion in the pic.........FWIW.

[JRios1968]

[1066AD]

What's that above & to right of tail fin ?

[Seadog Bytes]

Thanks for the ping!

[TankerKC]

Someone faking the photo would pitch the Buff at zero or slighly flared.

Uh...unless they've seen a BUFF fly.

[TankerKC]

Anyone ever see this?

http://w-uh.com/posts/030321a.html

[Aeronaut]

[Jaxter]

"The U.S.S. Ranger's flight deck is/was ~770 feet long."

You got the wrong Ranger. The old Ranger (CV-4) was 770 feet long. The newer USS Ranger(CV-61) is 1071 feet long.

[CholeraJoe]

And that plane is 20 years older than its pilot. Boeing - gotta love 'em.

[Samwise]

As the kids would say, "Way cool!"

[usmcobra]

The second fly by was even most impressive.

Yes this is a phototshop. The original is not though......usmcobra

[ForGod'sSake]

The newer USS Ranger(CV-61) is 1071 feet long.

Ack; so it would seem. Still in all, the pic just doesn't "feel" right...

[SampleMan]

The Ranger wasn't the only CV/CVN to have a Buff below the flight deck, and as I mentioned earlier, I have personally looked down from the flight deck into the cockpit of a German Tornado.

I also remember having the 200-400 foot altitude block, while working with the Argentine Navy and having one of their S-2's working below us. On their MAD runs, you could see their prop pattern on the water.

Down low at 400 knots is a lot more fun than Mach 1 at 20,000 ft. What did you fly? KC-135 or KC-10?