Posted on 07/06/2006 7:59:03 PM PDT by 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.
Yep, LTC Bud Holland. He was unsafe and killed several people in that stunt. Several in the chain of command got hammered over that incident.
Thanks....and my teen tells me that's "k-e-w-l"!! *LOL*!
In follow up, Qiux,there was no 'official Navy' photo as such, but TankerKC's pic post #9 comes from the User Album area of the USS Ranger website (www.ussrangercv61.org).
Ya' know, folks, one would think that with...
(1)Personal knowledge of the photos' source pre-post, (2) the background context post details,(3) comments verifying that nap-of-the-earth is one of but a few of the BUFFs' mission profiles, (4)SampleMans' own knowledge of the event and (5) that second pic from the Ranger website...
....that even the harshest of the FReepSkeptics' would stand down.
I'm forwarding your version,cobra, back to my family as everyone knows that AF B-52 pilots are frustrated Thunderbirds at heart!!!! *LOL*!
Gotta hit the commute All!
~GCR~
Hmmmmmm. That's more than a little harder to believe.
Also, as I recall, the B-52 is a larger bird than both pics make it look. One of my counseling bosses was a crewman.
Did that occur sometime between 1978 and 1987? I'm not sure.
I lived in Spokane sometime during that period.
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.
I felt the same thing.
Thanks.
I don't mind believing the first photo--though, in my mind, the plane seems smaller than it should.
And, it does help to have your personal connection.
OTOH (you have different fingers) . . . The upside down one strains even my supposedly tin-foil credulity.
In any case, a fun thread. I love Navy related flight ops.
ROFLOL
My guess is probably the plane that took the first picture.
LOL, someone should crop the Loch Ness Monster off the bow :)
Just for the record, I'm not questioning that this happened...only that this particular photo looks a bit out of whack to me.
I am (or was) a maintenance guy on B-52, KC-135, KC-10, & F-16s.
No downwash wake behind the BUFF?!
Getting a size to size comparison of objects to a CV can be difficult. You can put a 50 foot Utility Boat at the base of the ship and it will barely show up in a picture taken from some distance.
Wait until I have the Ranger flying over the B-52 upside down.
Probably so. Thanks.
As I recall, he snagged a power line and cartwheeled in. Sad to see so many good men die that fast over a foolish stunt.
IIRC he took the squadron commander and director of ops with him, because they were the only ones who felt confident enough of being able to override him. Obviously they weren't.
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