Posted on 09/24/2019 1:31:48 PM PDT by C19fan
The B-52H fleet, already nearly 60 years old, has been the recipient of a steady but slow stream of upgrades to keep the planes useful. The Air Force is now committing to flying the bomber into the 2050s, a feat that will require even more improvements.
The U.S. Air Force ordered 102 B-52H bombers during the Cold War, with the first planes delivered in May 1961. The old eight-engined warhorse has been in continuous service ever since, flying combat missions over the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Air Force plans to keep flying the remaining 76 B-52Hs through 2050, with some almost certainly flying until 2061. The B-52H will be the longest serving warplane in history, serving longer than the newer B-1B and B-2A bombers.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
The J model Super Hercules is still in production. It will probably flying 100 years from now.
Unless I missed it, the story forgot the roll of the B-52 in Vietnam.
Perhaps they were only addressing the H Model Buff, which did not see action in Vietnam, and are the only models left in service.
I was trained, in the USAF, to work on B-52s and KC-135s.
Same here. Autopilot Shop at Blytheville AFB, AR & MArch AFB, CA.
Bombers aren't like other planes. They're built to endure proximity blasts from flak or SAMs, and soak up punishment from cannon fire and keep fighting.
They're flying tanks, which is why the first generation of hurricane reconnaisance planes were just bombers fitted with instruments.
A B-52 once landed without its vertical stabilizer. Maybe it sheared off from metal fatigue, but it flew for five hours after losing it and landed safely regardless.
"As a result of the incident, the B-52H airframe was strengthened to deal with future gust load turbulence. The bomber involved in the incident, tail number 61-0023, was repaired and returned to service, where it served for another 44 years on active duty. On July 24, 2008 it was the the first B-52H to go into storage at the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monathan Air Force Base"
Let us celebrate by bombing Iran.
Great maintenance troops and depot maintenance help keep the BUFF flying. In earlier days, many were on ground alert and not accumulating a lot of hours.
“...The B-52 is kept flying because it has an immense and flexible payload capacity and unusually low operating costs.” [Rockingham, post 25]
More critical to the continued utility is the (relative) ease with which systems can be modified and upgraded. Especially avionics. The B-52H has a great deal of interior space, making any job of rewiring and installing different “black boxes” less complicated than that for fighter aircraft. The smaller combat aircraft are so densely packed with equipment that upgrades are less feasible, hence more costly, sometimes impossible.
Effectiveness in action is more and more determined by what avionics can be installed, and how they are integrated - with other systems on the individual aircraft, with other aircraft, and with ground, space, or waterborne systems. Purely physical flight performance (speed, maneuverability, etc) means less with each passing day. To date, fighter pilots are still in denial about it.
(air)ship of Theseus
Good point. Thanks.
Yes, I remember. Thanks.
You’re exactly right.
Movie recommendation:
A Gathering of Eagles (1963), with Rock Hudson and Rod Taylor.
It is about a B-52 squadron that failed an ORI.
It seems to me that much of them are effectively rebuilt bit by bit throughout the timeframe - just not all at one.
For interest, see the movie:
No Highway in the Sky (1951), with James Stewart.
It is about a scientist who predicts aircraft failure due to metal fatigue.
I worked at Boeing in Wichita, briefly, in 1966-7 doing computer design work on the 747. 52s were being brought in for modifications. They are built based on longeron(sp?) construction. The skin is applied to a box framed fuselage. If you look at the front view of the plane, it is a box. This leads to a much more durable fuselage than the typical monocoque(sp?) construction where the fuselage gets its strength from the skin. If you see the plane fueled on the runway, the skin panels are buckled and do not smooth out until the wings elevate to flying velocity.
Testament to great design and quality manufacturing. For comparison a little over 100 years ago state of the art aircraft were the Fokker DVII and the Sopwith Camel.
Great movie!! IIRC based on the Comet?
Are these the same saddles that were originally made in 1859? Or, just the design?
The very same B-52s built in the 1960s will be serving into the 2050s.
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