Posted on 03/17/2006 3:12:00 PM PST by SandRat
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Well, actually ideally suited for it too, with JDAM precision munitions. Lots more efficient than having a number of fighters rotate around.
Guys up in that B-52 are probably buzzing around bored out of their mind, drinking coffee, and punch in a few numbers when the guys below request a drop.
Do you guys take American Express? lol
Love those 'Buffs'
Don't call me Ethel!
True, but as the article says....
Whenever we, as B-52 aircrew members, have the opportunity to shape the battlefield with our armament....."
I would hate to be on the receiving end of such a shaped battlefield.
If I might comment, the Canadian forces have been getting their butts kicked hard recently in Afghanistan to the point that the Canadian news has been getting on their leaders case. I sense that some of this might be an attempt to cut our northern neighbors some ground battlefield slack. But that is just speculation on my part.
hell ya now thats a nice photo! :)
This was my work view for three years from 1966-1970. Laying next to the boom operator flying the ruddervators and seeing places like Guam, Wake Island and Okinawa disappearing in the distance was my world. We lived in the KC-135 and carried a pair of spare engines along one for the tanker and one for the B-52's or what ever was needed.
As a Jet Engine Mechanic we not only was a flying Gas Tank but a fully equipped parts operation as well. That view is burned into my memory; the view is spectacular as you can imagine but it is deadly serious work to co-ordinate the aerial ballet required to successfully accomplish that task.
Yawn. Ho Hum. Been there. Seen that.
But dog gone it is still FASCINATING!
I guess I need to modify my idea of what close air support is. I thought it was when they zoom in at treetop level and strafe and bomb the bad guys threatening the good guys. I can't see B-52's pulling that off.
We filled up a SR-71 once over the Pacific. I didn't get to watch as it was not allowed at that time. I later found that the boom operator would have let me watch. Too bad he didn't tell me till after it was done.
Refuled B-52s & F-104s.
***This was my work view for three years from 1966-1970.***
Mine too. 1966-1969. Jet over 2 aircrarft mechanic.
Walker AFB, NM
Little Rock AFB.
Kadina AFB, Okinawa.
Guam.
Ban-UTapao, Thailand
Fairbanks, Ak.
And that paradise on earth, Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada. In winter.
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