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Title: The B-52 bomber turns 60 (photos)
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URL Source: http://www.cnet.com/pictures/the-b- ... rns-60-photos/?ftag=ACQf1069b9
Published: Nov 15, 2015
Author: staff
Post Date: 2015-11-15 08:12:20 by BTP Holdings
Keywords: None
Views: 844
Comments: 10
The B-52 bomber turns 60 (photos) The first one flew in 1952. And the youngest one in the Air Force -- and there are about 90 total -- is still flying after a half-century. B-52 in the air It was at the vanguard of aviation technology in the 1950s, and it's still going strong today: meet the B-52 Stratofortress. Like the multipurpose C-130 and the high-flying, super-spying U-2, also products of the '50s, the B-52 heavy bomber continues to show that old doesn't have to mean outdated, even in an era of rapid technological change. Just the opposite: through good maintenance and occasional updates, vintage tech can hold its own against flashier but more expensive, and more finicky, next-generation (and next-next-next-generation, even) designs. The very first flight of a Boeing B-52 took place 60 years ago this weekend. According to the company history on Boeing's Web site, pilots A.M. "Tex" Johnston and Guy Townsend on April 15, 1952, flew a B-52 prototype from Boeing Field in Seattle to Larson Air Force Base in Moses Lake, Wash. (The aircraft in the photo is a more modern B-52 cruising over the Pacific Ocean in July 2010.) Poster Comment: I recall during the Vietnam War, they bombed the North Vietnamese to the peace talks in Paris, and then proceeded to lose the war. The B-52s flew out of the Philippines. Slide show at source.
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#5. To: BTP Holdings (#0)
B-52's at Carswell AFB, middle right are the "bunkers of extreme death" (notice that it's a fenced compound): B-52 over Fort Worth/Carswell AFB:
What are "bunkers of extreme death"?
#7. To: StraitGate (#6)
The flight-lines of B-52s ready to go, I think.
They hold the Big Firecrackers. In the painting you can fully see that it's a triangular compound next to the flightline.
It was where the nukes were kept. It was fenced off from the rest of the base and patrolled 24/7. ;)
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I got to climb up on the wing of a B-52 back around 1987: stomping on it was like stomping on the solid concrete ground, it's a tough military bomber.
#6. To: X-15 (#5)
Replies to Comment # 6.
#8. To: StraitGate (#6)
(Edited)
#9. To: StraitGate (#6)
What are "bunkers of extreme death"?
End Trace Mode for Comment # 6.