# B-52 bombers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685 "2012-06-10T04:03:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/41 "2012-06-12T01:43:52Z")
Next time you’re in the Omaha area, be sure to stop in at the SAC Museum in Ashland. They have a B-52 cockpit on display where you can sit down and play with all the knobs, buttons, switches and assorted levers. Very cool! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/42 "2012-06-12T02:19:24Z")
Only slightly related. Check out this website on C-141s. In particular the second pic down that has a video link called " a piece of crap plane". I think its pretty funny. > **[C141Heaven: 2011 Blog](http://www.c141heaven.info/dotcom/blog2011.php)** > > C141HEAVEN - All there is to know, and lots more, about the Lockheed C141 Starlifter! ---
**Author:** ![gunnergoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@gunnergoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gunnergoz)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/43 "2012-06-12T04:50:26Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > OK, that’s one flight per day. How many hours per flight though? If they’re only airborne for an hour or two each day, that’s not a lot, especially if they’re rotated out of service from time to time. That’s different from a commercial aircraft, where the goal is to maximize profit by minimizing the time on the ground. B-52 flights were often several (6-9) hours in duration, frequently including aerial refueling as they would in wartime. Altogether, they probably spent more time in the air than anything other than an intercontinental airliner flying the longer routes. Metal fatigue on B-52’s increased once the fleet was pressed into attack modes that included low-level penetration. The plane was strong enough to handle it, but the constant flexing of wing and fuselage during the stresses of low-level flight, accelerated the aging process and shortened the available service life of many B-52’s. Airliners don’t fly this way at all and that is one big difference between them and the B-52. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/44 "2012-06-12T05:04:06Z")
> [@gunnergoz](#): > > B-52 flights were often several (6-9) hours in duration, frequently including aerial refueling as they would in wartime. Altogether, they probably spent more time in the air than anything other than an intercontinental airliner flying the longer routes. > > Metal fatigue on B-52’s increased once the fleet was pressed into attack modes that included low-level penetration. The plane was strong enough to handle it, but the constant flexing of wing and fuselage during the stresses of low-level flight, accelerated the aging process and shortened the available service life of many B-52’s. Airliners don’t fly this way at all and that is one big difference between them and the B-52. And there’s probably other fatigue as well. I grew up in Plattsburgh, NY, so I’d see those B-52’s lined up on the runway all the time. Those planes were out there in the middle of the winter in places like Plattsburgh and Minot, North Dakota or Limestone, Maine or Rapid City, South Dakota. But it wasn’t always winter - sometimes they’d be out in the blistering summers of places like Shrevesport, Louisiana or Montgomery, Alabama or Little Rock, Arkansas or Abilene, Texas. ---
**Author:** ![gunnergoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@gunnergoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gunnergoz)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/45 "2012-06-12T05:04:53Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Only slightly related. Check out this website on C-141s. In particular the second pic down that has a video link called " a piece of crap plane". I think its pretty funny. > > [C141Heaven: 2011 Blog](http://www.c141heaven.info/dotcom/blog2011.php) I spent enough hours during my Navy deployments being flown all over the Pacific in the belly of those same C-141’s, that I don’t relish the thought that the guys who piloted and maintained them, referred to their aircraft as “a piece of crap plane.” Had I known that at the time, I’d have been a lot less happy to climb aboard! But that’s the Air Farce for you… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/46 "2012-06-12T05:45:15Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > One thing adds to another. Could a 747 be used as a bomber? Sure. Would it be a good bomber? No. It’s already used as a [bomber.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5EFsgpKK6E) As far as a bomber goes, the B-52 hangs about as much ordinance under the wings as it does internally. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/47 "2012-06-12T05:45:28Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Only slightly related. Check out this website on C-141s. In particular the second pic down that has a video link called " a piece of crap plane". I think its pretty funny. > > [C141Heaven: 2011 Blog](http://www.c141heaven.info/dotcom/blog2011.php) I only made it a couple minutes into the video, but the rest of the website is very interesting. My dad flew C-141s, and from one of the comments on the site I know the author and my dad were at the same base at the same time. > [@gunnergoz](#): > > I spent enough hours during my Navy deployments being flown all over the Pacific in the belly of those same C-141’s, that I don’t relish the thought that the guys who piloted and maintained them, referred to their aircraft as “a piece of crap plane.” Had I known that at the time, I’d have been a lot less happy to climb aboard! When was that? You may have flown with my dad, too. ---
**Author:** ![gunnergoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@gunnergoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gunnergoz)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/48 "2012-06-12T06:03:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > (snip) When was that? You may have flown with my dad, too. I was in the Navy 1982-1988 and most of my deployments were 1983-85. I do remember a funny incident from one of those C-141 flights, which could be upwards of 9-10 hours long in some “legs” and it would take several such “legs” to cross the Pacific to our deployment fields. As a junior officer, I had to ride herd on a bunch of my navy aircraft maintainers on those flights and some of them were a bit nervous about flying with the Air Force after all the ribald inter-service rivalry jokes they’d heard in the mess halls and barracks. The Air Force guys knew this and took advantage of it this one time. The C-141 had a crew area that included bunks for the crew rest in on long flights. The crews included relief pilots as well, so there were usually 3 or even 4 pilots on a flight. On this particular flight, the Air Force pilots waited until we were airborne, and then two of them made a show of getting into an argument in front of all us seated “Navy Pukes” in the cargo hold. The argument was about who was going to be the “Takoff Pilot” and who was going to be the “Landing Pilot.” They made it sound like you were either qualified for one, or the other, but not both. The argument went on quite loudly and the pilots on the flight deck turned around and chimed in too, so we could all hear: “I thought YOU were the Landing Pilot”, “No, YOU are supposed to be the Landing Pilot”, “Well, I’m sure as hell not qualified as a Landing Pilot, YOU better be!” This went on and on as my younger sailors watched on in wide-eyed horror, hoping that at least ONE of these Air Force guys knew how to land the plane. I could hardly keep from busting up watching this since I knew it was all staged hooey. That was a fun flight! Until the portable toilet installed in the cargo bay for the passengers plugged up…then it was the LONGEST flight in recorded history. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/49 "2012-06-12T06:17:24Z")
> [@gunnergoz](#): > > I was in the Navy 1982-1988 and most of my deployments were 1983-85. You just missed him, then. He retired in '80. > [@](#): > > As a junior officer, I had to ride herd on a bunch of my navy aircraft maintainers on those flights and some of them were a bit nervous about flying with the Air Force after all the ribald inter-service rivalry jokes they’d heard in the mess halls and barracks. The Air Force guys knew this and took advantage of it this one time. Not a bad story. If you want to mess with them in return, reach up to the ceiling and tug on the cables that control the elevator and the rudder. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/50 "2012-06-12T06:30:32Z")
In 1957, to display air power over the globe, the Air Force flew a B-52 around the world non-stop. My uncle Mike was one of the navigators on the flight. It was the first jet aircraft to circumnavigate the globe non-stop. [http://www.wingnet.org/rtw/RTW004D.HTM](http://www.wingnet.org/rtw/RTW004D.HTM) The crew was awarded medals by Curtis Lemay. In [this picture](http://www.wingnet.org/rtw/pix/R004DP4.JPG), he is the guy in the middle, to the left of the guy getting the medal. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/51 "2012-06-12T06:58:18Z")
There was also an Air Force concept for using 747s to air-launch…[ICBMs](http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=11754). I know I’ve got a more detailed PDF about the whole scheme, somewhere…anyway, I guess if you were just needing a “bomb truck” design to replace the B-52s when they’re eventually retired, something along these lines might be more expedient than designing an _entirely_ new aircraft from scratch. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/52 "2012-06-12T09:53:03Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > You just missed him, then. He retired in '80. > > Not a bad story. If you want to mess with them in return, reach up to the ceiling and tug on the cables that control the elevator and the rudder. Or spot the enlisted crewmember (cargo planes usually carry a few to tend to the cargo, both the two-legged and palletized), and ask him for soda and peanuts. Whenever I’d find myself hitching a ride on a KC-135 to go somewhere, it was fun to call the Boom Operater a Flight Attendant. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/53 "2012-06-12T09:59:01Z")
Speaking of inter-service hijinks in flight, a year or so back, I had the opportunity to take an incentive flight in an Army CH-47 Chinook. And by “opportunity”, I mean “Airman Raguleader? We need you outside. Get on the bus over there. OK, watch out for the rotor blades when you board the chopper…” (the Army guys had to practice evacuating noncombatants by air, and evidently it’s easier if you have some simulated noncombatants to load onto the helo). So yeah, funniest thing, when they raised the rear ramp and prepared to depart… the helicopter taxiied out to the runway. Evidently you can’t just take off from the parking spot despite what the movies made me think. Then once they had made it onto the runway… straight up into the air. Pilot gently rotated us back and forth, giving us a tourist’s view of the Korean coastline and the Yellow Sea… and then suddenly the Army pilot remembered that he was carrying 30-40 Air Force personnel in the back, and started pretending he was starring in Top Gun, making the thing climb, dive, bank hard left and right (a Chinook will bank far more steeply than you want to know and stay airborne). I remember two thoughts echoing in my mind: “Man, my wife is going to kill me if I end up in a helicopter crash in Korea” and “If I can’t keep from throwing up, I’m at least puking all over the Army crew chief’s boots.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/54 "2012-06-12T10:44:57Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > 1. > > The avionics and weapon systems have been changed a number of times, but the airframe, engines, and basically all the bits that do the flying are all that old. I recall at some point many or all B-52s were ‘reskinned’. The sheet metal fuselage was subject to fatique over time in use, and I think the new skins were a composite material that was lighter and more durable. I think I heard this around the time of Desert Storm, so I have no idea what the source was anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/55 "2012-06-12T10:57:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I recall at some point many or all B-52s were ‘reskinned’. The sheet metal fuselage was subject to fatique over time in use, and I think the new skins were a composite material that was lighter and more durable. I think I heard this around the time of Desert Storm, so I have no idea what the source was anymore. Indeed, seems the [Pacer Plank](http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1978/jul-aug/holder.html) programme did a very significant bit of rework. More than I thought had been done. Still a very long time ago, and comparatively early in the plane’s life. I think you could say that these modifications were as much rebuild to fix design problems as just refurbishment, as the plane now has a very significantly longer life than before the modifications. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/56 "2012-06-12T11:29:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Little Rock, Arkansas Nit Picking: LRAFB is in Jacksonville, Arkansas. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/57 "2012-06-12T12:33:00Z")
Without derailing the conversation too much, I wonder what the most successful civilian to military aircraft and vice versa was. The Hudson was originally supposed to be a mail plane and had a moderately successful career. To some extent the Spitfire owed a lot to seaplane racer I understand. I beleive also the Dornier 17 was originally a mail plane (Useful these mail planes). After the Great War a number of Vimy’s were used in commercial fields but mainly as sort of experimental long distance aircraft. The Blackburn Kangaroo (surely one of the ugliest aircraft ever built) was used commercially. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/58 "2012-06-12T12:52:27Z")
Probably the most famous civilian-to-military aircraft would be the Douglas DC-3, also known as the C-47 Skytrain. Picture a World War II allied transport plane. That’s the one. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/59 "2012-06-12T13:01:10Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Probably the most famous civilian-to-military aircraft would be the Douglas DC-3, also known as the C-47 Skytrain. Picture a World War II allied transport plane. That’s the one. I would agree, that was the first one that I thought of, and really very hard to imagine bettering. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685/60 "2012-06-12T13:43:30Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > In 1957, to display air power over the globe, the Air Force flew a B-52 around the world non-stop. My uncle Mike was one of the navigators on the flight… In [this picture](http://www.wingnet.org/rtw/pix/R004DP4.JPG), he is the guy in the middle, to the left of the guy getting the medal. Cool story! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-52-bombers/624685.md?page=4)