# I saw a B-52 today **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391 "2006-11-22T04:17:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/21 "2006-11-22T16:29:26Z")
I used to see B-52s every day when I was in college in Turlock CA. Nearby Castle AFB had a wing, and they would fly over the college every day almost like clockwork. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/22 "2006-11-22T16:56:42Z")
I grew up about 45 miles from B-52 headquarters (Barksdale AFB Bossier City, LA). I saw them lots and lots growing up during the 80’s. I think my hometown must have been where they started their approaches some of the time. They are beautiful in their own way. I am amazed that planes built in the 50’s and 60’s will still be used as one of the U.S.'s primary long-range strategic bomber until at least 2040. They tried to build something better and they can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/23 "2006-11-22T17:34:30Z")
In the novel _Failsafe_ by Eugene Burdick, as well as in the film, Vindicator supersonic bombers were flown by the Group Six pilots. I always thought they were B’s, but I must have mistaken that movie with **Dr. Strangelove**. I did a search on the Vindicator bomber, but found nothing really substantial relating them to SAC. What I read sounded almost like they were prototypes, or perhaps they were a _version_ of the B-52? I never saw a Vindicator at Minot. Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/24 "2006-11-22T17:38:11Z")
[QUOTE=Quasimodem] In the novel _Failsafe_ by Eugene Burdick, as well as in the film, Vindicator supersonic bombers were flown by the Group Six pilots. I always thought they were B’s, but I must have mistaken that movie with **Dr. Strangelove**. [/QUOTE] From the tail end of the Wikipedia article on [Fail-Safe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail-Safe_%28novel%29): > [@](#): > > The “Vindicator” bombers were inventions of Burdick and Wheeler; their defensive capabilities were similar to those of the B-52 Stratofortress, and their flying characteristics more like the B-58 Hustler. In the 1964 film version, stock footage of B-58s was used to represent the Vindicators. The 2000 TV version used B-1 Lancer bombers. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/25 "2006-11-22T18:04:53Z")
I always thought the Vindicators were B-58s, but they called them Vindicators since “Hustler” sounded risque or the AF didn’t approve of them being in the movie so stock footage was used. Used to be a B-52 at the Atomic Bomb Museum in ABQ (or maybe just Atomic Museum), but they’ve moved it seems. Another one right off I-40 in OKC at Tinker, along with a B-47, B-1, F-105, and some others. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/26 "2006-11-22T18:14:01Z")
What is an [assault landing strip?](http://www.littlerock.af.mil/history/facts.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/27 "2006-11-22T18:39:24Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] What is an [assault landing strip?](http://www.littlerock.af.mil/history/facts.asp) [/QUOTE] It’s basically an improved grass strip used by helicopters (or _maybe_ C-130s in rare cases) for dropping off Security Forces/Army Rangers to practice defending or taking an airfield. There are some that are improved gravel strips, but for the most part, the ones I’ve seen are just grass. Tripler Sorry. Nothing that cool about 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/28 "2006-11-22T19:04:22Z")
Living near Nellis A.F.B. I have only seen a few in over 30 years of living here . A most impressive sight they are , In my mind , one of the largest symbols of the power of the U.S.A. that I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/29 "2006-11-22T19:10:30Z")
We too used to see them at Carswell just west of downtown Ft. Worth in the 70s. An astonishing amount of pollution in the form of black smoke accompanied them, to be sure. Around 5 would fly in a large oval doing touch and gos. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/30 "2006-11-23T02:07:19Z")
[QUOTE=Omegaman] A most impressive sight they are , In my mind , one of the largest symbols of the power of the U.S.A. that I can think of. [/QUOTE] Don’t get me wrong, I really do the love the US, but you can imagine, then, the exhilaration the North Vietnamese must have got when they brought one down. And, they brought a lot down. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/31 "2006-11-23T02:43:22Z")
[QUOTE=KarlGauss] And, they brought a lot down. [/QUOTE] B-52s? With what? Phantoms, maybe. Did they have any Russian SAMS that could hit B-52s? ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/32 "2006-11-23T03:22:42Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] B-52s? With what? Phantoms, maybe. Did they have any Russian SAMS that could hit B-52s? [/QUOTE] [B-52 losses in Vietnam.](http://www.nampows.org/B-52.html) > [@](#): > > Out of 498 BUFF sorties over Hanoi/Haiphong the loss rate was 1.7% (.017). The conservative number of SAMs fired was 884, with 24 BUFFs hit. Source: Linebacker II: A View From the Rock published by the Air War College in 1979. (Note: 2001 Boeing records list 32 B52 aircraft hit by SAMs. Other sources state that there were a total of 724 B-52 sorties flown during LB II). ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/33 "2006-11-23T03:23:32Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] B-52s? With what? Phantoms, maybe. Did they have any Russian SAMS that could hit B-52s? [/QUOTE] Here is a decent [breakdown](http://www.nampows.org/B-52.html) of B-52 losses during the Vietnam War. ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/34 "2006-11-23T03:24:46Z")
… You win this round **Scruloose.** You win this round… ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/35 "2006-11-23T03:32:00Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] I used to see B-52s every day when I was in college in Turlock CA. Nearby Castle AFB had a wing, and they would fly over the college every day almost like clockwork. [/QUOTE] I work on that base; there’s still one there, but it’s at the [museum](http://www.elite.net/castle-air/b52.htm). I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the air, although having an office right next to the runway has led to some interesting things in the last ten years. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/36 "2006-11-23T03:47:59Z")
[QUOTE=KarlGauss] And, they brought a lot down. [/QUOTE] Thanks, I stand corrected, but I don’t think ten constitutes “a lot”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/37 "2006-11-23T04:50:33Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Thanks, I stand corrected, but I don’t think ten constitutes “a lot”. 🙂 [/QUOTE] According to [this site](http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html), fifteen B52s (out of 121) were shot down in one night alone - December 29, 1972. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/38 "2006-11-23T05:08:55Z")
Awesome fuckin’ planes. We were stationed at RAF Upper Heyford and lived quite near RAF Fairford, which had a squadron of '52s. They’d bring one out, along with a C-5 and KC-135 from RAF Mildenhall for the annual airshow and let us rugrats kick the tires, etc. We were previously stationed at Eglin AFB, where you were guaranteed to see some cool ass planes on a weekly basis. I remember seeing the Space Shuttle Enterprise on the back of the 747 in the early 80s, SR-71s, and even heard tale of a Cuban MiG that was flown in by a defector. When I was in ROTC in high school we got to fly with a KC-135 refueling crew. They refueled two F-16, and the last pilot waved and executed a barrel roll. If that doesn’t make you want to enlist in the next five minutes, nothing will. Dad worked on F-111s and F-4s, so I’ve had the honor of crawling all around those birds. Planes are cool. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/39 "2006-11-23T06:23:11Z")
I grew up in Cobb County, Georgia, site of the Lockheed-Georgia plant and what was then Dobbins AFB. Sometimes C5 Galaxies would fly over–man, that was a plane that always conveyed an impression of hugeness, even when it was flying pretty high up. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391/40 "2006-11-23T06:39:47Z")
I live in Little Rock and today, well Wed. was yesterday, I saw a few fighter flying above town. Anything going on here I should know about? Marc [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-b-52-today/381391.md?page=3)