7 Comments

1. Kevin B says:
   December 5, 2009 at 2:55 am

   I love the smell of JP4 in the morning. Particularly when it’s pouring out of the back of eight P&W-TF33-P-3/103 turbofans.

   (OK it’s probably JP8 now but my memories are of smokey old JP4)
2. JuliaM says:
   December 5, 2009 at 3:54 am

   Saw one at an airshow once (Mildenhall, I think). Amazing that something so huge could actually take to the air!
3. El Draque says:
   December 5, 2009 at 5:26 am

   I was at Farnborough a few years ago when one took off from Fairford to come and do a flypast. Right on time, it came and orbited Blackbush; we could see it in the distance. 140 miles and they reach the wrong airfield. How embarrassing.
   But: best value for money ever for the US taxpayer. design about 60 years old, probably still flying in another 20.
   They have a batch parked up in the desert, if one’s lost they pull one out and recondition it.
4. Nick M says:
   December 5, 2009 at 6:38 am

   ED,
   There are people flying those who’s father flew them and in at least one case, their grandfather. The earliest retirement date for the BUFF is 2040 by which point those planes will be 100 years old.
5. El Draque says:
   December 5, 2009 at 8:07 am

   I was going to use the aacronym ‘BUFF’ but I wasn’t sure if it was still used - I heard it in the Vietnam era.
   Mind you, they have been re-engined, and have new avionics. Maybe a re-skinning of the outside? But I suppose it’s still the same plane. In some WW2 restorations the only original bit is the aircraft identification plate fished out of a reservoir and a bit of airframe. Especially true for Hurricanes, apparently, so someone told me recently.
6. Kevin B says:
   December 5, 2009 at 8:50 am

   El D, the last B52H left the factory in 1962 so I imagine it’s had new everything except the airframe by now, though it’s probably not quite like the apocryphal axe that’s been in the family for generations. That’s had 10 new handles and 3 new blades but it’s still the same axe.

   Interestingly, (or not), they haven’t changed the type of engine since then, though there is a proposal to change from eight P&W TF33 turbofans to four RR RB 211s. Congress threw the plan out, but it has since been pointed out that it would reduce the B52’s carbon emissions, so it’s back on again. I’m sure it would comfort whoever is next to look up and see the sky full of BUFF’s to know that they were more planet friendly now.
7. JuliaM says:
   December 5, 2009 at 5:00 pm

   I wanted to see one ‘in the flesh’, so to speak, since reading this novel. They made a half-decent TV movie out of it, but it’s just crying out for a big-screen version.

   Probably not politically correct, now.. *sigh*