Boeing B-52 Stratofortress (AFR61017)

One ginor.ous can of woop a$$! Great shot Ken. Wish i made it up to OSH more often.

Always Impressive

Thanks John & James...........

Hope we get some heavy bomber aircraft at Oshkosh '24. So far not in the schedule.

Nice picture, I love the B52, hopefully it will fly for a long time.

greetings from Germany

I used to work with B-52s as a tower controller in California then later as a Center controller in Houston. The crews I dealt with in California were a pain in the *ss... The ones out of Barksdale, LA were the cream of the crop. I worked one mission where they were orbiting at FL430. I had no idea that machine could go that high, but it sure did, and they were always gracious and flexible as conditions permitted. I also served as a C-130 loadmaster at Dyess AFB in the 80s back when B-52s ruled the roost, so I saw plenty of them back then. It's still an impressive aircraft, especially given the service life. I wouldn't want to crew one though, I'll tell you that much! Cramped quarters and long hours, and always vulnerable to missiles. My hat's off to those guys even if they did annoy me once in a while, lol.

Thanks for the great shot. Brings back a lot of memories...3000 hours in that beast as navigator and radar navigator (if you're not familiar with that designation it's basically the bombardier). Cold War era, 70s-80s, at Barksdale and Wurtrsmith, crew dog, instructor, Stan/Eval. A real love/hate relationship with that old dog but wouldn't trade my time in the BUFF for anything. I would really love to know what the mission is like today as all my experience and training were focused on a nuclear mission.

Keith & Neil.........

Thank you for your very interesting commentary. Guys like you add a lot to the photo pics on Flightaware.

Neil, thank you for your service in the BUFF and Keith your time as a Loadmaster.

5*

Nothing like standing in a field in east central Tennessee looking over your shoulder and see a BUFF fly over you at 500 feet. On one of the old Oil Burner training routes.

Perfectly framed for a BIG SHOT!

Another great shot!

Used to love to sit on the beach at the cottage N of Oscoda watching them out over Lake Huron making approaches into Wurtsmith. Then drive over to the base perimeter road and observe their unique near flat take offs.

Retro mas Eficiente .

Very impressive shot Ken. Used to see these flying out of Plattsburgh AFB in upper NYS near me in Canada. Got some nice shots from afar but never one like this.

Indeed an impressive colossal collection of aerospace ingineering!
I am curious, what is the apparent appendage at the tail of the aircraft? Reminds me of the tail-gunner on the B-17.

Shawn, the early models of the B52 did have a tail gunner who did indeed ride in the tail of the aircraft. The G and H model (H model is the one pictured) had a gun in the tail but the gunner rode up front in the crew compartment and controlled the gun remotely. A while back (can't remember when) the gun was eliminated and what you see now in the tail is ECM equipment.
Funny thing, in the old models when the gunner was sitting all by himself in the tail, on training missions which could last 7-8 hours or longer, they would sometimes fall asleep and would not respond verbally to the periodic "station checks". When this happened the pilot would do a little left-right-left-right on the rudder pedals and whiplash the gunner awake.

My late Father was an Air Force Gunner on D-Model B52s,and B36s before that. During my childhood we lived in Fort Worth Texas, and Clinton-Sherman Air Force base. Dad had several thousand hours in the Stratifortress, and had 100 missions in Southeast Asia before retirement from the Air Force in 1970.

Being a gunner in a B36 would have been Very Cool Mark! Very Best Regards! Chris

Imponente !! Qué espectáculo !!

At my job in Fort Worth Texas, I work for a company, we make replacement parts for the DOD, includes the B-52, KC135 and other aircrafts for the military