I turned wrenches on B52G’s. Several years after I had gotten out of the USAF I was in Utah and saw a museum. I stopped and noticed a B52 on display. Walked up to it and I saw it was a G model. Looking up at the tail number it was a bomber I had worked on.
I've always been fascinated by the 'quilted' skin. Has it always been like that, or has it worsened over time? Some appear worse than others. Are there any maintenance or repair procedures to address it, or is it not an issue?
@@tjp353 Are you referring to the wrinkled look the skin has when the aircraft is depressurized? If so, some of it "clears up" once airborne and the airframe is "inflated".
James I agree it is something to see an aircraft you flew in during your time in the military now in a museum I haven't seen one of mine but I'm sure there in museums all over the country now thank you for your service. Above the best US Army Aviation
It has dropped one Hydrogen bomb for a test. And didn't one drop 4 H-Bombs on Spain in 1966? And I think another accident led to 2 more H-Bombs being jettisoned while breaking up in North Carolina.
One had a mid air collision with a tanker and dropped 4 hydrogen bombs and made a broken arrow head it takes days or months to find all lost hydrogen bombs
I served in Vietnam with the US Army, 1968-1969. At times we could feel the earth tremble during a B52 strike many miles away. I have seen photos of the bomb craters also. One photo showed a tank at the bottom of a crater. The tank looked like a toy compared to the size of the crater. On my trip home in May of 1969 we refueled at a South Pacific airbase. I got to see a flight of B52s take off on a combat mission. Those planes were really loaded - the smoke coming out of the engines was very impressive and it looked like the wing tips were almost touching the runway. Mean looking bas***eds! I would not want to be on the receiving end of their bombs!
Cool story BROTHER!!...Thank you for your service... You're a HERO in my book...My Father served in Vietnam as well from '69 -70....He was stationed way up North on the DMZ...he told me of how WE bombed most of the DMZ 24-7...Must have been a sight to see!
THISSS is a 1952 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and it's very impressive. Today we're going to check out all it's quirks and features, take it out for a fly, and then we'll give it a Doug score.
As a former B-52G and B-52H Navigator, I THANK YOU!!! Yours was an exceptionally well-done video and showed me quite a few things about the B model I never knew. AWESOME. VERY well done!!!
Great video! However, the last B-52, an H model, was delivered to the Air Force in Oct 1962, not 1965. My first assignment as Maintenance Officer was at the 319th Bombardment Wing at Grand Forks AFB, ND in 1986. They were flying G models, with the quad 50 caliber turret in the tail. We transitioned to B-1Bs in 1987. We had the unique opportunity to go from the 25 year old smell you tried to describe (a combination of jet fuel, hydraulic fluid, old wires, contents of the on board urinal, vomit) to the high tech brand new airframes delivered directly from Palmdale. Great memories!
I was also stationed at GFAFB but 16 years before you. I flew the H models, some of which are now stationed at Minot. The H model that I flew had the 20mm gatling gun in the tail. Once a year we would take each aircraft out over Lake Superior and do a "fire out". As a copilot all I heard was a few short periods of vibration in the airframe as the gunner fired the cannon. Fun times.....
@@MrSafetyToo1 I worked on and flew a few times on the E model '52 at Walker AFB NM. Had chance to fly on a scheduled practice gunnery mission one time. We still had the quad-50's back then. I distinctly remember we went out over the Gulf Of Mexico and also recall the short spurts of vibration that you would get each time those 50's were fired. The primary mission at Walker was to train flight crews for the B-52's so got to have lots of different experiences. What always amazed me was the flexibility in that wing. It looked like a sick duck sitting on the ground, but put it in the air and the tips of those wings looked like they were above the fuselage.
I was with the 306th at McCoy AFB in Orlando, Florida in 1971/72 - I still have a golf bag towl I bought while I was there. I was there when Disney World surprisingly opened, and when a 52 crashed and burned down 10 houses in the local community. Shortly after the crash, all the B52s and KC135s were deployed to South East Asia; me too, but I went to Korat Royal Thai AFB in Thailand. While I was in Thailand McCoy AFB was closed down.
I was a tech. school instructor at Lowry AFB,...when the "museum" was an active maintenance hangar !! Loved that 3 year assignment !! My pops was Wing Commander of the 5th, when it was at Travis,...I was a 10 yr old 4th grader,...and am 63 now !!
My dad was a civilian electronics/avionics technician at Robins AFB, and was sent to Minot to do some work on the F-106 Delta Dart for several months in 1961. I don't remember it - was a baby boy. We rented a basement apartment from a young family whom I was told were wonderful people. Dad did some work on B-52s when Robins was a SAC base (Georgia). In 1983, the bombers were moved out, and it is a Logistical Air Command / Depot for overhaul, refitting, and repair.
My dad was a pilot on D models at Fairchild in the early 60's. I was always in awe of the plane as a little boy in those days, and eventually was as a gunner on G models at Fairchild in the late 70's.
My father was a B-52 navigator, then squadron commander in the 60's. I was around B-52's from my earliest memories, and thought they were just the normal thing. The first time I ever saw a F-4 Phantom fly over me, I thought it was the biggest plane in the world, because it flow over at about 500 feet, which B-52's don't generally do (they'd probably shake down the houses under them if the did). Being an A.F. brat was pretty cool.
@@mandarinlearner He was stationed at Barkesdale AFB in Shreveport Louisiana until 1962, when we were transferred to Offutt AFB, SAC headquarters in Omaha Neb. I think those units were transferred out of range of the SR 22's that just might still remain in Cuba after the Cuban Missile Crisis. We transferred right after that.
Kevin Dallas we were at Dyess for the Cuban Missile Crisis. The planes and crews were flown out to be out of range. We had car packed for evacuation orders
@@mandarinlearner Sounds familiar. I wonder what the GDPs of many of the southern states did right after tha. Suppose there's a discernable fall in '63?
I know this ol' boy who started flying the B-52D in 1958. Before that, he flew the B-36 for 4 years. He flew the model D until his retirement. From Cold War Chrome Dome missions to Operation Arc Light missions in 'nam, this ol' boy has some stories to tell.
In June of 1965 I got stationed at Minot AFB as a jet engine mechanic. The bombers in this video were only a few years old and I recognized a few tail numbers. I'll never forget the first time I saw a B-52H in one of only two hangers hangers we had at the time, I was impressed as a 19 year old kid. The cold war was going on and the Air Force was building bomber bases and sticking nuclear Minute Man Missles in the ground at all the northern states of ND, Mt, MI. I've been through the Wings Over the Rockies Museum at the old Lowery AFB in Denver and it's a wonderful place to visit.
FWIW: I use to be in the US Coast Guard, and for five years I worked on - and flew as an aircrewman on - USCG Lockheed HC-130H Hercules aircraft. To give you a perspective of that maximum fuel load {290K pounds} mentioned in this video that the B-52 could carry: Our HC-130H _normal gross weight_ {MAXIMUM WEIGHT counting the basic airplane, fuel load, cargo and passengers} was 155,000 pounds. It _could be_ increased to 175,000 with special permission from the Commandant of the Coast Guard should some _out-of-the-ordinary-need_ arise, but I never saw that happen. {AFAIK, it *never* happened during the entire time I was in the Coast Guard.}
@@Wings_Museum >>> When it comes to Coast Guard aviation, my ♥ belongs to: *_"BLEEDAIR BLIMPS"_* *_"HERKY BIRDS"_* *_"TRASH HAULERS"_* *_"4 CESSNAS & A DUMP TRUCK"_* *_"4 CESSNAS & A DUMPSTER"_* *_"4 FANS OF FREEDOM"_* 😝😝😝😝😝😝😝
I’m a musician and the last gig I played right before the quarantine was an event at this museum. Hoping that this museum hangs in there and opens again in the near future.
From my best friend's grandmother's back yard I've watched F-16s, F-18s, and B-52s take off from Carswell. Over two weeks we had our own airshow about eight times. So awesome!!!
My friend's mother lived south of Carswell. You could hear those 8 engines start to whine, and forget about hearing the TV for several minutes. It shook her house so bad that cracks formed in the walls, and the house literally cracked into two pieces. I never knew if she was compensated or not.
I remember the early 52s in Thailand and then later at Griffiss. Amazing imposing aircraft and fun to watch landing and taking off in a stiff crosswind. I was Air Police then so I spent much of my time riding around the perimeter in my police car doing pretty much what I wanted to do. I never shirked my responsibilities but parking on the hill above the runway was my favorite pastime. Thanks for the memories! Wright Flyer, USAF (1968-1972).
I live in a small village (H.P.) about 15 minutes away from Griffiss AFB, and when I was younger my grandfather would take me there to see that huge B52 that is on display in front of the base, and for the airshows. The B52 was always my favorite U.S. Military aircraft because they flew directly over my house when they were approaching to land, or taking off. Anyway, I just wanted to comment because I did not think I would see a comment from someone that actually worked at Griffiss here. Thank you for your service, Sir!
Grew up in the 1960s just 60 miles from Glasgow AFB (now closed) in Montana. Saw many a B-52 (C & D models) over the years. She had a special place in my heart. Glasgow also had the F-101 there and we heard a lot of sonic booms back in the day. The last time I saw a B-52 in flight was just a few days after 9/11. It, along with a B-1, was flying over my house.
Years ago when I was a kid, (in the late 1970's) Dad use to take me to the open house every year at Seymore Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, NC. At the time, SJ was still a SAC base I think. They had an entire wing of B-52s. Let me tell you, there is nothing more impressive to a 10-12 year old kid than watching a B-52 take off and land. Absolutely amazing. I remember asking, ...Dad, how the hell does that thing fly? LOL I got in trouble for saying hell. It all worked out cause mom was not there. LOL
Thank you. I asked, and you delivered. I love this aircraft. They show up at the Melbourne international air show every two years. It remains my favourite. The Lancer is o.k., but I grew up with this.👏👏👏👏👏
my grandfather was apart of operation chromdome he passed away before I could ask him about it. but its so cool to see what he did it in such detail thank you.
I’ve always loved the B-52 it’s an amazing machine!! Having WWII era veteran grandparents, they would always take us to the 8th Air Force museum on base and to look at all the planes outside on display...that base being Barksdale Air Force base. Growing up in the town right next to the base, there were always B-52’s or KC-135’s and A-10’s in the sky when I was a kid!! A memory I will always have 🤘🏼
I never had the honor to serve, but have always been inspired with what our U.S. Air Force has done to protect our way of life. I personally believe the BUFF is the crowning achievement of their effort & loved just gazing at Wings Over The Rockies whenever I visited the awesome museum. This was a great in & out view of the old vs. "new" B-52 & I commend Matthew Burchette & crew for doing such a great job! Keep up the good work "guys", your efforts honor all of our flying military & it's greatly appreciated!
I was stationed at Minot back in the early 80's, so it's highly likely I walked around a few of the BUFF's shown. Nothing will make you regret life choices more than standing sentry on a B-52 during an alert when it's 30 below and a 30 knot wind. :D (I kid...I'd do it all again. :) )
The B-52 is such an icon of the Cold War era, but so much more than that, and not just to America, if you ask anyone in the aviation industry/enthusiast world what is the most important bomber of the Cold War era and to date the answer would probably be the B-52. Certainly in my formative years in the RAF I wished we had these massive beasts, alongside our own Vulcan and Victor aircraft they were a formidable force, whether they could have survived going to Russia is something I am glad we never found out.
You were in Minot with no snow on the ground. It might have been a little chilly that day but wait till the middle of winter with several feet of snow on the ground then you can start thinking cold
One slight mistake I noticed in this video, the B-52 isn't the only aircraft in America's arsenal that father and children could have piloted. The C-130 Hercules came into service in '54 and is also still in use today, as well as the KC-135 Stratotanker came into service in '56. So, all 3 airframes could have been flown by children, father's, and in some rare occasions grandfathers.
Glad that you pointed that out about the other aircraft of that same era. I entered service in 1959, went thru basic at Lackland AFB Texas, transfered to Chanute AFB Illinois for my tek. school training. We were told at that time that it was entirely possible that we could be assigned to work on any one of those model of aircraft that you mentioned simply because there were similarities in them even though they had totally different missions. I wound up working on B-52E models At Walker AFB Roswell NM. There were also KC-135's stationed there. Also had an opportunity to get a look inside the F and G models that occasionally came there due to conditions at Castle AFB in Calif. There were suttle little differences in each one of them.
My first career field (Electronic Warfare, AFSC 328X3 in the 1980's) had me learning all the different radar warning receivers, radar/comms jammers and chaff/flare dispensers on the B52....fun stuff!)
But I never ended up working on one, as I volunteered as Airborne Maintenance Tech on RC135 aircraft.....more fun stuff, and, just 10 more months of school, plus survival school, parachute/survival training, etc)
There should be so many craters all over Vietnam due to the numbers of bombs dropped there and many of them came from Utapao Thai Naval Base where I spent two years working on the D models after spending about one year at Minot AFB working on the H models. I was at Barksdale AFB also where I got to work on the G models and even flew on some of them to arm the Hound Dog missiles which they had on them. I enjoyed my time working on those aircraft and even flying on them.
Actually, most of the BUFFs from Utapao cratered the Ashau Valley. I worked the scopes at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB in 1971-1972 and the BDA photos were very lunar indeed.
Theres youtube videos showing the destruction in Laos from the aerial bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam War. All the craters are full of water. It's unbelievable.
I worked with the G model Buff way back in 1974 at Barksdale A. F. B I was a missile man with the AGM 28 Hound Dog missile. It was a great experience and times that I will never forget. It was hot, it was cold, it was both wet and dry but I loved working on the flight line at 2AMMS.
Both my daughter and husband are serving at the Global Strike Command Center in Minot ND - Hats off love you both!!! She serves in base intel and he is a crew chief - I've been there several times - such young and so very dedicated folks make me proud. The B52 is one of the greatest Icons in aviation history rolled out in 1952 and still has another 50+ years to go form today in 2019 - SHe is by far America's BIG STICK - and when the president needs help they are Americas 911 24/7 !! LOVE YOU ALL OUT THERE!!!
Oh, one more thing, Matthew, here in Nebraska, at our magnificent SAC, and Aerospace Museum, we have the last remaining "B" Model that was delivered to SAC's 93rd Bombardment Wing (Heavy), in 1955, and is the only known BUFF in any Museum Collection configured as an RB-52B, with the MA-8 Gunlaying System, built around two M24 20MM Guns.
Dock 8 is named after my Supervisor from back in the day CMSGT Fred Gantzer. It's an amazing building for the job. The -60 wind chill on the flight line was always a lot of fun.
I know of a current B-52 pilot who is the grandson of a B-52 pilot. In history, the first flight of the B-52 took place closer to the Wright Brothers flight than our modern era. The B-52 has been an operational combat aircraft for more than 50% of the history of aviation. Actually 58.1%.
Hi Matthew, At 2mins 23secs you can see a bomb leaving the bomb bay. I believe it's a "Grand Slam" developed by Barnes Wallis during the Second World War. It weighed 10 tonnes and the Avro Lancaster was the only plane capable of carrying it. It was also known as the "earthquake" bomb. 617Squadron "The Dambusters"famously destroyed the German battleship "Tirpitz" using this weapon. B36's could carry two of these monsters. After the war the R.A.F. had no use for these bombs and asked the U.S. if they could find a use for them. They were expensive to manufacture as the casings had to be machined to enable the bombs to fall accurately and they exceeded the sound barrier in thier descent. This was so the bombs could penetrate through reinforced concrete up to 60feet in depth before exploding. ( it's amazing what we could achieve to win the war)
I was a Crew Chief on a D model out of Dyess back in the late 70's. The first plane I was assigned to was 56-657. About a year later I was given my own plane, 56-602. Sadly 602 did not survive ( she was scrapped), however 657 not only survived but is on display up at Ellsworth. Most of the D's that did survive I recall being at Dyess including the infamous Mig killer, 676. When I was there it had a red star stenciled on it's side. I was also on flight status so I got to fly on my bird whenever and especially when going TDY. I think a road trip might be in the works.....gotta see an old friend.........
The former Blytheville Air Base; later Eaker Air Base in Blytheville Ark was a B-52 base. I live 25-30 miles northwest of it. Sadly, it was closed in the early '90s. I miss seeing this fine aircraft flying over!
Great video, Matthew, but, you got two things wrong:#1- The last BUFF's were built, and delivered in 1961, not 1965 #2- Infrared, or Heat Seeking Missles can't be jammed by Electronic Counter Measures Systems, instead, ECM Systems jam Radar Directed, and Guided Missles, and Guns.
The EWO also controlled counter measure flares to divert heat seeking misses. We had a radar to detect such missiles that would trigger the flares and the chaff dispensers.
Last plane rolled off the line in October of 1962. Also, the EWO had access to chaff and flare dispensers to confuse both radar homing and heat-seeking missiles. Saw one of those flares dropped on accident...burned through about 10 feet of concrete. :)
Was able to get into a BUFF in the mid-60s as part of an open house at Glasgow AFB (now closed). Next time I was was in one was in FEB of 2019, when I stuck my head into the tail gunner's section on display at Pima Air & Space Museum. Talk about a flash-back! The smell I experienced as a kid in the 60s still lingered in that tail section!
A note on the damage from the protester at around 10:25 or so: one of the fastest ways to lay a minefield is via plane-dropped ordinance. These minefield are belived to have higher civilian casualties after whatever war they were dropped in finishes; due to the nature of aerial ordinance and it's more random & less documented distribution than ground deployed mines, it is more difficult for crews to find and mark the minefields for removal. Certainly doesn't mean the guy was in the right or anything, vandalizing a museum piece goes a bit past civil disobedience in my book, but it at least related to the b-52, as that family of aircraft has almost certainly deployed a minefield or two in their decades of operation.
Awesome! I've watched most of your other videos, but I love the format of this one! I love the level of additional detail you went into here, and getting to compare an older B-52 to a modern one was amazing! I hope you get the chance to do that with more of your aircraft and give us some videos on more modern aircraft too!
I saw one of this things take off at an air show. Yes, you see them in the air flying, but when it takes off, you still are amazed that something that large will actually get off the ground. Every American and people of the free world owe a lot to this old war horse. And the fact that there is no plans to phase it out of service until the 2040's, wow!, the B-52 is going to outlive me. To the 205 people that disliked this video, really?
I saw a flight over Isle Royale Natnl Park in the middle of lake Superior back in the 80s, presumably from Sawyer AFB in the UP. What a sight and sound!
I am so proud of my dad which he was a crew member of this great and beautiful plane. We were stationed at Walker AFB, Loring AFB Aand Castle AFB. II miss military life.
Beautiful!!!!!. It's amazing how nuclear deterrent is still in the hands of a venerable 64 years young warrior. I can't think of a better validation to the original B-52 design.
@@texleeger8973 >>> I am originally from Florida. All that is like different levels of being dead. You are STILL dead. The common denominator all those places share: *COLD* 😝😝😝😝
It is too bad we didn't have those during WW2. Maybe we could have gotten the war to an end sooner. Regardless it is so nice to still have them flying. Love the job that those men and women do for America. God bless them all.
My daughter is out there with her husband on base in Minot. It's a fine place to visit & the base has everything you could ever need. When they are taking off and landing these huge beautiful pieces of machinery it's quite an awesome site to behold and you can feel the rumble from those 8 PandW engines. There's a lot of work that goes into protecting our to country and I respect that and all of the airmen that do such a great job.
Diving out the tail is perfect. Won't hit the wing or vertical stabilizer. My Father worked all over that machine as the Tec company helping the Airforce. It was Western Electric - he was in Arm. & Electronics Radar and controlled guns were in the first.
@@Wings_Museum I honestly couldn't tell you! I got to experience the old plane smell at my A&P school (where we only worked on old donated airplanes) My instructors, said they couldn't pinpoint the smell either. Their best guess is just different materials commonly found in aircraft (paint primers, greases, old wires, etc.) that had just aged. Although not everyone knew what I was talking about.
I was an ECM tech on the D model during ARC LIGHT days....spent most of 68 thru 71 at UT and Guam....a lot of TDY's to UT when we stopped flying bombing missions out of Guam in Sep 70. Lot of memories....Also worked at Lowry 79-94 as a civilian instructor and training manager...saw this B model daily..
If they EVER re-engine the B-52, they'll likely replace the existing 8 engines with EIGHT new engines. And the USAF will probably lease the engines rather than buy them outright. They've been talking about this since AT LEAST the 1990s but they may finally do something since the engines are becoming THE main reliability/maintainability issue with the operational B-52H's. The issue is engine balance. Many think it would be cheaper and more fuel-economical to switch to four more powerful engines than what the B-52H currently has. The B-52 was designed for 8 engines and if you change that number, you destroy the thrust balance and it's WORSE if you lost just one engine in a four-engine configuration because you automatically lose 25% of available thrust! With 8 engines, the lost of any 1 engine is less severe (12.5% thrust loss can be more easily compensated for by the remaining engines) and you're probably fine losing up to 3 engines (2 on 1 side, 1 on the other) or four engines (2 each side) so long as you don't lose 3 or more engines on ONE side/one wing. Yes, it complicates maintenance and doubles your engine parts count from 4-engine bombers but there are also advantages to having 8-engines in terms of recoverability of the airframe.
@@bigrob966 None of the B-52s still in service are less than 56 years old at this point. The engines themselves likely haven't been manufactured since the late 1960s/early 1970s and those powerplants (turbofans) were only built for the B-52H. All the other B-52 models used turbojet engines which are less economical but mechanically simpler than turbofans. Like the airframes themselves, the B-52 engines have rebuilt several times during their operational lifespan. The USAF has actually spent by this point far more in electronics upgrades than what it originally cost to buy the airframes! The avionics upgrades alone are worth several times the cost of the airframe. The reason why the B-52 hasn't been replaced is durability and economy compared to all its replacements. The sad truth is they haven't been able to build a more practical strategic bomber than the B-52 and everything that's come since the B-52 has been more expensive to field and maintain. The XB-70 never left test because it would never have been practical to field. There was too much experimental tech in the XB-70 and the test flights themselves demonstrated some disturbing issues with the honey comb structure of the plane; it didn't help they couldn't formulate a paint that DIDN'T flake off after every flight! It would have been a disaster to maintain and NEVER been able to surprise anyone with how detectable it was on radar. The one supersonic medium bomber the USAF fielded, the B-58, had horrible reliability and maintenance issues and was barely in service past a decade. The FB-111 was very expensive to maintain and the design limited its practical mission growth potential. The B-2 was too expensive to build in the needed numbers and probably shouldn't have been fielded, period, if they weren't going to build at 70-80 of those planes. The B-1 has proven to be decent but only after many years of ironing out the kinks with its avionic systems. The B-1 still couldn't replace the B-52 and wasn't built in high enough numbers to replace the B-52, either. The USAF has been dragging its feet on the the B-52H engine issue for at least a quarter-century now. Before, they had surplus planes (B-52 wise) and the planes weren't flown that often. The problem is that age WILL be catching up to parts of the plane. Fortunately, the B-52 as-built was over-engineered. It has close to 4.5 times the logical lifespan of a fighter jet (8000hr average now, although we have F-15s in service past 10,000hr and more than a few F-16s past 8000hr now, too) but the day will come when it's not economical or safe to keep the B-52 flying. They never expected to keep the B-52 in service much past the 1980s. The engines at this point are probably among the easiest of the components to swap out. There are a few commercial (civilian) options available that will fit into the existing nacelles without major modifications which is good-- it means they'll have to spend less money on re-engineering/rebuilding sections of that plane and less time in test flights to recertify it with a new engine.
I've seen a B-52 land with only 2 engines on one pylon. I work on Tf-33's on a different airframe, and those thing are a nightmare when it comes to reliability. But the main reason for the delay of the re-engine is, apart from politics/cost, structural. Higher bypass engines are much bigger and much heavier, and the wings were not designed for those, thus creating excessive stress on the airframe. With the amount of in-flight shutdown that those engine suffer (I have the data from P&W), it would be an upgrade and recoverability/thrust balance offset is not that much of an issue.
@@MrSnakedHD What do you mean by in flight shutdowns? I flew many sorties over many years and we shut down an engine ONCE. I still remember it was the #8 engine fir overheating. As it turned out, the engine was fine. It was the gauge that was bad.
Great Anti Air net. If you ignore the time an 18 year old with 50 hours of flight time flew a Cessna from Finland to Moscow. He landed near the red square.
If the pilot's good, see, I mean if he's reeeally sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low... oh you oughta see it sometime. It's a sight. A big plane like a '52... varrrooom! Its jet exhaust... frying chickens in the barnyard!
I watched this awesome/amazing channel and I can't help to notice there is no Lockheed Martin SR71 one of the greatest airplane in the history of aviation, and that's driving crazy, please do the SR71, there is dozen of them scattered around the country. this channel cannot be completed with the SR71
@@anonymouscoward2491 also still holds the world record for fastest air breathing aircraft. And just because it gets shot down doesnt mean it doesnt have a legacy, many B-29's were shot down, yet its still an insanly popular aircraft.
@@anonymouscoward2491 Oh boy... I hope they NEVER hire you as a plane historian because your attitude SUCKS and your information is WOEFULLY incomplete and BIASED from the start. Stick to electronics. That's all you know. I can also tell you're REAL FUN at parties, too!
@ebay show. Obviously sir you have not done your research the Mig 25 was designed to intercept that SR-71 but could not and neither can the F-14 I don't know where you get your information but it is totally wrong. The mig-25 ceiling is not as high as the SR-71 and its maximum speed of 3.0 burns up the engines Which is far short of the SR-71 top speed, also no one has yet to be able to develop air to air or air-to-ground missile that could catch the SR-71.! The only reason that aircraft does not fly today is the use of drones and reconnaissance satellites otherwise she'd still be flying today!!
Just discovered this channel. Sat through the 90 second intro with low expectations. I was then SHOCKED at how entertaining and informative this video turned out to be!
Beautiful plane. Lol I laughed when he mentioned landmines as if he was clueless. The US used B52s to drop cluster landmines in a bomb like capsule in Laos during the Vietnam war.
![Meet One of The Oldest B-52 Stratofortress Planes [4K] | Behind The Wings | Spark](/img/n.gif)
I turned wrenches on B52G’s. Several years after I had gotten out of the USAF I was in Utah and saw a museum. I stopped and noticed a B52 on display. Walked up to it and I saw it was a G model. Looking up at the tail number it was a bomber I had worked on.
I could only imagine that being a touching moment. A blast from your past.
I've always been fascinated by the 'quilted' skin. Has it always been like that, or has it worsened over time? Some appear worse than others. Are there any maintenance or repair procedures to address it, or is it not an issue?
@@tjp353 Are you referring to the wrinkled look the skin has when the aircraft is depressurized? If so, some of it "clears up" once airborne and the airframe is "inflated".
I was just out to the HAFB museum a couple of weeks ago - they do have an impressive collection of aircraft
James I agree it is something to see an aircraft you flew in during your time in the military now in a museum I haven't seen one of mine but I'm sure there in museums all over the country now thank you for your service. Above the best US Army Aviation
Correction: The B 52 never dropped a nuclear bomb on purpose 😁
It has dropped one Hydrogen bomb for a test. And didn't one drop 4 H-Bombs on Spain in 1966? And I think another accident led to 2 more H-Bombs being jettisoned while breaking up in North Carolina.
It dropped many nuclear weapons during Operation Dominic.
One had a mid air collision with a tanker and dropped 4 hydrogen bombs and made a broken arrow head it takes days or months to find all lost hydrogen bombs
Guys it was joke
Operation Domino was Insane
This jet is a pain in the ass to work on, but man it’s so cool to watch them fly.
I served in Vietnam with the US Army, 1968-1969. At times we could feel the earth tremble during a B52 strike many miles away. I have seen photos of the bomb craters also. One photo showed a tank at the bottom of a crater. The tank looked like a toy compared to the size of the crater. On my trip home in May of 1969 we refueled at a South Pacific airbase. I got to see a flight of B52s take off on a combat mission. Those planes were really loaded - the smoke coming out of the engines was very impressive and it looked like the wing tips were almost touching the runway. Mean looking bas***eds! I would not want to be on the receiving end of their bombs!
Ronald Warren My dad was bombardier during Vietnam
Amen !
I was BORN in 1968. Thank you for your service Ron.
Cool story BROTHER!!...Thank you for your service... You're a HERO in my book...My Father served in Vietnam as well from '69 -70....He was stationed way up North on the DMZ...he told me of how WE bombed most of the DMZ 24-7...Must have been a sight to see!
I would not be bragging about the Vietnam war
The stuff the US dropped in Vietnam they should forever hold their heads in shame
This guy is the doug demuro of airplanes
THISSS is a 1952 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and it's very impressive. Today we're going to check out all it's quirks and features, take it out for a fly, and then we'll give it a Doug score.
Okay this is true but at least this guy doesn’t use his iPhone to record all his footage.
DeMuro may be a little demonstrative, but he gets the story told.
As a former B-52G and B-52H Navigator, I THANK YOU!!! Yours was an exceptionally well-done video and showed me quite a few things about the B model I never knew. AWESOME. VERY well done!!!
Thanks, Justin! I'm glad you liked it. MB
My dad was radar nav. Where you stationed
Radar, Guns--Clear Forward! :) Oh I miss those days. :)
And u worked with Justice League
Did the B model have windows in the bottom? I worked only on the H.
Minuteman troop here from Ellsworth 84-94 .. Proud and honored to have served with this grand fierce lady.. She's old but don't mess with her!
Great video! However, the last B-52, an H model, was delivered to the Air Force in Oct 1962, not 1965. My first assignment as Maintenance Officer was at the 319th Bombardment Wing at Grand Forks AFB, ND in 1986. They were flying G models, with the quad 50 caliber turret in the tail. We transitioned to B-1Bs in 1987. We had the unique opportunity to go from the 25 year old smell you tried to describe (a combination of jet fuel, hydraulic fluid, old wires, contents of the on board urinal, vomit) to the high tech brand new airframes delivered directly from Palmdale. Great memories!
I was also stationed at GFAFB but 16 years before you. I flew the H models, some of which are now stationed at Minot. The H model that I flew had the 20mm gatling gun in the tail. Once a year we would take each aircraft out over Lake Superior and do a "fire out". As a copilot all I heard was a few short periods of vibration in the airframe as the gunner fired the cannon. Fun times.....
@@MrSafetyToo1 I worked on and flew a few times on the E model '52 at Walker AFB NM. Had chance to fly on a scheduled practice gunnery mission one time. We still had the quad-50's back then. I distinctly remember we went out over the Gulf Of Mexico and also recall the short spurts of vibration that you would get each time those 50's were fired. The primary mission at Walker was to train flight crews for the B-52's so got to have lots of different experiences. What always amazed me was the flexibility in that wing. It looked like a sick duck sitting on the ground, but put it in the air and the tips of those wings looked like they were above the fuselage.
I really dig this guy's enthusiasm.
Q: How do you clear an Iraqi bingo hall?
A: Stand up and shout B 52!!
Right on 52 likes
I had the pleasure of working maintenance on these 1989-1993, in Minot. Yeah, it gets a bit nippy sometimes. Enjoyed your tour.
I was with the 306th at McCoy AFB in Orlando, Florida in 1971/72 - I still have a golf bag towl I bought while I was there. I was there when Disney World surprisingly opened, and when a 52 crashed and burned down 10 houses in the local community. Shortly after the crash, all the B52s and KC135s were deployed to South East Asia; me too, but I went to Korat Royal Thai AFB in Thailand. While I was in Thailand McCoy AFB was closed down.
"Not too far": flies to North Dakota. :-)
For a Midwesterner it's not far "eh 12 hours? So like a day's drive?"
what I have on my head was driving for 2 hours lol
my town
Why not Minot? Freezin’s the reason!
Old & ugly is still sexy!
The Last B-52 an H model rolled of the assembly line in October 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crises
I was a tech. school instructor at Lowry AFB,...when the "museum" was an active maintenance hangar !! Loved that 3 year assignment !! My pops was Wing Commander of the 5th, when it was at Travis,...I was a 10 yr old 4th grader,...and am 63 now !!
My dad was a civilian electronics/avionics technician at Robins AFB, and was sent to Minot to do some work on the F-106 Delta Dart for several months in 1961. I don't remember it - was a baby boy. We rented a basement apartment from a young family whom I was told were wonderful people. Dad did some work on B-52s when Robins was a SAC base (Georgia). In 1983, the bombers were moved out, and it is a Logistical Air Command / Depot for overhaul, refitting, and repair.
More More More This longer and more detailed video is what i crave.
Yeah me too .
They're about to launch a Season 2 of this series
My dad was a pilot on D models at Fairchild in the early 60's. I was always in awe of the plane as a little boy in those days, and eventually was as a gunner on G models at Fairchild in the late 70's.
B-2 bomber: why are you still flying?
B-52: I have not received permission to die
My father was a B-52 navigator, then squadron commander in the 60's. I was around B-52's from my earliest memories, and thought they were just the normal thing. The first time I ever saw a F-4 Phantom fly over me, I thought it was the biggest plane in the world, because it flow over at about 500 feet, which B-52's don't generally do (they'd probably shake down the houses under them if the did). Being an A.F. brat was pretty cool.
Kevin Dallas my dad was radar nav at that time. Where was your dad stationed
@@mandarinlearner He was stationed at Barkesdale AFB in Shreveport Louisiana until 1962, when we were transferred to Offutt AFB, SAC headquarters in Omaha Neb. I think those units were transferred out of range of the SR 22's that just might still remain in Cuba after the Cuban Missile Crisis. We transferred right after that.
Kevin Dallas we were at Dyess for the Cuban Missile Crisis. The planes and crews were flown out to be out of range. We had car packed for evacuation orders
@@mandarinlearner Sounds familiar. I wonder what the GDPs of many of the southern states did right after tha. Suppose there's a discernable fall in '63?
I know this ol' boy who started flying the B-52D in 1958. Before that, he flew the B-36 for 4 years. He flew the model D until his retirement. From Cold War Chrome Dome missions to Operation Arc Light missions in 'nam, this ol' boy has some stories to tell.
I'm an ex Navy Ordie....I saw a B-52 bomb bay up close. I was amazed. And a loaded A-6 Intruder was once impressive
In June of 1965 I got stationed at Minot AFB as a jet engine mechanic. The bombers in this video were only a few years old and I recognized a few tail numbers. I'll never forget the first time I saw a B-52H in one of only two hangers hangers we had at the time, I was impressed as a 19 year old kid. The cold war was going on and the Air Force was building bomber bases and sticking nuclear Minute Man Missles in the ground at all the northern states of ND, Mt, MI. I've been through the Wings Over the Rockies Museum at the old Lowery AFB in Denver and it's a wonderful place to visit.
Thanks for your service, and thanks for coming to see us! MB
The production quality spiked up real fast recently, love it
We try to get better with each video! Glad you liked this one.
It's so much easier when you have more time to add to the stories! Plus,. we are just getting better with sheer OJT. ;) MB
FWIW: I use to be in the US Coast Guard, and for five years I worked on - and flew as an aircrewman on - USCG Lockheed HC-130H Hercules aircraft.
To give you a perspective of that maximum fuel load {290K pounds} mentioned in this video that the B-52 could carry: Our HC-130H _normal gross weight_ {MAXIMUM WEIGHT counting the basic airplane, fuel load, cargo and passengers} was 155,000 pounds. It _could be_ increased to 175,000 with special permission from the Commandant of the Coast Guard should some _out-of-the-ordinary-need_ arise, but I never saw that happen. {AFAIK, it *never* happened during the entire time I was in the Coast Guard.}
We are hoping to film with the USCG this year, but for what I need to keep to myself for OPSEC. ;) MB
@@Wings_Museum >>> When it comes to Coast Guard aviation, my ♥ belongs to:
*_"BLEEDAIR BLIMPS"_*
*_"HERKY BIRDS"_*
*_"TRASH HAULERS"_*
*_"4 CESSNAS & A DUMP TRUCK"_*
*_"4 CESSNAS & A DUMPSTER"_*
*_"4 FANS OF FREEDOM"_*
😝😝😝😝😝😝😝
I’m a musician and the last gig I played right before the quarantine was an event at this museum.
Hoping that this museum hangs in there and opens again in the near future.
From my best friend's grandmother's back yard I've watched F-16s, F-18s, and B-52s take off from Carswell. Over two weeks we had our own airshow about eight times. So awesome!!!
My friend's mother lived south of Carswell. You could hear those 8 engines start to whine, and forget about hearing the TV for several minutes. It shook her house so bad that cracks formed in the walls, and the house literally cracked into two pieces. I never knew if she was compensated or not.
Thank you for extending the original film, this was really good
I remember the early 52s in Thailand and then later at Griffiss. Amazing imposing aircraft and fun to watch landing and taking off in a stiff crosswind. I was Air Police then so I spent much of my time riding around the perimeter in my police car doing pretty much what I wanted to do. I never shirked my responsibilities but parking on the hill above the runway was my favorite pastime. Thanks for the memories! Wright Flyer, USAF (1968-1972).
I live in a small village (H.P.) about 15 minutes away from Griffiss AFB, and when I was younger my grandfather would take me there to see that huge B52 that is on display in front of the base, and for the airshows. The B52 was always my favorite U.S. Military aircraft because they flew directly over my house when they were approaching to land, or taking off. Anyway, I just wanted to comment because I did not think I would see a comment from someone that actually worked at Griffiss here. Thank you for your service, Sir!
Q: Why not Minot?
A: Freezin's the reason.
SAC Motto: Peace is our profession...war is just a hobby.
And SAC's reward for a job well done is no punishment . . . maybe.
Grew up in the 1960s just 60 miles from Glasgow AFB (now closed) in Montana. Saw many a B-52 (C & D models) over the years. She had a special place in my heart. Glasgow also had the F-101 there and we heard a lot of sonic booms back in the day. The last time I saw a B-52 in flight was just a few days after 9/11. It, along with a B-1, was flying over my house.
Years ago when I was a kid, (in the late 1970's) Dad use to take me to the open house every year at Seymore Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, NC. At the time, SJ was still a SAC base I think. They had an entire wing of B-52s. Let me tell you, there is nothing more impressive to a 10-12 year old kid than watching a B-52 take off and land. Absolutely amazing. I remember asking, ...Dad, how the hell does that thing fly? LOL I got in trouble for saying hell. It all worked out cause mom was not there. LOL
Awesome . Thank you Wings Over The Rockies and RMPBS for the extended video. Keep em coming for us outside of RMPBS viewing areas. Thanks Again.
We have three more PBS episodes coming! The next one will be posted here on Friday.
Thank you. I asked, and you delivered. I love this aircraft. They show up at the Melbourne international air show every two years. It remains my favourite. The Lancer is o.k., but I grew up with this.👏👏👏👏👏
my grandfather was apart of operation chromdome he passed away before I could ask him about it. but its so cool to see what he did it in such detail thank you.
I’ve always loved the B-52 it’s an amazing machine!! Having WWII era veteran grandparents, they would always take us to the 8th Air Force museum on base and to look at all the planes outside on display...that base being Barksdale Air Force base. Growing up in the town right next to the base, there were always B-52’s or KC-135’s and A-10’s in the sky when I was a kid!! A memory I will always have 🤘🏼
" Not far from here" = Two and a half states away.
"To Americans 100 years is a long time... to Europeans 100 miles [160 km] is a long way..." =3
MAFB is only 60 miles from me,
I live very close to Barksdale Air Force base and the B-52's and fun to watch and look at. Lived here for 34 years and still amazed at them.
I never had the honor to serve, but have always been inspired with what our U.S. Air Force has done to protect our way of life. I personally believe the BUFF is the crowning achievement of their effort & loved just gazing at Wings Over The Rockies whenever I visited the awesome museum. This was a great in & out view of the old vs. "new" B-52 & I commend Matthew Burchette & crew for doing such a great job! Keep up the good work "guys", your efforts honor all of our flying military & it's greatly appreciated!
I was stationed at Minot back in the early 80's, so it's highly likely I walked around a few of the BUFF's shown. Nothing will make you regret life choices more than standing sentry on a B-52 during an alert when it's 30 below and a 30 knot wind. :D (I kid...I'd do it all again. :) )
Maybe we should have filmed in Minot in the middle of winter to get the full effect! Thanks for sharing!
This guy reminds me of an old Shaggy from scooby doo.
The B-52 is such an icon of the Cold War era, but so much more than that, and not just to America, if you ask anyone in the aviation industry/enthusiast world what is the most important bomber of the Cold War era and to date the answer would probably be the B-52. Certainly in my formative years in the RAF I wished we had these massive beasts, alongside our own Vulcan and Victor aircraft they were a formidable force, whether they could have survived going to Russia is something I am glad we never found out.
Whenever I got asked of my thoughts about communism, only one image comes to mind: A B-52 dropping its bombs 😂
You were in Minot with no snow on the ground. It might have been a little chilly that day but wait till the middle of winter with several feet of snow on the ground then you can start thinking cold
Hats off to Matthew for his respect of the planes and the men/women who fly them. Very entertaining and well-done.
When the last B-1 goes to the boneyard, a B-52 is going to fly the grew home. I loaded the B-52G in Guam for 2 years. Great plane.
I was there 1988-1990
B-52G Gunner 1980-1983...great job, but saw the future and became a boom operator on KC-135s and KC-10s. ;)
That made my day my father was stationed in Minot AFB for 12 years. It was a really nice place to grow up. Lots of good memories.
One slight mistake I noticed in this video, the B-52 isn't the only aircraft in America's arsenal that father and children could have piloted. The C-130 Hercules came into service in '54 and is also still in use today, as well as the KC-135 Stratotanker came into service in '56. So, all 3 airframes could have been flown by children, father's, and in some rare occasions grandfathers.
Glad that you pointed that out about the other aircraft of that same era. I entered service in 1959, went thru basic at Lackland AFB Texas, transfered to Chanute AFB Illinois for my tek. school training. We were told at that time that it was entirely possible that we could be assigned to work on any one of those model of aircraft that you mentioned simply because there were similarities in them even though they had totally different missions. I wound up working on B-52E models At Walker AFB Roswell NM. There were also KC-135's stationed there. Also had an opportunity to get a look inside the F and G models that occasionally came there due to conditions at Castle AFB in Calif. There were suttle little differences in each one of them.
Only just found the channel recently. Wanted to say thank you for the documentaries and walk throughs on all the planes. Awesome videos.
The B-52: Peace the old fashion way! Very interesting presentation. Thanks for posting.
My first career field (Electronic Warfare, AFSC 328X3 in the 1980's) had me learning all the different radar warning receivers, radar/comms jammers and chaff/flare dispensers on the B52....fun stuff!)
But I never ended up working on one, as I volunteered as Airborne Maintenance Tech on RC135 aircraft.....more fun stuff, and, just 10 more months of school, plus survival school, parachute/survival training, etc)
Wilbur and Orville's first flight would stretch from wingtip to inner nacelle on the wing of a B-52.
B-52s turned Vietnam into a moon crater.
There should be so many craters all over Vietnam due to the numbers of bombs dropped there and many of them came from Utapao Thai Naval Base where I spent two years working on the D models after spending about one year at Minot AFB working on the H models. I was at Barksdale AFB also where I got to work on the G models and even flew on some of them to arm the Hound Dog missiles which they had on them. I enjoyed my time working on those aircraft and even flying on them.
steven anderson gotta get the job done, Genghis Khan got the job done took over all of Asia.
Actually, most of the BUFFs from Utapao cratered the Ashau Valley. I worked the scopes at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB in 1971-1972 and the BDA photos were very lunar indeed.
Theres youtube videos showing the destruction in Laos from the aerial bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam War. All the craters are full of water. It's unbelievable.
Lance - yet failed to achieve a victory. Something I struggle to understand.
I worked with the G model Buff way back in 1974 at Barksdale A. F. B I was a missile man with the AGM 28 Hound Dog missile. It was a great experience and times that I will never forget. It was hot, it was cold, it was both wet and dry but I loved working on the flight line at 2AMMS.
Both my daughter and husband are serving at the Global Strike Command Center in Minot ND - Hats off love you both!!! She serves in base intel and he is a crew chief - I've been there several times - such young and so very dedicated folks make me proud. The B52 is one of the greatest Icons in aviation history rolled out in 1952 and still has another 50+ years to go form today in 2019 - SHe is by far America's BIG STICK - and when the president needs help they are Americas 911 24/7 !! LOVE YOU ALL OUT THERE!!!
Oh, one more thing, Matthew, here in Nebraska, at our magnificent SAC, and Aerospace Museum, we have the last remaining "B" Model that was delivered to SAC's 93rd Bombardment Wing (Heavy), in 1955, and is the only known BUFF in any Museum Collection configured as an RB-52B, with the MA-8 Gunlaying System, built around two M24 20MM Guns.
Now THAT is cool! We may need to come see. :) MB
Dock 8 is named after my Supervisor from back in the day CMSGT Fred Gantzer. It's an amazing building for the job. The -60 wind chill on the flight line was always a lot of fun.
I know of a current B-52 pilot who is the grandson of a B-52 pilot.
In history, the first flight of the B-52 took place closer to the Wright Brothers flight than our modern era. The B-52 has been an operational combat aircraft for more than 50% of the history of aviation. Actually 58.1%.
Hi Matthew, At 2mins 23secs you can see a bomb leaving the bomb bay. I believe it's a "Grand Slam" developed by Barnes Wallis during the Second World War. It weighed 10 tonnes and the Avro Lancaster was the only plane capable of carrying it. It was also known as the "earthquake" bomb. 617Squadron "The Dambusters"famously destroyed the German battleship "Tirpitz" using this weapon. B36's could carry two of these monsters. After the war the R.A.F. had no use for these bombs and asked the U.S. if they could find a use for them. They were expensive to manufacture as the casings had to be machined to enable the bombs to fall accurately and they exceeded the sound barrier in thier descent. This was so the bombs could penetrate through reinforced concrete up to 60feet in depth before exploding. ( it's amazing what we could achieve to win the war)
@John Davey you mean the Yallboys bomb which was 5.6 tons....
I was a Crew Chief on a D model out of Dyess back in the late 70's. The first plane I was assigned to was 56-657. About a year later I was given my own plane, 56-602. Sadly 602 did not survive ( she was scrapped), however 657 not only survived but is on display up at Ellsworth. Most of the D's that did survive I recall being at Dyess including the infamous Mig killer, 676. When I was there it had a red star stenciled on it's side. I was also on flight status so I got to fly on my bird whenever and especially when going TDY. I think a road trip might be in the works.....gotta see an old friend.........
Chato Morgan Lived at Dyess in the 60s for B47s. Dad then retrained as radar nav for 52s
The former Blytheville Air Base; later Eaker Air Base in Blytheville Ark was a B-52 base. I live 25-30 miles northwest of it. Sadly, it was closed in the early '90s. I miss seeing this fine aircraft flying over!
Great video, Matthew, but, you got two things wrong:#1- The last BUFF's were built, and delivered in 1961, not 1965 #2- Infrared, or Heat Seeking Missles can't be jammed by Electronic Counter Measures Systems, instead, ECM Systems jam Radar Directed, and Guided Missles, and Guns.
You are correct; although, my research shows 1962 for the last B-52 to roll off the assembly line. Again, my mouth is faster than my brain! MB
The EWO also controlled counter measure flares to divert heat seeking misses. We had a radar to detect such missiles that would trigger the flares and the chaff dispensers.
Last plane rolled off the line in October of 1962. Also, the EWO had access to chaff and flare dispensers to confuse both radar homing and heat-seeking missiles. Saw one of those flares dropped on accident...burned through about 10 feet of concrete. :)
For years I wanted to see the inside of a Buff rear turret. AT LAST. Thanks for that. Bet it smells awesome. Great vid.
They smell a bit like dirty socks after a 20-mile march. :) Believe me, it was a blessing to put on the oxygen mask. :)
Was able to get into a BUFF in the mid-60s as part of an open house at Glasgow AFB (now closed). Next time I was was in one was in FEB of 2019, when I stuck my head into the tail gunner's section on display at Pima Air & Space Museum. Talk about a flash-back! The smell I experienced as a kid in the 60s still lingered in that tail section!
"A single Yellow lever to jettison the Rear Turret" - Ye gods be careful what you touch. A brilliant presentation thanks for posting.
I was a civil servant at Minot Air Force Base in the late 90s for the 5th Bomb Wing. I LOVE this plane. The BUFF is an amazing aircraft.
A note on the damage from the protester at around 10:25 or so: one of the fastest ways to lay a minefield is via plane-dropped ordinance. These minefield are belived to have higher civilian casualties after whatever war they were dropped in finishes; due to the nature of aerial ordinance and it's more random & less documented distribution than ground deployed mines, it is more difficult for crews to find and mark the minefields for removal.
Certainly doesn't mean the guy was in the right or anything, vandalizing a museum piece goes a bit past civil disobedience in my book, but it at least related to the b-52, as that family of aircraft has almost certainly deployed a minefield or two in their decades of operation.
Matthew Thomas There are no civilians in war, it’s basic knowledge at this point
Awesome! I've watched most of your other videos, but I love the format of this one! I love the level of additional detail you went into here, and getting to compare an older B-52 to a modern one was amazing! I hope you get the chance to do that with more of your aircraft and give us some videos on more modern aircraft too!
Stay tuned, Matt S.! MB
Props to Tinker AFB in OKC Oklahoma for keeping this amazing bomber flying.
I saw one of this things take off at an air show. Yes, you see them in the air flying, but when it takes off, you still are amazed that something that large will actually get off the ground. Every American and people of the free world owe a lot to this old war horse. And the fact that there is no plans to phase it out of service until the 2040's, wow!, the B-52 is going to outlive me. To the 205 people that disliked this video, really?
I saw a flight over Isle Royale Natnl Park in the middle of lake Superior back in the 80s, presumably from Sawyer AFB in the UP. What a sight and sound!
Thanks for uploading this to UA-cam! The quality and format of the show is great! Keep it going.
Thanks you! More quality PBS episodes coming to UA-cam soon....
Anyone who has been in old retired planes, knows exactly what smell he’s talking about.
It’s amazing that the B52’s are still in service after all these years after the Vietnam war. They sure were built to last.
I am so proud of my dad which he was a crew member of this great and beautiful plane. We were stationed at Walker AFB, Loring AFB Aand Castle AFB. II miss military life.
Beautiful!!!!!. It's amazing how nuclear deterrent is still in the hands of a venerable 64 years young warrior. I can't think of a better validation to the original B-52 design.
it's the 747 of the military world...one of the most successful aircraft designs ever...
When someone from *COLORADO* goes somewhere else and says it is *COLD,* it _must be_ *COLD.*
Minot may be cold but let us not forget Loring, Kincheloe, and K. I. Sawyer. Especially Loring. :)
@@texleeger8973 >>> I am originally from Florida. All that is like different levels of being dead. You are STILL dead.
The common denominator all those places share: *COLD* 😝😝😝😝
He should have came in the winter, then he could have seen cold,
RocKITEman _ 2001 its even worse if a person from Alaska would say it was cold
PBS does great things. I support my local channel.
It is too bad we didn't have those during WW2. Maybe we could have gotten the war to an end sooner. Regardless it is so nice to still have them flying. Love the job that those men and women do for America. God bless them all.
"They should call the B52 the claustrofortress".
Everyone says this on lots of channels... But this channel is underrated!!! Keep em coming!
That is a great compliment! Thanks so much for watching.
My daughter is out there with her husband on base in Minot. It's a fine place to visit & the base has everything you could ever need. When they are taking off and landing these huge beautiful pieces of machinery it's quite an awesome site to behold and you can feel the rumble from those 8 PandW engines. There's a lot of work that goes into protecting our to country and I respect that and all of the airmen that do such a great job.
One big difference people might not notice is the tail fin. The original b-52 had an absolutely gigantic tail fin, the newer one is half the size
Diving out the tail is perfect. Won't hit the wing or vertical stabilizer. My Father worked all over that machine as the Tec company helping the Airforce. It was Western Electric - he was in Arm. & Electronics Radar and controlled guns were in the first.
wow thats amazing there is not more glass in that birds cockpit....love it.
Dude, i'm not the only one who notices the old plane smell! It took me a year before I got "used" to it
What IS that?! MB
@@Wings_Museum I honestly couldn't tell you! I got to experience the old plane smell at my A&P school (where we only worked on old donated airplanes) My instructors, said they couldn't pinpoint the smell either. Their best guess is just different materials commonly found in aircraft (paint primers, greases, old wires, etc.) that had just aged. Although not everyone knew what I was talking about.
B52s always smell like stinky old socks. :) I'll never forget that smell.
I was an ECM tech on the D model during ARC LIGHT days....spent most of 68 thru 71 at UT and Guam....a lot of TDY's to UT when we stopped flying bombing missions out of Guam in Sep 70. Lot of memories....Also worked at Lowry 79-94 as a civilian instructor and training manager...saw this B model daily..
Best of your vids ever. Congrats
I would agree and now I want to pop in and have a look
If they EVER re-engine the B-52, they'll likely replace the existing 8 engines with EIGHT new engines.
And the USAF will probably lease the engines rather than buy them outright. They've been talking about this since AT LEAST the 1990s but they may finally do something since the engines are becoming THE main reliability/maintainability issue with the operational B-52H's.
The issue is engine balance. Many think it would be cheaper and more fuel-economical to switch to four more powerful engines than what the B-52H currently has. The B-52 was designed for 8 engines and if you change that number, you destroy the thrust balance and it's WORSE if you lost just one engine in a four-engine configuration because you automatically lose 25% of available thrust!
With 8 engines, the lost of any 1 engine is less severe (12.5% thrust loss can be more easily compensated for by the remaining engines) and you're probably fine losing up to 3 engines (2 on 1 side, 1 on the other) or four engines (2 each side) so long as you don't lose 3 or more engines on ONE side/one wing.
Yes, it complicates maintenance and doubles your engine parts count from 4-engine bombers but there are also advantages to having 8-engines in terms of recoverability of the airframe.
It's kinda funny that you say the engines are the main source of maintenance issues, and they were doing maintenance on an engine in this video
@@bigrob966 None of the B-52s still in service are less than 56 years old at this point.
The engines themselves likely haven't been manufactured since the late 1960s/early 1970s and those powerplants (turbofans) were only built for the B-52H. All the other B-52 models used turbojet engines which are less economical but mechanically simpler than turbofans.
Like the airframes themselves, the B-52 engines have rebuilt several times during their operational lifespan. The USAF has actually spent by this point far more in electronics upgrades than what it originally cost to buy the airframes! The avionics upgrades alone are worth several times the cost of the airframe. The reason why the B-52 hasn't been replaced is durability and economy compared to all its replacements. The sad truth is they haven't been able to build a more practical strategic bomber than the B-52 and everything that's come since the B-52 has been more expensive to field and maintain. The XB-70 never left test because it would never have been practical to field. There was too much experimental tech in the XB-70 and the test flights themselves demonstrated some disturbing issues with the honey comb structure of the plane; it didn't help they couldn't formulate a paint that DIDN'T flake off after every flight! It would have been a disaster to maintain and NEVER been able to surprise anyone with how detectable it was on radar. The one supersonic medium bomber the USAF fielded, the B-58, had horrible reliability and maintenance issues and was barely in service past a decade. The FB-111 was very expensive to maintain and the design limited its practical mission growth potential. The B-2 was too expensive to build in the needed numbers and probably shouldn't have been fielded, period, if they weren't going to build at 70-80 of those planes. The B-1 has proven to be decent but only after many years of ironing out the kinks with its avionic systems. The B-1 still couldn't replace the B-52 and wasn't built in high enough numbers to replace the B-52, either.
The USAF has been dragging its feet on the the B-52H engine issue for at least a quarter-century now. Before, they had surplus planes (B-52 wise) and the planes weren't flown that often. The problem is that age WILL be catching up to parts of the plane. Fortunately, the B-52 as-built was over-engineered. It has close to 4.5 times the logical lifespan of a fighter jet (8000hr average now, although we have F-15s in service past 10,000hr and more than a few F-16s past 8000hr now, too) but the day will come when it's not economical or safe to keep the B-52 flying. They never expected to keep the B-52 in service much past the 1980s.
The engines at this point are probably among the easiest of the components to swap out. There are a few commercial (civilian) options available that will fit into the existing nacelles without major modifications which is good-- it means they'll have to spend less money on re-engineering/rebuilding sections of that plane and less time in test flights to recertify it with a new engine.
I've seen a B-52 land with only 2 engines on one pylon. I work on Tf-33's on a different airframe, and those thing are a nightmare when it comes to reliability. But the main reason for the delay of the re-engine is, apart from politics/cost, structural. Higher bypass engines are much bigger and much heavier, and the wings were not designed for those, thus creating excessive stress on the airframe.
With the amount of in-flight shutdown that those engine suffer (I have the data from P&W), it would be an upgrade and recoverability/thrust balance offset is not that much of an issue.
@@MrSnakedHD
What do you mean by in flight shutdowns? I flew many sorties over many years and we shut down an engine ONCE. I still remember it was the #8 engine fir overheating. As it turned out, the engine was fine. It was the gauge that was bad.
@@MrSnakedHD
Also, a B-52 cannot fly on less than 4 engines.
Great Anti Air net. If you ignore the time an 18 year old with 50 hours of flight time flew a Cessna from Finland to Moscow. He landed near the red square.
Dude your job is like a dream for me. Crawling through and exploring old planes while talking about all the details would be so fun.
Pretty cool. Didn't expect to see myself in this video. Awesome job
SSgt Samual O Turner was that tail gunner. Our Airman Leadership School house was named after him at Ellsworth AFB
I love Matthew's goofy humor :)
I like the old WW2 B17 flying fortress and the B25 Mitchell but all have great things works of art thank you
Couldn't help but think about Dr. Strangelove while watching this.
If the pilot's good, see, I mean if he's reeeally sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low... oh you oughta see it sometime. It's a sight. A big plane like a '52... varrrooom! Its jet exhaust... frying chickens in the barnyard!
skylordsix General Buck Turgidson 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I watched this awesome/amazing channel and I can't help to notice there is no Lockheed Martin SR71 one of the greatest airplane in the history of aviation, and that's driving crazy, please do the SR71, there is dozen of them scattered around the country.
this channel cannot be completed with the SR71
@@anonymouscoward2491 also still holds the world record for fastest air breathing aircraft. And just because it gets shot down doesnt mean it doesnt have a legacy, many B-29's were shot down, yet its still an insanly popular aircraft.
@@anonymouscoward2491 Oh boy... I hope they NEVER hire you as a plane historian because your attitude SUCKS and your information is WOEFULLY incomplete and BIASED from the start.
Stick to electronics. That's all you know.
I can also tell you're REAL FUN at parties, too!
@ebay show. Obviously sir you have not done your research the Mig 25 was designed to intercept that SR-71 but could not and neither can the F-14 I don't know where you get your information but it is totally wrong. The mig-25 ceiling is not as high as the SR-71 and its maximum speed of 3.0 burns up the engines Which is far short of the SR-71 top speed, also no one has yet to be able to develop air to air or air-to-ground missile that could catch the SR-71.! The only reason that aircraft does not fly today is the use of drones and reconnaissance satellites otherwise she'd still be flying today!!
I got to crawl all over a B-52 when I was at Sheppard AFB, Texas during my training as a maintenance specialist.
Just discovered this channel. Sat through the 90 second intro with low expectations. I was then SHOCKED at how entertaining and informative this video turned out to be!
Beautiful plane. Lol I laughed when he mentioned landmines as if he was clueless. The US used B52s to drop cluster landmines in a bomb like capsule in Laos during the Vietnam war.
Amazing this is even better than your other b52 videos(which were great :D too) i love it👍