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The B-52 lives on

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I love these huge airplanes. Fore me the love of them started when i was younger and getting to go into a B17 at a air show then of course building a bunch of models of them.

it's amazing that these planes are still in use. that's some damn fine design and building.


and that lego set? i want it..lol
 
The Boston Dangler said:
in front of the nose is an 8-pack rotary dispensor loaded with what appear to be tomahawk cruise missiles. beneath each wing are carriages loaded with external pylons, 3 cruise missiles on the right wing and 3 cluster bombs on the left.

a nuclear weapon could be as small as the medium-sized weapons displayed, including nuclear-armed tomahawks.
Click to expand...

So basically a revolver for cruise missles - nice.


How big is a b52 compared to an a380?
 
Ns1 said:
How big is a b52 compared to an a380?
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Body wise, it's much smaller. The B-52's body is quite small compared to most airliners. Smaller in diameter than the 707. What's huge about it (compared to its body size) is its wing span. It's wider than it is long, which is unusual. It's wing span is just shy that of the original 747 wingspan with a much smaller body. This is what allows it to fly so high and so far with heavy bomb loads.

Here's one behind a KC-10 (DC-10 variant)

112993.jpg


As you can see, it's quite a bit smaller body wise.
 
BUTCH1 said:
NVA must have started shitting bricks when they heard the '52's overhead, hell is coming from 20,000ft and there is no where to hide from that kind of fire-power.
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I watched the The Giver a couple weeks ago and in it they depict the Vietnam War as a typical "war is terrible meme", but it was, predictably, from the American perspective...I immediately thought that if they really wanted to convey the horror and bleakness of war they should have shown it from the NVA/VC perspective
 
You tube videos show that the B52 is barely wide enough for a two person cockpit, although the cockpit in a 747 is also pretty narrow.
 
Another good one - restroom facilities in a b52? Or do they just give plastic bags and wet naps?
 
waggy said:
I love these huge airplanes. Fore me the love of them started when i was younger and getting to go into a B17 at a air show then of course building a bunch of models of them.

it's amazing that these planes are still in use. that's some damn fine design and building.


and that lego set? i want it..lol
Click to expand...

That airframe and wing-box in particular has to be the most robust design in the history of large airplanes. Think of how many cycles these planes must have gone through. Remember the days when SAC always had '52's (or possibly other planes too) always in the air, ready to head for Russia in event our missile silo's were knocked out in a "shoot first" scenario. I wonder if the engines have been changed to a more modern, more powerful, and less fuel consumption over the many decades of it's service life.
 
bunnyfubbles said:
I watched the The Giver a couple weeks ago and in it they depict the Vietnam War as a typical "war is terrible meme", but it was, predictably, from the American perspective...I immediately thought that if they really wanted to convey the horror and bleakness of war they should have shown it from the NVA/VC perspective
Click to expand...

Yea, after they eventually failed and gave up on Khe Sanh they estimated 15,000 NVA dead and by reading notes found there around a 25% desertion rate.
 
who? said:
You tube videos show that the B52 is barely wide enough for a two person cockpit, although the cockpit in a 747 is also pretty narrow.
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A 747 tapers quite a bit at the top and front, where the cockpit is. The bulk of the body is very large, nearly three times the floor width of the cockpit itself.

4819352768_030bf2d416_z.jpg


Ns1 said:
Another good one - restroom facilities in a b52? Or do they just give plastic bags and wet naps?
Click to expand...

In the lower section there is a urinal with a tube going to a couple gallon jug that gets dumped by the crew chiefs after each flight. For #2s, there is a toilet seat over a box in the upper section by the ladder, not quite chemical style, just a box. Don't be that guy.
 
Ns1 said:
How big is a b52 compared to an a380?
Click to expand...

The A380 is quite a bit bigger.

Airbus A380
Length overall 72.73 m (238 ft 7 in)
Wingspan 79.75 m (261 ft 8 in)
Height 24.45 m (80 ft 3 in)

Boeing B-52
Length: 159 ft 4 in (48.5 m)
Wingspan: 185 ft 0 in (56.4 m)
Height: 40 ft 8 in (12.4 m)

The closest modern airliner in size to the B-52 is probably the Boeing 767-200. Same body length but a shorter wing span than the B-52. The bomber is heavier than the airliner, so it needs larger wings. The 787 has a longer wingspan by roughly 15ft. Also worth noting is the 767's two Rolls-Royce RB211 engines produce nearly as much thrust as B-52's 8 Pratt & Whitney TF33s. The B-52 uses the same engines that powered the 707.
 
UglyCasanova said:
Went to an Airshow at Barksdale about 2 months ago. They had a B52 do a low altitude flyover which was neat.
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where I grew up one of the town recreation sports fields was right in the landing path of an US Naval Base, they used to land B52s there quite often and when they went over the field they were 500 or so feet above the ground, they almost looked like they were standing still, it was memorizing

all the kids playing would just stop and look up
 
BUTCH1 said:
NVA must have started shitting bricks when they heard the '52's overhead, hell is coming from 20,000ft and there is no where to hide from that kind of fire-power.
Click to expand...

afaik.... Most of the time the buffs were dropping from well above 20k, the nva/vc rarely (ever?) heard the airplane before the bombs were going off.
 
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