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Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth
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The B-52 was designed on a cocktail napkin in Dayton OH in Oct 1948..The AF was not happy with previous designs d was ready to scrap it. Thre company executives met with a Colonel Warden at a hotel and rough sketched it and formthere it was designed and morphed into what we have today.

Although 70 years old in design it has relatively low hours becasue a majority of them sat alert and were only cranked for a scramble or rotated out of alert for training missions. By reengining them and putting new modern avionics they will well last into the 2050's. Love that airplane and it is a strong work horse for the Air Force.

Lt Col Charlie Brown LTC Trent Klug MSgt John McGowan Cpl Vic Burk Sgt (Join to see) CWO4 Terrence Clark CPL Douglas Chrysler SGT Jim Arnold MSgt James Parker Sgt Robert Burlison LTC Stephen F. SGT Steve McFarland SGT Mark Anderson SMSgt Lawrence McCarter CMSgt (Join to see) SPC Gary C. COL Randall C.
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LTC Trent Klug
LTC Trent Klug
1 y
Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth It's crazy to think a 70 year old beast could still be flying missions. No other plane in history can touch that. Well maybe the TU95.
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Amn Dale Preisach
Amn Dale Preisach
1 y
LTC Trent Klug Russia did make Rugged planes and all weaponry .
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
1 y
Amn Dale Preisach The BUFF has gone through several wing structure mods as well as avionics upgrades. When I first flew them the avionics were still vacum tube. We went through one that brought in digital avionics before I went to the FB-111 in 1975. Know there have been several more which also included removing several thousand pounds of wiring that was no longer used.
The older planes you refer to isn't really relevant since the only ones still flying are the "H" model and they were all built between 1961 & 1962. https://www.afnwc.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Article/2060293/b-52h-stratofortress/#:~:text=A%20total%20of%20744%20B,20%20air%2Dlaunched%20cruise%20missiles.
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Amn Dale Preisach
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Lt Col Charlie Brown
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Reuse, recycle, upcycle?
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
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LTC Trent Klug
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A fantastic 70 year old design!
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
>1 y
Especially when you think about the fact that when we were flying low lever you could actually look out and see the wings flapping.
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LTC Trent Klug
LTC Trent Klug
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen I know, I've watched it happen at Fairchild AFB.
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