[Piano Red]

Minimum-Interval Take Off scramble, from Minot AFB in North Dakota.

15 aircraft in the air in less than 10 minutes of the klaxons sounding.
[youtube]wJ7niLYSVFo[/youtube]

Really harkens back to those nostalgic days that SAC once occupied in the US strategic defense umbrella.

It also makes you think about just how amazing an aircraft the B-52 really is. For those that don't know, the last B-52 production model rolled off it's assembly line back in 1962. There have literally been generations of pilots (ie men who's own fathers used to operate the aircraft) who've flown them.

[Thunderhawk]

With the amount of upgrades and retrofits the B-52s have recieved they are effectively new planes.. a few times over.

[Typhoon]

Nice vid, reminds me of Vulcan bombers scrambling!

[youtube]4BgE7iYPAVg[/youtube]

Nostalgia, but its certainly a good thing we dont live in those times anymore.

[Oxymoron]

At least then we knew who the enemy was.

[Piano Red]

Thunderhawk

With the amount of upgrades and retrofits the B-52s have recieved they are effectively new planes.. a few times over.

Too true

Current plans call for the Air Force to keep the B-52 H-class fleet active until 2040. By that time, the last aircraft to roll off the Boeing assembly line in 1962 will be 78 years old.

Because the B-52's first mission was to stand ready to deliver nuclear payloads, the aircraft spent most of its hours on the tarmac, Nally said. "Even though it's an old airplane, it doesn't have the amount of wear and tear for it that you would expect," Nally said. "Long term, we don't see any issues with the structure of the airplane."

Richard Martin, B-52 deputy program director, said the average B-52 is in the air about 250 hours a year. The upper wing surface has a limit of 28,600 to 33,200 hours of life, and the average unit has logged about 12,500 hours so far. Ninety-four aircraft remain in the fleet. "Our chart doesn't go past 2040, but on the line they are on, it could go past 2040 for sure," Martin added.

[Zagadka]

Yea, B-52s are amazing, even though it is only their basic framework still being used... though that's kinda like saying that it is amazing that busses are still being used.

The B-52 and AK-47 are probably the two most symbolic weapons of the Cold War.

Really harkens back to those nostalgic days that SAC once occupied in the US strategic defense umbrella.

Nostalgic? Nostalgic for an era when a missed phone call could have destroyed most of humanity?

And the B-52s weren't part of the defense umbrella, they were part of the responsive attack.

[MB.]

imho stratojet b-47 was the greatest strategic bomber ever built by the hands of man until the B-2.