Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

mawganmad;34820 wrote:

You might want to do a search under 'B-52 low-level'! Why they can barrel that baby in so low, its jet exhaust frying chickens in a barnyard!*

The footage of the B-52 on low-level test, that loses all of its tail fin and still makes a fairly normal landing is particularly impressive!
I've seen it somewhere that the B-52 was one of the first designs where aeroelasticity of the wing structure was a major consideration.

*Name the film? - not you PNK!

That's what they said about the Valiant and look what happened to that after a very short time in the low-level role!

I don't dispute that the B-52 could perform very LL manoevres with a competent pilot, but fins (vertical stabilisers!) breaking up in flight should tell you the airframe doesn't like it.

PETERTHEEATER;34863 wrote:

That's what they said about the Valiant and look what happened to that after a very short time in the low-level role!
I don't dispute that the B-52 could perform very LL manoevres with a competent pilot, but fins (vertical stabilisers!) breaking up in flight should tell you the airframe doesn't like it.

The Valiant wasn't designed to go low level at all, and certainly didn't take to that environment, which helped saw the early demise of the type. Vickers did field the Valiant B.2 pathfinder in the mid '50s which was specifically designed to operate at low-level and deal with the stresses involved, however MoS had their minds set on evading missiles at high altitude at the time - theirs, and the RAFs loss.

The B-52 was designed to deal with low-level operations from the start, we can ague 'do / don't they' all day, but the fact is these current airframes have flown low-level mission profiles well into the 1990s even if they are cosseted a bit now. They are certainly flown differently to airliners!

the B-52 that lost its tail was being flown deliberately beyond limits
during low-level stress trials, the very airframe is still in military use now, that tells me the old bird has done quite well.
Which ever way you look at it, it is a remarkable design that has lasted all these years very well.

Thanks for the info mawganmad,

I haven't made a specific study of the B-52 so I didn't know it was designed with LL in mind. That explains its longevity.

Found this:

January 10, 1964, started out as a typical day for the flight test group at Boeing's Wichita plant. Pilot Chuck Fisher took off in a B-52H with a three-man Boeing crew, flying a low-level profile to obtain structural data.

Over Colorado, cruising 500 feet above the mountainous terrain, the B-52 encountered some turbulence. Fisher climbed to 14,300 feet looking for smoother air. At this point the typical day ended.The bomber flew into clear-air turbulence. It felt as if the plane had been placed in a giant high-speed elevator, shoved up and down, and hit by a heavy blow on its right side.

Fisher told the crew to prepare to abandon the plane. He slowed the aircraft and dropped to about 5,000 feet to make it easier to bail out. But then Fisher regained some control. He climbed slowly to 16,000 feet to put some safety room between the plane and the ground. He informed Wichita about what was happening. Although control was difficult, Fisher said he believed he could get the plane back in one piece.

Response to the situation at Wichita, and elsewhere, was immediate. An emergency control center was set up in the office of Wichita's director of flight test. Key Boeing engineers and other specialists were summoned to provide their expertise. Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control centers at Denver and Kansas City cleared the air around the troubled plane. A Strategic Air Command B-52 in the area maintained radio contact with the crew of the Wichita B-52.

As Fisher got closer to Wichita, a Boeing chase plane flew up to meet him and to visually report the damage. When Dale Felix, flying an F-100 fighter, came alongside Fisher's B-52, he couldn't believe what he saw: The B-52's vertical tail was gone.

Felix broke the news to Fisher and those gathered in the control center. There was no panic. Everyone on the plane and in the control center knew they could be called upon at any time for just such a situation. In the emergency control center, the engineers began making calculations and suggesting the best way to get the plane down safely. The Air Force was also lending assistance. A B-52, just taking off for a routine flight, was used to test the various flight configurations suggested by the specialists before Fisher had to try them.

As high gusty winds rolled into Wichita, the decision was made to divert the B-52 to Blytheville Air Force Base in Northeastern Arkansas. Boeing specialists from the emergency control center took off in a KC-135 and accompanied Fisher to Blytheville, serving as an airborne control center.

Six hours after the incident first occurred, Fisher and his crew brought in the damaged B-52 for a safe landing.

"I'm very proud of this crew and this airplane," Fisher said. "Also we had a lot people helping us, and we're very thankful for that." The B-52, Fisher said, "Is the finest airplane I ever flew."

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Presumably, the subsequent investigation showed that the airframe had been stressed above the limits?

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A few that I took at the Mildenhall Air Fete 1994. No digital camera then !

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Seems like yesterday...

Ahh!! Nice one Paul. The good ole' Air Fete's at the Hall!! B-52 displays where almost taken for granted back then. Thanks for posting those up mate.