BUT I did make it over to the airport monday morning to see something I have never seen, the B-52 Stratofortress, and don't forget the B-52's were first commisioned by the Air Force in 1955!!!
on the tarmac
firing the engines
and then take off! the fucker is MASSIVE!!!!
and other stuff...
C-17a 
F-16 Fighting Falcon
and over across the tarmac, a B-1A in LB for servicing.
(Big pic)
I was in a Boeing parkig lot, makes me happy that so many Boeing employees were out there waiting to see it take off! There were over a hundred people out there waiting to see it fly and most of them were Boeing employees. Good to see that to some people a job isn't just a job...
Hey Dave,
ReplyDeleteif you ever make it overhere I'll give you the grand tour on the base.
I once had a guy here and he freaked out when he stood only 5 metres away from an F-16 running at full afterburner, hooked up at the run up.... haha!
I've never seen the stratofortress before. We use to jump out of C-5's and I always thought they were massive... I wonder how they compare.
ReplyDeleteGoogle.
Yeah, seeing those warbirds in flight is always amazing. I got bitten by the bug when my gramps took me to the CAF show in the early 80s. I've pulled off the road to watch overflights of planes like the B-17, B-24, P-47, P-51, A-10, C-130, C-47(my favorite) Lockheed Constellation and B-52. I even saw Air Force One flying in the President! I was bringing my daughter home yesterday and saw a Sikorsky Sky Crane at the downtown heliport. She got mad because I stopped to look, but I really dig that stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhat's awesome about the B-52's is that there are 3 and I'm sure in the future 4 generations of pilots flying these things around. Some guys who are the LT's and CPT's are carrying on a family tradition that their dad's and grandpa's flew those very same aircraft.
ReplyDeleteThe B-52 "BUFF" is the best!!!
ReplyDeleteMy all time favorite flying machine.
I grew up in Rancho Cordova, home of Mather AFB, a SAC Base. I loved the everpresent B-52's, KC-135 and C-130s. As a teen, my friend and I would sometimes head off campus to the end of Happy Lane near Kiefer Boulevard and Bradshaw Road and sit at the end of a runway when the Buffs were doing "touch-n-gos". I will never forget the sight, sound and the rumble of those beasts as they throttled up at the end of the runway...incredible. I also recall one crashing into a nearby farmers field. Everyone was afraid it might have nukes onboard.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pics, they bring back a lot of fond memories.
I love these B52 Bombers great to see the wings drooping when they are on the runway, make a great subject for a custom chopper a B52 Bike, EXCELLENT
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