My brother was a radar navigator on one of these. He was killed along with six other crew members on April 11, 1983 in a crash in Utah. My family was absolutely devastated by his death. He was a brilliant young man. I think about him every day. Fly high brother...I love you and miss you everyday.
I used to watch these take off from Kadena AFB in 1969 headed to Laos loaded to the hilt with 500 pound bombs in the bomb bay and under their wings. What took off first were the KC 135 tankers to refuel them when they got in the air. There would be a KC 135, some B 52s another KC135 more B 52s! Also had the very secret SR 71 there too!
I'm sure I'll get many disagreements, but this plane is like an albatross bird. It does not take off gracefully, and doesn't land gracefully, but it does fly beautifully!
I used to live near Ohio's Wright Patterson AFB in the 70s and these flew over every day. They were so large they seemed to just drift by with hardly a sound. Amazing aircraft!
My wife and I often went to Wright Hill to watch them take off between 1972 - 76. As a young 2nd Lt. we did not have much money. This was cheap entertainment. They were a thing of beauty and still are.
I worked on them parked them put fuel on them and took them apart and repaired them then put them to bed amazing,at times frustrating but a machine that seemed to love you back
Old Gringo Yeah, I was lucky enough to be stationed on a SAC base in 75(Loring,Maine; has since been closed). We used to sit at the end of the runway at nite, watching them take off. Its like a building. But, to your point, many got shot down over Nam with primative missles.
And the story of the B-52 is far from over. First flown in 1953, with modernization programs the US Air Force plans to keep them in the fleet until about 2050 or later. That's a 100 year airplane my friend.
I was in the US MARINES at Futema air facility in Okinawa. When I drove past Kadena air force base these great planes were there and I always stopped to watch then take off or land. Totally awesome. A real sight to see and hear.
My big brother was a Marine in Vietnam in '68 - '69 who came back a huge fan of B-52s. His description of witnessing B-52 Arc Light raids from the perspective of Marines on the ground made an impression on me. Actually, the BUFFs flew so high the Marines never actually "witnessed" the BUFFs themselves, only the "rolling thunder" from the ordinance they delivered. It was apparently pretty awesome. I don't know if his stories had anything to do with it, but later in the '70s I ended up in the USAF on B-52Ds (the AF part was intentional, B-52s were just the luck of the draw). Knowing they were his favorite aircraft, I sent him a B-52 t-shirt in the mail. Years later after my AF days were long over he and I were swapping military stories (some of them actually true), and he told me he had worn that t-shirt until was ragged.
Nothing like a "Buff" takeoff!! I was stationed in 1969 at U-Tapao RTAFB, Thailand during the Vietnam Conflict. We had about 50 Buffs there and they were magnificent to watch!!
I spent 2 years at Andersen AFB Island of Guam when it was changed from a Strat wing to a bomb wing. I worked in the bomb dump 43rd MMS. I miss those B52s.
@@thomaswalsh5097 I worked on the Titan II re entry vehicle as a Nuclear Weapons Specialist at Davis Monthan AFB, I can’t remember the squadron number. I came from being on a Missile Crew for the Mace Missile in Okinawa at Kadena AFB. what a difference! You always read the SAC sucks, and I found out why!
It is absolutely amazing that this aircraft is still flying after 69 years! . . .there has always been talk about retiring it. We get to see them flying over our house quite frequently; ALWAYS go out to see it IF there isn't cloud cover obstructing the view.
keep in mind that plenty of those accidentally dropped whatever they were carrying for some reason i wouldn't be so happy about them flying over my house
Saw B-52s take off at Hill AFB in Ogden UT in the early 90s while Desert Storm was going on. The sound, the SMOKE TRAIL - this video brought it all back. It’s hard to describe it - like a beast being unleashed. Terrifying to think of the firepower this aircraft can carry and deliver. I’m still in awe.
They have been around a very long, long time. It is insane that such an old aircraft is still so very relevant to this day. Then again we still fly the U-2.
@@johnevans388 Your quote:"It amaze me how something big can take flight". Well the Antonov 225 Mriya is way bigger. It's as well bigger as the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Mriya even flies more elegant than the Galaxy, I've seen in a air show, many years ago.
I used to breath the sight and sound of them intimately for 4 yrs. Many longer than I did. It was sometimes boring, sometimes intense , often painful . I don't regret it.
This magnificent air machine has enough thrust that it is possible to still rotate with a 4 degree nose-down attitude. I was an avionics tech on these gems back 1973 to 1976, stationed at Loring AFB, Maine. Memories of riding the launch truck. AMS 5 was our radio call sign. What a time that was.
Barksdale used runway on occasion that brought them over my house really low. It was almost deafening..... I loved it!!! The sound of freedom..... And eight smoking engines.
They fly them around where I live. I hear them every day, every night. If one flys over while you're having a conversation you just stop, wait for it to pass, & pick up where you left off.
@@Arr1able yes and no. Idk how high they are at the time, but they fly them somewhat close to the ground with the landing gear down a lot (help keep them at operational status I guess). One will literally over power every other sound while it flys over. If you're not hearing one like that, you're hearing one off in the distance, flying over someone else lol.
I got to go inside a B-52 at Patrick Air Force Base in Cocoa, FL at an air show. This is a massive, amazing aircraft. One of the best planes ever built.
I was raised just north of Dayton Ohio. Very near Wright Patterson AFB. In the 60s Mom used to pack up a Picnic and Dad would drive us over to watch the B-52s take off and land. Amazing they’re still a capable aircraft. That was a fun activity for a couple Farm kids. The Air Force Museum there is amazing too. It’s a Crime they didn’t get a Space Shuttle. It’s a one day drive for 60% of Americans and has never charged admission.
These B52s would scare the sh*t out of us kids, when years ago they came low over the house to land at Upper Heyford Air base Oxfordshire, I miss the base, the Americans, the F1-11s, lovely times, lovely people.
We didn't have the '52's at our base, which was RAF Brize Norton. Of course, that was in 1963-'65. Brize was turned back over to Great Briton in '65, and we came home. We had the old B-47's then. I spent two years at Brize.
Cant comment on the B52s as the RAAF (here in Aus), never purchased them... but the F1-11s were one of the best fighter/bombers we had. Growing up near Amberley afb, I'll always remember the roar of the Pigs going over and seeing their dump and burns; i've many fond memories of them - long live the Pig.
WPAFB was the home of SAC. Having lived close to the base I still remember watching those huge wings lift up before pulling the fuselage with them. It is amazing how much they move.
When I was about 10 years old my father took us to Homestead Air Force Base and we got to get up close and personal with a B-52. Each engine pod was as large as our 1950 Buick Roadmaster.
My dad was a crew chief on these as his SAC, Castle AFB was the first to get them on June 29, 1955 while he was stationed there. Pretty awesome and very loud.
Dad flew these outta Westover and McCoy from 1958 and the 60's during Chrome Dome and in VN outta Guam and later Utapou. Music to my ears always. RIP Dad and High Flight!
Watched them land at Amarillo Air Force base when I was in high school (I'm 76 now). When I was younger than that I watched B-36s making low passes over the city on their way back to San Antonio ; I'll never forget that sound.
@@SmokieOkie918 I was Stationed at Minot for my 20 yr. career with the exception of a 1 yr. tour in Panama. I got there in 74 and left Minot in 2011 not long after the flood.
I used to live near Barksdale main gate. When I was a kid, in Albany, Georgia, we were in the runway approach and would have those monsters fly about 100 feet above our house on take-off or landing. And, an ORI (Operation Readiness Inspection)? B-52's and KC-135's overhead once a minute for about a half hour! Our windows would rattle and we would have to cover our ears. But, to see those giants fly was so impressive. Seen in this video, to assist with crosswind takeoffs and landings, the main landing gear can be pivoted 20 degrees to either side from neutral. Preflight/taxi checklists require this pivoting to be tested. This yaw adjustable crosswind landing gear would be preset by the crew according to wind observations made on the ground.
We experienced the same situation at Ft. Bliss, El Paso TX back in 1959-1961. The military family housing complex was adjacent to the air strip there and when those huge B-52s would rev their engines and take off, everything would shake, rattle and roll!! We kids thought that it was so exciting, but our mother didn’t find it so fun...she was always trying to hold everything in place while the shaking was going on!
I noticed that pivoting and assumed a) that that was what it was for, and b) why they did it while taxiing pre-flight. Thanks for confirming that for me.
At one time, the B-52 bombers were the world's largest and most feared bomber fleet. The US built a total of 744 B-52s. It's hard to imagine, isn't it.
I go to the Royal International Air Tattoo in England nearly every year, only ever seen the B-52 flying once, and it’s still the most terrifying aircraft I’ve had the fortune to see. Those engines screaming overhead, I can understand how the people of Vietnam felt when they were around
@@banjopete Oh how i would love one in my yardCan i can i please please awwww go on just one I promise to feed it and clean up after it I think my grandchildren would be thrilled I know i would be They are poetry of the air Jenny 😘
@@telsport A business park thats an awful thing to do to an AFB In Guerney Channel Islands where i live An American Air Force Base would be probably bigger than the island Our Airport is small i think the largest we have had in of any military aircraft has been the Hercules when they come over to pick up duty frees and practise take offs and landings I would love to be able to look out the window and see some of the us monsters of the sky not the commercial Aircraft but the real hard working ladies of the sky Still i can dream As for the baby in the video I still want one in my back yard Thanks for your reply Jenny 💕😘
In mid 1972 I finished a 1 year assignment in Vietnam flying a C-47. I was assigned to SAC as a B-52 pilot. I went to their 6 month school at Castle, AFB in California. I finished up my training flights just before Christmas 1972 and was scheduled for my final flight test on January 1, 1973. As I waited over the Christmas layoff, I sat and watched B-52's getting shot down over Hanoi. I thought: "Oh HELL. Here's another fine mess I've gotten myself into! I just survive a 1 year stint in Vietnam. NOW, I'm gonna go back over there and get shot down....in a B-52! WTF...OVER!"
Fantastic film! What a great sight to see these fabulous aircraft take off, BUT why so many dislikes I wonder, to many this would be a once in a lifetime experience but with this video we can watch again and again, thanks for sharing this!
Love watching the LA Buff's on a role, (I sing on the wings of a snow white bird in my mind) when they take off! Looks like my old SAC BUFF's in the take off mode 50 years ago. Awesome pilots and crew taking care these this beast! Thank you all for your service!
I grew up near Castle Air Force Base. The 93rd Bombardment Wing trained pilots for a long time. As teenagers we used to go sit outside the fence, near the runway and watch these huge beasts come in to land. They were so huge and seemed to be flying so slowly that it was amazing that they could stay in the air. We were so close that the pilots would often give us a little salute as they went overhead. We lived in the flight path and everyone in my neighborhood knew that if you were on the phone with someone when one of these guys were flying overhead you had to tell them, "Hang on a minute; Plane." Good times.
How cool is it that grandkids are working on and flying a plane their grandparents worked on and flew. Seen a bumper sticker at Wright Pat that said "Peace thru Superior Firepower." All I can say to that is PRAISE GOD. and Thank You.
When I was in ROTC we went to Louisiana Air Force Base they gave us a tour of the the B-52 Top Speed: 650mph, Wingspan:185'0" Range: 8,800 mi, introduce: February 1955, Number built: 744, Engine types: Pratt & Whitney JT3D, Pratt & Whitney J57
We live pretty close to the flight line at Offutt AFB, Nebraska.....home of the Fighting 55th. Randomly a B-52 will fly in and land, and I could always tell by the engine sound that it wasn't your typical EC-135. Such a sinister but beautiful aircraft.
Our house was in the flight path of KAFB in Michigans UP. When an alert went off 13 or 14 of these big B52s would roar over the house at 3:00 am. They rattled the house so much my Mom couldn’t keep a Knick-knack on a shelf. It’s a sound you never forget even though it was 60 years ago
I loved watching the wings raise from their ground position as the plane was on the runway, so that the wings leveled off in their flight position - just before the plane left the runway. So graceful - for such a huge plane.
and they're the most lethal bombers in the world still, they're just that effective...if you're the enemy and that big ole girls' over-head, you're so done hehe
@@marksmith2714 they've been modified with the latest technology, 'resto-modded' in effect...if they're such fossils, they sure get the job done like the 'modern' bombers
Jet Engine Mechanic..B 52 G..88-92. Loring AFB Maine. Then Diego Garcia for Desert Shield/ Storm 90-91. Quite an experience. Hard work in all kinds of conditions. Not easy hanging an engine in a monsoon at midnight under the floodlights. So glad I have the stories. Off we go into the wild blue yonder......
I used to watch these take off all the time. They have one on display when you pull on the old griffase air force base in Rome ny. You can walk right up to it.
From 4 of 66 till oct 67 i was stationed at plattsburg n y in Plattsburgh ny ..i was assigned to the 380th c e s crash rescue fire dept we had b 52 s and k.c 135 what an awsome sight when they had an.alert.
Man, this thing is more like a giant bird than a man-made construction. Even the way it wobbles from one side to the next is like it’s saying “I’m not meant to be on the ground, dammit! You gave me wings now let me flyyyyyyy!”
It was not "wobbling" around, the crew was just checking the crosswind crab limits of the landing gear, which turns up to 20 degrees off-center in either direction. This enables a fully loaded B-52 to take off into as much as a 50 knot direct crosswind while still staying in the middle of the runway. Probably the best bargain the USAF ever purchased. I flew over 4000 hours in the D-model, which was built in 1955-56 and cost around a paltry 8.5 million to build. Also one of the sturdiest, most forgiving airframes of all time.
You know your in for a bad day when the Buff comes looking for yer. A most awesome looking aircraft . And it's a timeless piece of aviation history . Long may it be apart of our skys .
Saw a cold war version of a B52 while at Hickam AFB in Hawaii & believe me you haven't seen anything like it when it taxied & attained a speed over 100 miles an hour before take off simply awesome.
My husband had a friend who flew one of these magnificent birds. They are awesome in their strength and the effect they have on you as you watch them take off.
Don't like war(machines), a bomb dropped by these things kills everyone, child ,women, men, soldiers, citizens, that's why I hate these bloody things. Nothing beautiful, just total MAYHEM....
My uncle was in the USAF when I was a kid. He showed my brothers and me of these weapons at his base. I was very impressed but still wanted to be a Sailor like Dad.
Back in the late 1950’s at Altus Okla. SAC base, as kids our parents would stop off the highway on the south end of the runway and us kids would lay in the grass on the embankment as they came in to land it was fantastic !! We knew kruschref couldn’t beat us!
I’ll never forget being near Scott AFB a decade or so ago. They had their annual air show and display one weekend, with the usual Air Mobility Command aircraft, the big C-5 included, as well as the Thunderbirds. Out of nowhere, here comes a B-52 in a flyover, which was awesome, but as he departed he began climbing and, to my astonishment, he snapped into a left knife-edge and ascended while holding that perfect knife-edge till he was out of sight! I’ve never seen that big of a plane do that.
craig855s - If you’re thinking of the Fairchild AFB crash in Washington state, a person could think it was a knife-edge, but the pilot there was a reckless senior officer who attempted a radical turn to buzz the airstrip while flying entirely too low. When a plane banks 90 degrees, it ‘slides’ and loses altitude like crazy. The B-52 at Scott AFB was at several thousand feet and climbing. When he ‘knifed’ he kept climbing out of sight on pure power; that’s what was so amazing.
Looks like it would be a real handful in a crosswind. The word "iconic" is over-used these days but if one aircraft could be said to be iconic for representing air power during the decades-long Cold War, it's the B-52.. What an aeroplane! One of Boeing's finest products.
I LOVE THIS! - Though I never got to watch B52's take off in Townsville RAAF Base (North Queensland, Australia)... I - as a RAAF FIREFIGHTER-AC, attended most other Take-offs and Landings, as well as standby for STOL Practice ops using Hercules and Caribou Cargo Planes... FRONT ROW SEATING from an OSHKOSH P4 TFA!
It is amazing to contemplate that 4-5 generations of aviators have commanded these beautiful warbirds across the globe for 70 or so years. I am not a pilot, but it appears that the B-52 rotates off the ground into a very gradual climb from a long take off roll. I am guessing (again non-pilot!) that it would need quite a bit of airspeed and altitude before any sort of aggressive flying was attempted. I recall reading that early jet designs were very slow and vulnerable on the take off roll and the landing approaches.
You really don't get to appreciate just how fast those big planes are actually moving on video. Just as all large objects appear to be going slower than they actually are, you also have the camera moving, from a distance, keeping up with the plane. When I was a kid, my dad took me and my brother to the airport, on the observation deck. You could see them taxiing, then, they disappeared behind the building, out of view. When they came back the other way, taking off, they would come back into view, and boy were they rumbling! You could see they were well over 100 mph. It was like when a car passes you going real fast, only they were huge airliners!
