Rich Russian wants to buy an American B-52 bomber at airshow.

news.yahoo.com...;_ylt=AsEM6noj4FBRzr.nX7aHT1T9xg8F

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A wealthy Russian tried to buy a U.S. B-52 bomber from a group of shocked American pilots at an airshow near Moscow, a Russian newspaper reported on Friday.

The unidentified Russian, wearing sunglasses and surrounded by bodyguards, approached the U.S. delegation and asked to buy the bomber, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper said.

An astounded member of the U.S. delegation said the bomber was not for sale but that it would cost at least $500 million if it were to be sold on the spot.

"That is no problem. It is such a cool machine," the Russian was quoted as saying by the newspaper, which said its reporter overheard the conversation. The bomber was not sold.

Whats next? Some wealthy businessman wants to buy a B-2 bomber in the near future?

In any case do you think he really wanted to get his hands on the B-52? Or was it through the Russian govt? Its mere speculation, not to mention the B-52 is really old since the 50s. However the B-52 has been the backbone of the Air Force for many decades and through many conflicts doing its job and successfully. It is a potential platform that could serve for the next half century with new weapons applied and upgrades, who knows maybe an airborne laser lin Dale Brown's books. Who knows, maybe the B-52 was to replace the Russian Bear is the Russian govt. was involved.

I also like to add something, this delegation mentioned that the B-52 cost 500 million dollars. Now some member told me long time ago when I made a thread about the potential of having a 747 equipped with all cruise missile capability and he pointed out that it would cost 10 times less to build a new B-52 then having a new 747. I don't know how much a 747 cost right now, but I would say it should be far less than the B-52 especially airlines that would not have been able to buy hundreds of aircraft, not to mention thousands flying over U.S. airspace daily.


[edit on 24-8-2007 by deltaboy]

A 747-400 list price sits between $228m and $261m depending on type (base, ER, freighter et al), while a 747-8 will set you back between $285m and $300m list.

The 1998 fiscal year cost for a B-52 was set at $53.4m.

I would say the $500m price tag was pulled out of someones arse right there on the spot.

This sounds like Ivan had the vodka flowing in the limo on the way to the air show and was just showing off.

It's not like Russia would want to reverse engineer the thing, it's 50's tech, any thing that should not be seen would be removed before it would of been delivered and it has to be said, Russia ain't half bad at making massive planes fly them selves.

Would scare the yada yada out of any country you decided to fly over though.

Originally posted by RichardPrice
I would say the $500m price tag was pulled out of someones arse right there on the spot.

I would agree 100% with that assessment.


I can picture the guys probably looking at each other saying:

"fukk - name a big number buddy"

"100 million?"

"Nah, not big enough... it is a big plane after all"

"1 billion?"

"Too much, thats near the price of a B-2"

"Split?"

"Yeah, split - 500 million will do"

The Russian "Mr. Howell-ski" had one thing right. The Stratofortress IS a cool plane. I grew up with these things--being an Air Force brat and serving for awhile myself. The coolest landing I ever seen was a B-52G making a high crosswind landing up at Loring Air Force Base, Maine.
The Russian may have been serious. Heck, look at all the American owners of Russian Migs. Of course, the B-52 is an active duty aircraft so the answer would be "heck NO". Maybe in 15-20 years, there will be a B-52 flying around Russia with a Russian civilian tailcode on it!

LOL can you say T-4 all over again.

the russians want to strip it, copy them a version, put it back together and sell it to another country to copy as well. what do you do with a b-52 besides drop nukes on folks? they want to study it for their monetary gain. im sure you talking about the stealth b-52? claratize me if not. isnt it the only one in production and flight

its a guy with money to waste for the russian gov. hell lets sell them the black projects.

Originally posted by arawak420
the russians want to strip it, copy them a version, put it back together and sell it to another country to copy as well. what do you do with a b-52 besides drop nukes on folks? they want to study it for their monetary gain. im sure you talking about the stealth b-52? claratize me if not. isnt it the only one in production and flight

its a guy with money to waste for the russian gov. hell lets sell them the black projects.

While I am pretty sure you are mixing up the B-2 Stealth Bomber and the B-52 Stratofortress, you have still got both wrong.

Both aircraft have predominantly dropped conventional armaments during their life, not nuclear weapons.

Anyone else think that maybe we shouldnt have our stuff sent to Russia anymore? Maybe its just me.

Originally posted by Pfeil
Anyone else think that maybe we shouldnt have our stuff sent to Russia anymore? Maybe its just me.

I'd prefer it if you didn't send your 'stuff' anywhere.

Wait a second... did the article say this source came from pravda?

Wasn't Pravda the Russian equivalently of World Weekly News(I think I'm getting my news sources mixed up)? Although this story isn't as far-fetched as some of the other work out there, still have to take the news source into consideration.

Although I wouldn't put it past some rich Russian to want to buy something American. After all our bombers are better.

"What the? Who does this guy think he is?"

"I don't know Captain, just give him a figure we know he can't pay."

"Hmm, 500 mil it is!"

Shattered OUT...

[edit on 25-8-2007 by ShatteredSkies]

Why in the world would they want to buy an old aircraft to back engineer? I mean if they'd sell one they wouldn't include the latest upgrades and such and anyone knows that. The basic airframe would be the only thing you might be able to purchase and that tech is way old.

Oh, P-L-E-A-S-E!

Honestly people, you just don't understand satire, do you? (And neither does the particular Reuters reporter who filed the story).

Gee I'll get a bunch of my mates (as bodyguards), don the Ray-Bans and go along to the first visiting nuclear carrier and offer to buy it! Just to see how many dumb ass idiots take me seriously. There are television shows that make money out of doing this stuff.

The fact that you all take this soooooo seriously is exactly the result that the pranksters were looking for - a demonstration of your own over inflated self importance, both national and personal.

For comparison, the aviation museum in Darwin, Australia got a B-52 (a G model) for NOTHING, FREE, ZIP (and delivered) and you think that anyone would offer to pay $500m for one!!!! Obviously there are some guys laughing their heads off in Moscow about this.

Look up the definitions of comedy and satire.

See if you can work out this old joke.

'A guy is sitting with a fishing rod with the hook in a bucket of water. A second man comes along, and observing the scene say 'How many have you caught?' To which the guy with the fishing rod says 'You're the fifth today!'

Get a life!

The Winged Wombat


[edit on 25/8/07 by The Winged Wombat]

reply to post by The Winged Wombat


Umm you do know that some of our comments here have been sarcastic right? My implying the T-4 was just a much a joke as the guy that walked up and asked to buy the plane.