Pictures requested by popular demand of planes in Groom and the NTS

Did you ever fly into Grissom or with those guys?I see them flying all the time.I live close to there..

reply to post by indy0725


Never flew into Grissom but deployed with them all the time. I know a bunch of there booms. Good group of guys

reply to post by Zaphod58




Referring page:
www.airvectors.net...

Here is what we are looking for:

Under the provisions of the SALT II treaty, aircraft carrying cruise missiles must be readily identifiable as such by reconnaissance satellites, so the AGM-86B-equipped B-52G was provided with non-functional wing root fairings known as "strakelets". The modification had to be visible from above so that spy satellites could confirm the number of cruise missile-capable aircraft, and it had to be made aerodynamically and structurally integral with the aircraft so that the change could not be quickly altered or moved from one aircraft to another.

from
www.airliners.net...

The good news is we are looking for the strakelets on a B-52. The bad news is I can't find a photo of a strakelet. ;-) Anyway, I don't think the antenna is the key to spotting a nuclear capable B-52.

reply to post by gariac


I'm PRETTY sure it was the AN/ARC-210 antenna on the BUFF. It's been a long time though.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I just edited my post. The goal is to find out what a strakelet looks like. Sorry for the confusion in the posting.

reply to post by gariac


This is a B-52G with the large Wing root bulge- strakelet.

B-52 G

reply to post by gariac


Actually your both right in a way.....The B-52H didn't need the strakelets. Check this out...
www.faqs.org...

In accordance with the SALT II strategic arms-limitation treaty, "cruise missile carrier (CMC)" B-52Gs were fitted with small leading-edge wingroot extensions called "strakelets" so they could be recognized by reconnaissance satellites. The strakelets were not fitted to B-52Hs, since all of them were CMCs and they were easily recognized by their TF-33 turbofan engines, but when B-52Hs were upgraded to the CMC configuration they were fitted with a pair of distinctive AN/ALT-32 "elephant ear" antennas on the rear fuselage as a recognition feature. They were not connected to anything.

Learn something new everyday.

reply to post by boomer135


I think they changed it under START II to make it easier. I know that at one point it was an antenna, which was I believe START I. I distinctly remember that with the B-1. Under II they wanted to be able to tell by satellite, under I they wanted their observers to be able to tell on the ground, because they were only able to look at certain parts of the aircraft when they were there.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I think your right about START II but the B-52H didn't need any identification because of the new engines going on it. The government already stated that all B-52H were nuclear capable, so all the Soviets had to do was look at the buff's with new engines and count those.

Boomer,

I have particpated and followed in your thread for some months now and I just wanted to thank you for what you have shared thus far. I did have a question that may have already been asked, but I will ask again;

Have you every been working and an aircraft appeared and you had a genuine "What the hell is that moment" with regards to unique aircraft?

Edit: Obviously, I dont want you to reveal info that would comprise your respondsibilities , just thought i would ask

reply to post by boomer135


Right. But since START II, the number of nuclear capable bombers allowed has been reduced again. Under New START it's even lower. But now they're counting each bomber as a warhead, regardless of how many weapons it can carry.

New START was signed in 2010, and gives each side seven years to comply. The US began compliance immediately after signing. It limits the number of warheads to 1,550, although the number will be higher, since a bomber counts as one. It requires the retirement from the nuclear mission of 34 bombers (almost definitely BUFFs). It would make sense to go back to using a simple identification system again, as removing the fairings would require a depot level maintenance effort. Instead of sending them in early to PDM, or having them out of service (considering the number of BUFFs left), this would be something that the unit level guys could do.

reply to post by Zaphod58


This is interesting stuff, but "as if" we would use a B-52 on the Russians. Doh!

No stealth for one. The B-52s I've seen are so "smokey", but I don't know if that is dependent on the engine type.

reply to post by gariac


The A-G it was the water injection system. The H it's the TF-33 engine. Interestingly the same engine was used on the C-135 and was much less smokey.

Originally posted by MDDoxs
Boomer,

I have particpated and followed in your thread for some months now and I just wanted to thank you for what you have shared thus far. I did have a question that may have already been asked, but I will ask again;

Have you every been working and an aircraft appeared and you had a genuine "What the hell is that moment" with regards to unique aircraft?

Edit: Obviously, I dont want you to reveal info that would comprise your respondsibilities , just thought i would ask

edit on 6-11-2012 by MDDoxs because: (no reason given)

Oh yeah. Lol big time. But not just on secret aircraft. Sometimes new stuff on old planes will change stuff around. A good example would be when the f-16 installed conformal tanks. It changed it just enough that we were like what is that? Lol

Originally posted by ajsr71
reply to post by gariac

 

This is a B-52G with the large Wing root bulge- strakelet.

B-52 G

edit on 6-11-2012 by ajsr71 because: (no reason given)

I just saw that the strakelet's were actually functional. The provided more air into the plane for the warheads. Pretty cool. Guess they didn't need it on the H models.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you snag up a job like this?

Thanks, Just made an account but I usually snoop around the forums a bit.

Originally posted by Poopisatoy
If you don't mind me asking, how did you snag up a job like this?

Thanks, Just made an account but I usually snoop around the forums a bit.

Well I went to MEPS for my physical and stuff to join the Air Force. When I got there I found out that I got a 96 on my ASVAB test and that I could get any job I wanted. He started readin off jobs and the very first job on the list is 1A0x1 which is boom operator. He said in flight refueling and that was enough for me. Sign me up. Went to basic a couple months later.

boomer135

Can you tell me that B-52 was landing and took off from Groom in 2002-2004? B-52 is not a classified aircraft so I think that this information isn't nothing secret. Is it possible that B-52 was tested or transported some materials to Groom in 1999?

Originally posted by GroomLakePolishFAN
boomer135

Can you tell me that B-52 was landing and took off from Groom in 2002-2004? B-52 is not a classified aircraft so I think that this information isn't nothing secret. Is it possible that B-52 was tested or transported some materials to Groom in 1999?

I don't know about a B-52 flying out of Groom, but they did fly out of Edwards quite a bit either doing bomb tests or testing new engines for it.

I doubt they would use a bomber to transport materials to groom though. usually the Hill AFB guys were the ones delivering supplies to the base.

reply to post by boomer135


Edwards only recently (2004 I think) retired a B-52B that was the primary launcher for X plane tests. It was the oldest B-52 flying, but had the lowest flight hours of any BUFF.