Monday, October 29, 2012

Birds and Stuff

From the Usual USAF Source...
Baby BUFF Reaches 50 Years of Service: The final B-52 bomber delivered to the Air Force—the youngest B-52H—last week reached 50 years of operational service, announced manufacturer Boeing. This airframe, serial number 61-040, is assigned to Minot AFB, N.D., where it flies with the combat-coded 5th Bomb Wing, according to the company's release on Oct. 26. It was on that same day back in 1962 that Boeing delivered this airplane to the Air Force from the company's production plant in Wichita, Kan. Between 1952 and 1962, Boeing built 744 B-52s in eight different models, states the release. Today, the Air Force's B-52 fleet comprises 76 H-model aircraft, including two used as test aircraft at Edwards AFB, Calif. Barksdale AFB, La., hosts the service's second combat-coded B-52 unit, the 2nd BW, as well as Air Force Reserve Command's 307th BW that runs the B-52 schoolhouse. The Air Force intends to keep B-52s in service out to around 2040.
Isn't that amazing?  I'll be long dead before the BUFF kicks it, but I got a little bit of a head start.  Boeing sez 61-040 has over 21,500 flight hours (these pics are from Boeing, as well).

Added, somewhat later:  Those flight hours add up to 896 days or 2.45 YEARS in the air.  Yowza.

Also from the Usual USAF Source... local color:

Air Frame: An AC-130W Stinger II gunship rolls down a newly opened taxiway at Cannon AFB, N.M., through a stream of water ceremoniously shot from base fire trucks, Oct. 19, 2012. (Air Force photo by A1C Ericka Engblom) (Click on image above to reach larger version.)

There's a LOT of construction goin' on out at Cannon, one of the reasons The High Plains o' New Mexico hasn't felt the economic downturn over the past few years.

―:☺:―

A bird of a different feather... 



The red on that pheasant is about as close to the red in the poppies as it gets.


―:☺:―

And then there's this:


I haven't seen that many political ads on my teevee, at least not to the extent depicted above.  The Romney campaign, however, is spamming me to DEATH ever since I gave 'em money a while back.  I swear I get at least five e-mails a day from those guys... but that's why Google thoughtfully put a "delete" button on my in-box.

8 comments:

  1. Back when I was in HS, I went on a tour of a SAC base an hour or so from home, and they let us crawl up inside a B-52. Not a lot wasted on creature comforts for the crew in those things. . .

    ;)

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    1. Yeah, I've been inside a BUFF and a lot of other bomber types, as well. I'd hate to have to fly one of those intercontinental, multiple-refueling missions in a B-52 (or any other airframe, for that matter)... but our guys do that all the time. Yet another amazing thang, eh?

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  2. We don't watch a lot of TV and gave up our land-line years ago, so we do not get many campaign ads. Money spent on such crap boggles my mind.

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    1. I suppose I'm in the same boat, Lou: not much teevee and no land line.

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  3. "Waterboarding" is a more current description, but I think it reminds me a bit more of the old castor oil treatment that Mussolini used to give out, if you know what I mean.

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    1. Thanks for the mental image, Jim. Not.

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  4. Happy birthday to the B52s and I love that "voterboarding" cartoon.

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    1. That birthday was for the youngest BUFF, Dan. There are others that are older... but not by a lot, seein' as USAF is only flyin' H models these days.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.