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See A Dozen B-52 Nuclear Bombers Takeoff Together
The United States 5th Bomb Wing B-52s and their crews recently performed a mass takeoff during Prairie Vigilance exercise at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. Prairie Vigilance is an annual exercise designed to test the wing’s ability to conduct conventional and nuclear-capable bomber operations. (aviationbuzzword.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
After serving 7 years in SAC; beginning with them during the Cuban Missile Crisis, I have seen many of these. It seemed that back then in the "Cold War" the take-off spacing was much closer. Back then it was called Minimum Interval Take-off or MITO and a MITO meant 15 second intervals between aircraft. The early model B-52s were powered by J-57B engines. Later models were equipped with much better fan-jet engines. Of course, the nuclear means they were capable of carrying and delivering nuclear weapons on an enemy and that is what they were built for, so they have always been capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Considering its use in Vietnam and in the Middle-East, I like to refer to the B-52 as the true weapon of mass destruction. Check this link and see if you agree. https://theaviationist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/B-52-3.jpg
remember the water injection on those 52s and 135s...after alert launch the sky was BLACK
Yes, I remember the water injection. Blowing smoke until all the water tanks were empty and you could see the smoke stop when the water ran out.
The water injection is to cool the EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature) giving the engine more thrust.
Oh yes, the MITO was necessary at the time and truly spectacular; also dangerous as hell! But then some SAC big-wig decided we needed a "night" MITO; now that was really spectacular!! I was always amazed that the crews made it work; and w/few accidents! That's right! It was SAC B-52 crew/cockpit integrity (from brake-release back to chocks; NO small talk!), religious use of check-off lists,
and constant training that set the standard still copied today by all major air-carriers!!
and constant training that set the standard still copied today by all major air-carriers!!
Nobody did checklists like SAC.
I was born on a SAC bomber base (that no longer exists) and my Pops was on alert and was one of the guys making up strike packages. As a photo-interpreter, he saw the missile sites that the bomber boys would be targeting. The good thing, we were far enough north to not be able to be targeted. To this day, I swear I see pics of my Pops in documentaries about the Cuban Missile Crisis. After that, it was on to Barksdale. Looking back, everywhere I lived while he was in would have been a target. Sadly, not much has really changed since the wall/iron curtain came down.