Todos
← Back to Squawk list
Out of the Boneyard, Into the Fight: Ghost Rider Flies Again
B-52 "Ghost Rider", relegated to the "boneyard" in 2008 @ Davis-Monthan AFB in Tuscon, AZ arises like a Phoenix to fly once again (www.minot.af.mil) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Ghostrider happens to be my call sign as well
There's a story about the ever-increasing cost of modern aircraft. The cost per plane keeps getting higher and higher until the Armed Forces will only be able to buy one: the USAF will have it on even numbered days and the Navy on the odd ones. The Marines will get it on Leap Day. They can't cram any more hardware into a stealth airframe to make the airplane more expensive since it starts getting too heavy. So they had to invent something that weighed nothing, but could have infinitely escalating cost. That "something" was software. A huge chunk of the cost overruns on the F-22 and F-35 programs was software code. It's also the hardest thing to invent elsewhere. In fact, the F-35 software design is still not done.
Retired Buff lover and Aero Repair shop tech and super here; a question - if 1007 was a very reliable and loved bird for so many years, how and why was it selected to become a boneyard H-model?
This is just a guess, but it may have been because it was so reliable it was able to fly mission after mission while other BUFFs were in the hanger having maintenance work performed. When it came time to have to retire an aircraft, this one had a lot of flight hours on it so the old horse got picked to be put out in the desert pasture.
Over 25 turboprop Mustangs were built/converted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalier_Mustang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalier_Mustang
Thank you for the link, I never heard of the Cavalier, produced starting in 1957!
I imagine since at that time the military had so many jet aircraft in test status and on the drawing board that a Mustang rework had little appeal. Always something new to learn about aviation history!
I imagine since at that time the military had so many jet aircraft in test status and on the drawing board that a Mustang rework had little appeal. Always something new to learn about aviation history!
Dang, no performance spec for the turboprop version. Must have been impressive.