[video] What if the B-52 was a passenger plane?

There would be airlines in some countries routinely flying them, with passengers, with somewhere between 1 and 3 engines inoperative.
 
It already exists, it's called the 757. lol

Joking aside, buff is a terrible transport choice, for a ton of reasons that are self-evident and won't rehash for brevity. There's a reason transport category aircraft are designed and dimensioned specifically how you see them, compared to pencil-necked, teenager-limbed contraptions like the buff.

For the record, the reason the Buff endures in the usaf inventory is not because of some old Boeing "they don't make em like they used to" baby boomer americana bull poop nostalgia. It's merely because 1) it's paid off and the tooling long ago wrecked 2) the Hs were babied and spared action during the cold war by mission assignment proxy and 3) the mission has looong ago been diluted down to that of permissive standoff missile-only truck. A mission a 757 with a CSRL/1760 bay cavity and refueling plumbing could accomplish in more comfort and to higher crew morale. Digressing.

Oh, fun RUMINT. Over on the .mil pro site, someone posted a redacted memo as to the re-engine program being summarily snuffed by HAF. Taking fat amy to dinner and bang is a spendy task, cuts have to be made. :D
 
These things always look so huge in photos then when you see them in person up close outside of the crazy wig span they're actually surprisingly small..

An ugly beast for sure!
 
Would have been called the Albatross II had I been in the naming committee in 195whocares. And I don't mean in a dimensions pun... more of a Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner sort of way.

Now get off my effing lawn *flicks burnt cigarette stub, kicks foldable lawn chair* :D
 
Have memories watching those things take off from Ellsworth AFB, with the water injection and black smoke rolling! There were jokes (truth!) about the airplanes being older than the pilots flying them.
 
40YearDream said:
Have memories watching those things take off from Ellsworth AFB, with the water injection and black smoke rolling! There were jokes (truth!) about the airplanes being older than the pilots flying them.
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Since pilots come out of pilot training in their mid 20s generally, there are a whole lot of planes older than them. I'd say that MOST airplanes are older than the pilots.

It's pretty common for pilots to be flying planes older than their PARENTS now.
 
Tantalum said:
These things always look so huge in photos then when you see them in person up close outside of the crazy wig span they're actually surprisingly small..

An ugly beast for sure!
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Yeah, the fuselage is smaller than one would think. First time I flew close-ish formation with one, it surprised me.
 
Small kinda makes sense. At the time, it was designed to carry bombs that were very noisy and that worked pretty well in small quantities.
 
except the D variant with the big belly mod. That thing could evacuate blivets like you read about. Essentially removed the mid-body tank in order to fill the upper roof cavity with more blivets. Less range but more gratuitous and inprecise kaboom, which was always a crowd pleaser back east (too soon?).
 
Who needs long range fuel tanks when you can AAR to your heart’s desire AND have more noisemakers?
 
TCABM said:
Who needs long range fuel tanks when you can AAR to your heart’s desire AND have more noisemakers?
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Well, some tanker bois can be flaky, so then it becomes a rock paper scissors on who gets the gas and the medals, and who has to go home and watch it on CNN. :D
#airmedal #turkeyshoot
 
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