Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
We’re restoring an airplane that was built in the 1950’s and parked in the desert for a decade . . . because we don’t have enough flyable airplanes to defend the nation without it.
What. The.
Joe Doakes
look at the bright side – and there are some bright sides. A government program – “The Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona – worked as designed; an aircraft in long-term storage is actually brought back from reserve. And it cost far, far less to do it then it would have to build a new airplane…
… even if the American defense industry were capable of building another aircraft like it. Which it’s not, without going through the Pentagon’s long, costly and disgracefully wasteful procurement process.
I agree with Mitch, Joe.
Having served in the Air Force as a Crew Chief on these warbirds, and working on both of the planes mentioned in this article (both were at Grand Forks AFB, ND while I was stationed there), I can state that the B-52 Stratofortress is the biggest bargain in military hardware that the U.S. taxpayer has ever seen.
I would like to add to my earlier bargain argument.
Consider; the last B-52 came off of Boeing’s Wichita assembly line in late 1961. The mothballed plane in the picture, tail number 1007, the 1 designating year of manufacture, came off that line early in that year.
Interestingly enough, 1007 is replacing 0049, which came off the line in mid to late 1960, again the first 0 indicating year of manufacture. Many of the 1960 models, including 0059, the one that I was CC on, are still in service. 1960 also marked the first significant upgrades to the B-52’s airframes. The engines were upgraded to Pratt & Whitney TF33 Turbofan engines, replacing the water injected General Electric J87 and an upgrade of the tailgun from a quad .50 caliber set up to a M61A1 Vulcan 20 mm cannon. Side note of pride here; 0059 had the distinction of being the first bomber to drop bombs on Saddam Hussein’s forces during Gulf I.
Like civilian airlines, the primary factor in retiring a plane to Davis-Monthan in Tucson, is primarily based on airframe hours. The military however, keeps their planes for much longer. 1007 must have had the least airframe hours of the mothballed fleet. The exception here involved the B-52D models that were used for long range bombing missions during Vietnam. The wing spars were cracked on over 98% of them that survived, due to the extra bomb loads carried on external wing mounted racks. After they rotated back to the U.S. they were spread out to a few bases for the Russian spy satellites, but I believe that all of them have now been scrapped.
Third generations of Americans, soon to be fourth, are now flying and maintaining these magnificent planes.
Now that folks, is what illustrates a bargain.
It seems inconceivable that we could possibly build these, or any plane of modern vintage at the daily rates that we built the B-17’s, B-24, Mustangs and their vintages. The complexity of the aircraft seems to have increase exponentially.
I like to use this example to show the lifespan of the B-52. We are using today, B-52s built in 1960. 55 year old aircraft. In 2 years from now, that plane will have been in use for 50% of the history of flight (1903). Not a museum item, but in actual use.
I bet you could get Kate Pierson to take the plane’s place for a lot less than $14 million or whatever.
Oh, wait, wrong B-52s. My mistake.
Seriously, it’s sad that we’re still flying aircraft that predate the 707, as if no advances had occurred since then. A government commission actually refused to reengine the darned things because “savings would not be realized”, as if increased range from a better powerplant were of no importance.