Boeing B-52E & KC-135A - "Take-Off March AFB" - 1968
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2011
- GREAT & RARE footage of "E" model B-52s & KC-135A Tankers heading out! Many thanks to The Rick Prelinger Archives. Be sure to check my channel for the best in VINTAGE & RARE airliner videos!
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I got to March AFB in November 1982. They just deactivated the B-52D's Oct 1982 and March became the 22nd Air Refueling Wing from 22nd Bomb Wing Heavy. One bomber, 679, stayed because it had a cracked wing and became part of the museum where it is still today as of this writing.
Old tanker crew chief here (70-74) - boy does this bring back the memories
Thanks for posting this, it takes me back. The klaxon sounds like the one at my base, it didn't pulse on and off, it was just a steady buzzer. They'd test it every duty day at 1300, when it went off everybody glanced at their watch. It was either 1300 or WWIII had started.
Thinking if those were the options I’d check my watch too!
It's good to see videos like this. With SACs strict policy on cameras, footage and photos are hard to come by. It's even rarer to see E models. Someone asked if it was Dyess. The 96th BW at Dyess flew D models until upgrading to the B-1 in the early 80s! The was a shot of the 22nd BW at March!
I think the tall-tail versions of the B-52 looked cool.
G and H has ejection seats up front with rest of crew. B-52A-F tailgunner had no ejection seat,he bail out.
Agreed
22nd OMS @ March AFB '66-'70. TDY to Kadena in '67 on tankers. TDY to Andersen in '68 on Buffs. CC on B-52E #138 in '70 just before she went to the boneyard. Thanks for the video. The alert klaxon could really get the adrenalin flowing!
In 1970 and 71 those were Cs and Ds. No Es. We had 30 C models and 30 D models.
I witnessed ORI’s many times at Loring Air Force Base in Maine. Very impressive. 1966-68.
I Lived in Moreno Valley, Calif 1985-88 and I would watch the B-52's take off all day -everyday from my balcony.
Awesome power display.
To think this was 50 years ago, seems like yesterday.
Man, that was a long way to go to get to aircraft. Thank God for the Christmas tree setup.
I loved the MITO's when I was in the Air Force. B-1's taking off one after another. Really spectacular at night.
J57s, it wasn't just the decibels, it was the frequency of the banshee wail that came from them that rattled the fillings in your teeth, even with the Mickey Mouse ears on. As a firefighter, one of our crash trucks had to be on the Alert Pad if they were doing cart starts (in which the tanker and BUFF J57s would belch dense clouds of black smoke) then shepherd the taxiing aircraft to the runway, then we'd set up on the parallel (taxiway) to stand by when they throttled up and took off.
I was there for that alert. It was called a coco alert I think. That was a long time ago. I was a crew chief on a tanker, KC 135 no. 57-1427. I think the other alert was called a bravo. Bravo we just went out and started engines. Coco we actually took off. Thanks for this video, brought back good memories.
Been there, done that, 68th BW, 99th BW back in the day.
Bob P thank you for your service, I used to live right next to this base with tankers flying over all day, even though I’m young I have memories and miss this place!
@mcdonnell220 It is March AFB in Riverside CA. I am based there now on C-17's.
Nice
Still wish it was a full time base with bombers.
Castle was great
Only wish they had a video of Plattsburgh AFB showing FB-111 and KC- 135 on our scrambling.
Nuke them till they glow and use their ass for runway lights
A huge THANK YOU to the cold warriors who kept the peace!!!
Worked on E models at Walker AFB, New Mexico. Love to hear the crackle of the water injection.
The E model? That's awesome!!! Only the H model is in service now I think. Thank you for your service!
Me too. we lived in base housing at north end of runway. Such a racket almost every nite about 7pm. We closed the base.
Stationed there 1969 to 1971ish. Riding the flight line maintenance launch trucks was kind of exciting.
Spent too many years on alert at Grissom AFB Indiana. We had three minutes to get 13 tankers airborne from one runway. Good memories.
Robert Heinkel Were you there, during the B-58 era? Or, after 1970.
Bluenose352 I joined in 71, and was assigned to Grissom AFB in 78. I spent 13 years at that base, working the tankers. There was a Hustler on display at the main gate.
Robert Heinkel By 78, I'm guessing the B-52s were gone. That B-58 is still at the main entrance(Gate). The tankers are still there. I'm not sure if they're still called the 305th, or something else.
@@robertheinkel6225 I was the AMS Instrument Shop chief in '81-'83 at Grissom. Did not care for the base. Went to Alaska to get out of there.
This is probably the best known existing footage of B-52E's. Though 100 of them were built, they're the least know of all the BUFF models and were not captured on film very often. They were in service only from 1957 to 1970(one to 1974). But they did their part in the Cold War for the U.S., flying the long nuclear airborne alerts. Unfortuantely, no E's have been preserved.
mattsieluv The H models also flew the airborne alerts (Chrome Dome). At least they did out of Homestead.
I spent the last 4mo of my enlistment, 22 OMS, ferrying E models to Davis Monthan. Very sad. My last flight was my assigned bird, 57-097. Still have the log from that flight. It was cool that the crews flew back to March on tankers. I would lay in the boom operators station and take in the fantastic view. Also saw one of the first C5 while on approach to DM and an RAF Vulcan on the tarmac. Great memories, with the exception of Anderson AFB haha.
32nd ARS - Boomer @ March AFB 79 - Really brings back memories of the base.
And to think these same planes are still flying today, 55 years later
"Return"? Return to a radioactive crater. At Griffiths we figured we would be a large glowing pond if anyone came back.
I think you mean Griffiss
You were at Griffiss AFB but can't even spell its name. I call a steaming pile of bs.
Spent my time at Walker AFB, Roswell New Mexico. Love the sound of water injection.
I visited Walker AFB in the summer of 1962. Still recall all the dark smoke from the '52s taking off!
Ahhh....
Memories
Hell of an adrenalin rush.
Thanks for posting!! As a longtime fan of the B-52, it's awesome to see finally video of the B-52E; they maybe not as famous as the D's, G's and H's, but they were an important part of US air power nonetheless!
@otochari - Water injection is no longer used. Later model B-52G and H (still in service) had turbofan engines and didn't use water. The KC-135s were reengined with turbofan engines long ago. Some specialized models such as EC-135A were never reengined but were retired in the 1990s. NASA flew a KC-135A until 2004. I don't know of any 135 airframes still in service with original "steam jet" engines. I read that the current engines on the KC-135R are 96% quieter than the original J-57s.
Reminds me somewhat of FAFB except the alert bunker was right in the alert B-52 area. The B-52 crews didn't need to jump into truck's to get to their aircraft. They just ran down a ramp and the planes were right there.
Brings back SAC memories-some good, some bad!
Yes, the B-52G always used water injection in warm/hot weather or when heavy-loaded. I took videos of Minimum Interval Takeoffs (or MITOs) of B-52Gs at Griffiss Air Force Base and there was plenty of thick black smoke and a roaring din from those J57 turbojets. I should upload those videos, but it doesn't compare to being there.
135s used water injection as well correct?
Bring Back SAC, the country needs it again.
Global strike command is the same thing.
It's obsolete, it almost was when it was first created.
Served with 22 SPS in late 70s, the "alert area" was quite different by then. The only time the crews had any real lengthy responses would be from the BX or theater. Had some pretty exciting times, both on alert and @ 15 AF COC. SAC ruled !
Hi Rob, I was there also, 78-82. That's definitely not the alert area. It really doesn't even look like March. At best its priority B aircraft from the flightline area. I do remember some exercises where they filled the entire place with buffs and tankers, crews were billeted just about anywhere they could find space. I t does look staged to me also.
This is what the USAF was like in the real world of 1968! We loaded bombs on B52's and sent the KC135 Refuelers up to keep them in the air!
!
@otochari - I don't know what I was thinking, the G had J-57 turbojets and could use water injection, though I don't know how common it was done later in its career. It was retired in the early 1990s.
served on Andersen afb pcs tour with the 3mms from 1967-69 from guam to 38th mms march afb 1969.
There the same time. KC squadron.
The KC-135 older models have long been scrapped out and the last types are refitted with the fuel efficient engines like those used in the KC-135 R models.
KC-135 a models built in 1955 and 1956 had wing pylons which could not be adapted with the CFM 56 engine. Two Air Force Reserve units one in northern C.A. and the other in Michigan flew theirs for 2 to 3 yrs and consequently received R models from other bases,and their E models went to the boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB
Surprised to see so many planes at March. I was there when March was only a fraction of the air base must of been big yours Evans w robinson
For those commenting on the distance the alert crews travel to arrive at their aircraft during this response, it helps to keep in mind that this was filmed in 1968. Not all SAC bases were yet configured to minimize travel. And, even in the early 90s when SAC stood down the aircraft alert force, not all SAC bases ever realized perfect alert force parking. Though not a SAC base or mission, in the early period of the USCINCEUR Airborne Command Post, "Silk Purse", pulling alert at Lajes Field, the Azores, Portugal, in 1984 or 1985, the alert billets were so far away from the alert aircraft that a separate "engine start" crew of two was billeted closer to the aircraft so that they could start engines on an alert response while the remainder of the crew was responding.
FylthyBeest I think it was filmed in 58.
FylthyBeest Interesting comment. I can see on Google maps that some Christmas trees appear newer than others. I assumed the mole holes were right there nearby.
@@davidsandell7833 Thanks for that info. I was thinking it was newer than that or filmed somewhere else.
Such memories...379th Bomb Wing, Wurtsmith AFB. RIP SAC
I visited what’s left of Wurtsmith a couple years ago.
It was a very weird feeling driving into the Weapons Storage Area and the Alert Pad, waiting to get jacked up for crossing the red line. 😁
Alert Pad building was welded shut and the WSA bunkers were chained shut as well. Very sad to see what became of the base.
There was a living facility within the confines of the Alert Pad, but whenever the crews ventured onto the base to visit the BX or such, they'd travel together in the blue pickups such as the ones seen here. Whenever the klaxon sounded, all traffic stopped and rotating lights went on at all intersections to clear the way for any alert crews having to zip to the Alert Pad. This would have been 82-83 at Grand Forks, ND. Titan ICBMs? Didn't they use IFRNA as a propellant? Nasty stuff.
Stationed there from 1973-75...lots of memories.
I am a big pro SAC- SAC I pray will be back. That written I think a Soviet sub launching a SLBM off the Pacific seaboard would likely catch the whole lot before airborne.
SAC is obsolete, it almost was at the time it was created, it'll never return.
@Z0ne5ive Good question! If you find out for sure, please drop me a line, and I'll add the info to the video stats.
I never got to work on the E or F models except when we was sent to Texas to troubleshoot one F model they had there and never used. I was trained on an old B model they had at Lowry AFB, Colorado, and worked on the H models when I got to my duty station. When I went to Thailand I got to work on the D models they had there. Upon returning to the United States I worked on the G models and then back to Thailand where I worked on the D models once more.
I eas born at k.i.sawyer afb. My dad worked on autopilot for B-52's G and H.He also did autopilot for kc-135 & rc-135.
I was there when you made your visit Wal_DC-6B
John Oh, some examples of former SAC bases that did not employ the Christmas Tree design are Dyess, Sheppard, Carswell, Offutt, and March Air Force Bases. The latter is where this 1968 footage was shot. There are other bases as well.
Neither did Pease or Plattsburg AFB.
March didn't have a Christmas tree style alert ramp, but by the late '70s it did have a "mole hole" with a dedicated, segregated alert ramp for nine aircraft near the approach end of rwy 32. If this clip is accurate, it must have been built after '68. The alert ramp still exists but I think it was converted to service civilian air cargo (DHL?) after March became an air reserve base.
Nice lightning bolt in the background just as the bomber lifts off at 4:13.
It's interesting that the sortie numbers are on the tailgates of the six pack pick-up trucks.
This was the power of SAC (Strategic Air Command) no other military force wielded so much destructive power, yet wielded so much restraint in using it. SAC was in charge of the US Air Forces bombers and all US nuclear missiles in the arsenal.
Not all of the US nuke rockets in the arsenal. You forgot the 'boomers', Polaris, then Trident SLBM of the US Navy.
No it wasn't, positive control of SAC's entire arsenal was at all times solely under Executive control, at no time was any nuclear weapon under SAC's control, not ever.
@AV8R4HM Thanks for that. Hadn't noticed the palm trees.
Awesome firepower.... a B52 a friend you can depend on! ✈️
The B-52 E model has been long retired and is in the boneyard of AZ now.
Notice that the original side windows are missing from these E models. Our E model we trained on at Chanute still had its side windows on it, below in the lower deck forward fuselage area. The C and D models had these windows also.
There aren't any E models left They have all been scrapped years ago. All the D models have either been relegated to aviation museums or cut up for scrap. All that's left at Davis Monthan AFB are G models. And thats only because they share many structural parts with the H models.
teenagerinsac The windows at the Nav and R/N position were plated over before I started working on them in 1972. :-)
This was BEFORE they changed the flight suits from the comfortable (and flammable) grey flight suits to the uncomfortable...hot...baggy green skin (but inflammable) ones. (1970).
Sounds like Claude Akins doing the narrating.
John Oh, you are also mistaken regarding policy. The response time employed by SAC was SAC policy and not Air Force policy. As a Specified Command of the JCS, CINCSAC did not answer operationally to USAF. Also, the alert aircraft parking areas, most of them Christmas Tree in design, were constructed at the end of the runway (optimum) most usually suited based on historic prevailing winds. If the winds were not cooperating and the alert aircraft had to launch using the non-optimum runway, the alert force responded as usual but had to taxi to the opposite end of the runway, increasing their response time. When compelled to do this, the commander could "restrict" the alert force to the alert facility to help reduce this extra response time.
E models were pretty much identical to the D's except for upgraded avionics and slightly different positions for the crew. F's were similar too except they had an additional alternator on their engines which gave a distinctive bulge on the nacelles. The G's had those also.
Nice! I was a tower controller at March. 1980-1984
Our time at March overlapped a bit. I crewed B-52Ds at March until we sent them to AMARC in '82.
To bad there were not more videos of E's. 100 were built.
Water injected takeoffs were very smokey and loud!! Actually even without it.
Many of those 135s are still in service. B 52s are in much smaller numbers.
a very few bases did not have alert pads only that i know of one was in montana
I won't forget alert duty anytime soon. I was a SAC trained killer at Barksdale AFB in the 80's. Do you have any alert video's from Barksdale AFB when the horn goes off.
Mr Martin is correct. It is definitely not Dyess AFB, Texas. We ran from building to aircraft in seconds, but you couldn't step inside of the precious B-1's area along the way.
This segment was filmed at what is now called March Air Reserve Base in California.
MAGNIFICENT 👍
Sounds like Walter Cronkite narrating at the end.
B-52Es were the second-most widely built variant of the BUFF, yet they're the least-known. Maybe because they aren't in service today, never flew with NASA, and never went to 'Nam, they're pretty much the unknown Stratofortress.
According to the book titled "B-52 Stratofortress" by Bill Yenne, 100 B-52E's were built. 170 D's, 89 F's, 193 G's and 102 H's. The earlier versions had much lower number numbers.
Can't kick ass without tanker gas!
My fave airplane too! Check my channel for rare footage of F & C models as well!
How did they handle the preflight? Did they run through way before ?and have everything done.I was told once b52 crews had to show up 4 hours before a flight to run through everthing.
What video is this? I would love to see the whole thing as that is where I am based right now.
Great!
It takes about 30 minutes for the first missiles to hit. These guys launched 4
I worked in the 15th Air Force COC or Combat Operations Center at March AFB, California as an aid to Gen. Archie J. Old, Jr. from 1966 -- 1967. I was also on the ARC LIGHT deployment to Andersen AFB, Guam from March thru Sept. 1967 with the 4133rd Bomb Wing (Prov.) as a munitions maintenance and then EOD technician with the 3rd MMS. If this video is from 1968 then did they repaint all the B-52s back to silver from the camouflage? The reason I am asking is that I was rotated back to March AFB and then discharged so I'm a little confused about the colors I see on these B-52s in this video.
+ARC LIGHT Boss Thank you for the hard work you did for our nation. You earned every dime you got! I think the B-52s were undergoing the repaint from silver to camo. Somehow I doubt they'd re-paint camo birds as silver. Wasn't it 1966 when the B-52s started the repaint process?
John Oh, you're wrong on several counts. First, not all alert aircraft parking areas were built in the "Christmas Tree" design. Second, even those using the Christmas Tree design used the alert vehicles to expedite the crews from the alert facility to the alert aircraft parked the farthest away. This is why the alert vehicles were parked, backed in, next to the alert facility. Third, SAC did not employ "five-minute" alert with the aircraft alert force. You may be confusing this with the Intercept Alert Force where fighter crews stood 24-hour alerts and wore their flight suits and G-suits during waking hours, were confined to the alert pad, and responded to their aircraft by sliding down poles from their quarters located over the aircraft. You're also evidently unaware of the fact that the SAC Aircraft Alert Force was allowed to "expand" and travel to the BX, theater, gymnasium, barber shop, etc. (base-dependent). Because of this, any notion of a five-minute response is rubbish. Before you dispute what I've just stated, I sat alert for over eight years with the SAC PACCS and the JCS NAOC.
Awesome. Could this be Dyess by chance?
No it is not, location is now called March ARB
Did operation chrome dome use up the life of E and F models?
I’m so blessed and honored that I get to fly in and out of March several times per week, doing flight training on such a historic base. Since 1918, March is a very old yet still operating (now a “reserve” base). I love watching the ARMED F-16’s from the California Air National Guard’s 144th Fighter Wing Detachment 1, taxi from the alert area near the approach end near Runway 14 and depart to the south almost daily. It’s like getting to see a fighter air show almost every time I’m training there. I can’t wait until the 144th out of March replaces their F-16’s with upgraded F-15’s. That was supposed to occur two years ago, but you know the government! They’re slow to do just about anything.
I have a few videos of California Air National Guard F 15s up on TH-cam. Very impressive and they replaced F 16 there in Fresno. I remember seeing F 102s, F 106s growing up there. Saw F 106s up close when I got my pilots license in high school and also worked at FAT.
@@747heavyboeing3 yeah very cool. I remember when there was a detachment out of MCAS EL Toro. I would see two or three F-4 Phantoms from the cal Air Nat’l Guard sitting in the alert area. It wasn’t elaborate as to what March currently has however. Before that, I know the cal air guard launched out of Van Nuys for a while too. I miss old George AFB in the socal desert too. It had F-4’s screaming out of that base daily, as it’s primary mission was a fighter base with multiple fighter squadrons.
@@colt10mmsecurity68 You saw some great F 4 action!
I remember seeing the Thunderbirds in Fresno for an airshow in 73' when they flew the Phantom.
My favorite T birds plane ever!
We're and RF 4s, reconnaissance F 4s at George back then?
@@747heavyboeing3 I’m not sure if the base has the reconnaissance Phantoms there or not.
Watching again thinking of Bob hope his first uso at March air base. The gym were he had first show so small and old style yours truly Evans w Robinson e5 ret
They couldnt get bigger letters back then?
If you could, I would watch them :-)
back in the mid 60's early 70's when I was a kid I used to see the B52's fly over the Palos Verdes area flying west...
The one day a year it actually rains at March!
Why so far from the ready room to the aircraft?
Why are the alert crews housed so far away from the planes? Looks like they had to drive half way across the base to reach the ramp. It wasn't that way when I was in the Air Force. I was a Titan II ICBM crew dog.
worked jet shop on d models 1981 at march
Worked in the jet engine shop on B 52D and KC 135A at Westover AFB 71-72
@2:49 is that 7999? We call her the 'Triple Cripple' nowadays.
Nope, its 7988. There is a better copy if that part of this video out there and its definitely 7988, which is a Nebraska ANG bird now and has been since late 1993 or early 1994
E model wow
Not sure where this was filmed, but I agree the arrangement is odd. The alert facility (aka the "mole hole") is so far away from the alert aircraft, which appear to be parked in a non segregated area of the regular flight line a significant distance from the runway. The crews spend FAR too much time driving and taxiing. My SAC base was pretty typical with the mole hole right beside the alert pad, so close that the crews for the first several aircraft in line simply ran to them. After the cart starts, the alert pad was just a very short taxi to the runway. We would have been airborne before the crews in this video even got to their aircraft. Maybe they staged this for the cameras and purposely didn't use their real alert birds?
Nolo C, if you look at the very early part of the footage, you can see that the alert facility is not of the "mole hole" design used at most SAC bases. The facility the crew exits appears to be completely above ground and with aluminum framed glass commercial doors. I don't believe it was staged. I believe it was accurate for the time and location in which the film was shot. You are correct in that it involved too much windshield time. This is probably a good testament as to why alert aircraft parking areas with collocated alert facilities were constructed.
This I believe was used for filming purposes only. The alert facility as far as I know was at the far southeast side of the base and very close to the perimeter fence,. There was also large ramp which the acft were parked , In fact so close to the alert facility were the acft, that when the claxon went off, the alert crews ran out from the bldg to their acft.
@@williamezo7875 Yeah, that's the way it was when I there in the late '70s/early '80s. The alert pad was where the Amazon ramp is now. It must not have been there yet when they filmed this or the scenario purposely didn't involve rolling the alert aircraft, which would make sense. Having to re-cock after a Coco or even a Bravo was a bit of a PITA. The film might have been an ORI when we'd launch almost everything BUT the alert birds, but who knows. SAC was still doing Chrome Dome until sometime in '68 so there wasn't yet as much compunction about flying around with canned sunshine on board. I remember doing an ORI launch of a good portion of the wing one morning at 6 am. Let's just say the MITO went on for a while. No one in MoVal got to sleep in that morning. One thing's for sure, it was winter when this was filmed. That's the only time it ever occasionally rains in SoCal.
Served 1969. 1973 WPAFB Ohio. B52. KC135.
22nd FMS KC-135 J57 in-shop, 22nd OMS flightline KC-10's and then 22nd CAMS flightline KC-10's...2/89 to 9/92 at MAFB,before its decline after the BRAC.
+THM SGR
i was RIF'd. i had planned on making a career out of it and i sure do miss it. also proud to have been part of SAC. a few years ago, i dug out my 35mm negatives and scanned them and i was amazed on how many pics i took while on base, but mostly TDY. got some pretty good shots of the -117 in june of 91 on the way to Andrews AFB for the National Victory Celebration Parade over D.C. probably my best TDY.
+g2145cal I was in 22 CSG between 1974 and 1976 and recall the glory days under the highest ranging JAG of all time CINCSAC General Russell Dougherty.
I was in 22nd CSG between '75 & '78. Good times.
Columbus AFB, B-52D & KC135,1966-1970.
Why did they get rid of this particular model in 1974 ? (b52E)
These models were retired in 1981 not 1974. Basically they were so old numerous cracks in wings,fuselage, etc. Numerous maintenance hours and cost to keep the acft fully mission capable. Replaced by G and H model bombers. Approx same time B-1 bombers were being built to help makeup difference of older b-52 acft which were retired.
SAC-Strategic Air Command mãi mãi là trứ danh muôn đời
The music 🧐
Tail number?
Very interesting....refuelers ensure the bombers can make it to their targets, and return. In a full scale nuclear attack...return to what?
We could have given them faster mode to plane lol pickup truck.
What did the SP's do during all this? Plug their ears and run away?
After the SPs cleared the crews to enter in the close-in secure area, they took up defensive positions behind the blast fences, so they wouldn't get blown away. :-)
Back then they were called AP's (Air Police).
We cleared the crews in FAST, then beat it to the blast deflectors so as not to get blown away!
@@slobama true AP's SAC 1966-68 Altus AFB Transportation sqdr MAC 68-70. 18 years old 75 now time flies. Remember it like yesterday ❗
@Z0ne5ive Doubtful. No palm trees in West Texas. Also, my Dad was on alert at Dyess in the early 80s, and the alert complex at Dyess looked nothing like this.
This film clip was taken at March Air Reserve Base CA
Return to what?
By the time they get to the planes,the war is over
wow, they have to go that far to the 52 flght line ? and run thru muddy water, sapose one crew member slips...? or the truck dont start or the driver is out having a smoke ? in the shit house ??
looks like Pearl Harbor readiness...a sleep at the switch....FLY NAVY
Anyway Sac was bad ass in those days.....