LOL, good response, I lived that life as a kid, my Dad was part of SAC, I live near Luke AFB, my Dad retired, he passed on 27 years ago, but Mom is still alive, so I drive her to the base so she can get her medical help on base and the commissary priviledges. I saw a bumper sticker on some car the other day, I love jet noise, you know she was a military wife :) Anyways enough of the past, but I live under the flight path, Luke is a training base, F-16's and F-35's. I love the sound of jet engines, sound of freedom :)
The last B-52H (SN#61-1040) left the factory on 10/26/1962. It was delivered to the Strategic Wing at Minot AFB That was 59 years ago and they're still flying. Amazing airplane.
Still flying even today, with plans to upgrade them with new more fuel-efficient engines and other mods. Probably going to be 2040 before they're finally retired.
I am a SAC veteran from the 60s and saw this in person from the flight line and there is no way to describe the awesome chill that comes over you when you are a part of something great that won the Cold War.
Thanks for serving Sir, there is nothing like a B-52 scramble, can't describe it, you have to just experience it. That is like the fist of GOD ready to rain hell down on anyone that tries to F with us.
Pretty impressive! I had about 900 hours in between D's, F's & H models. Last flew as a crewmember in May of '77. Still miss it some days. What a great old plane!
my Dad did 23 years Air Force, I didn't come along until near the end of the Korean War, but he served in WW2 navigator in a B-25, never shot down, put bombs on target. then the Korean War, but he got stationed in the UK cause they were worried the Soviets would use the Korean War to invade Europe, then a long stretch of peace till Vietnam, I had to take my draft phyiscal and get registered for the draft, he was retired by now, but they tried to call him up, his old base commander, Robin Olds, he ended up an ace in NAM. Any ways when I told my Dad I was going to enlist in the Marines, getting drafting into the army was like the worst option you were facing, he told me you ain't doing shit but go to college and lay in that bed or I will shoot you dead. Well Nixon ended the draft, they went to some lottery scheme and my number was so high I was safe. So I went to college became an engineer and spent 20+ years designing bombs, planes, missiles, so I guess I could say I did my part
I can't believe I sat through this entire video, watching intently at the same thing over and over again. I usually can't sit through more than 30 sec of a video. But this is AWESOME. God, the SCREAM of those engines... I found myself chuckling in amazement or literally hollering YEAHHH at each takeoff. The only thing at all I miss about living in DC is getting to see badass military aircraft fly over at least weekly. Thank you so much for sharing!
In 1959 at Dow AFB the lst B52G landed on our base and I was so excited I jogged in front of it probably for several blocks. Six months later we had about seventeen and they were beautiful and got our devoted attention. SAC was good in those days and spirits were high!!
Gotta love those BUFFs! Watching those floating take-offs is beautiful. I love the feeling you get in your chest when they come trundling down the runway and you can feel those engines in your chest! HUA! Air Force for life!
I remember i was TDY at March AFB back in 1980 from Norton AFB. They lunched a whole bunch of B-52's and KC-135's very quickly. What a mind blower. The B-52's still had tail gunners then. That was awesome. Good video.
im a crewcief on these b52's and i dont get much appreciation when i work on these jets day in and out for 8, 12, maybe 14 hours a day, but after reading these comments i really appreciate my job more..... thank you all
I spent 32 years in the Air Force and Air National Guard as a Jet Engine Mechanic and crew chief. Retired in 2011. I salute my maintenance troop for getting all these planes in the air at once. I worked T37, T38 B52G,KC-135,RC-135 and c-130 during my career. I would give about anything to Marshal a buff again.
Working on commercial jets for the past several years and being familiar with the regulations and restrictions in regards to flying one, this is amazing to me. The urgency of this exercise is incredible. Start the plane and take off ASAP, just do it, lives are on the line. Amazing to watch!
I have a question. I had a friend once who had worked in SAC as a mechanic on this beautiful dragons. He once told me that there had been a number of emergency alerts that they responded to that that were not just drills but came dam close to nuclear war. Is this true? He said the public was never told. One thing was clear. He loved the old B-52. It was literally a romance of a sort for him. He talked about these cartridge starts and the sheer power and noise. I couldn't believe it when he said that such big engines could start that fast. I knew him when we were working as truck mechanics. I was a good mechanic. This dude was an ace mechanic. Top notch. Maybe the best I'd ever seen. I had seen BUFFs before but never seen a take off until this video. Now I know why he was such a good wrench. Good guy too. He made it clear to me that the world owed a nod of thanks to these old dragons and their air and ground crews.
In spring of 1980, there were two messages delivered that were "ACTUAL". It was caused by a misinterpretation of a computer war game by the Cheyenne Mountain complex (so I was given to understand...I was a tanker navigator on alert and decoded the message... yikes!). A friend of mine was on the floor at the Headquarters SAC Command Post for the second one...given the previous issue, he adjusted the message to prevent having to launch some of the very heavy aircraft in the warm weather in May. We sat in aircraft with engines running for quite some time before we got a new message to "resume normal alert"...IOW, "nothing to see here...move along". We all silently proceeded to the briefing room and sat there until someone came in and explained what the heck happened. What was gratifying is that we all performed our mission professionally.
Dear David, I really appreciate your concern. It was 3 and 6 June 1980 and was covered in the following publicly released GAO document. It is a little wonky to read, but the Wikipedia entry that led me to the reference below captured it well when it said the following: "On at least three occasions, NORAD systems failed, such as on 9 November 1979, when a technician in NORAD loaded a test tape, but failed to switch the system status to "test", causing a stream of constant false warnings to spread to two "continuity of government" bunkers as well as command posts worldwide.[26] On 3 June 1980, and again on 6 June 1980 , a computer communications device failure caused warning messages to sporadically flash in U.S. Air Force command posts around the world that a nuclear attack was taking place (citation was the GAO document linked at the end). [I got in on the 5 June 1980 message.] The writer in Wiki goes on to say the following (without citation): "During these incidents, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) properly had their planes (loaded with nuclear bombs) in the air; Strategic Air Command (SAC) did not and took criticism, because they did not follow procedure, even though the SAC command knew these were almost certainly false alarms, as did PACAF.[citation needed] Both command posts had recently begun receiving and processing direct reports from the various radar, satellite, and other missile attack detection systems, and those direct reports simply did not match anything about the erroneous data received from NORAD." [This rings true based on what I knew personally.] "NORAD's Missile Warning System: What Went Wrong? (MASAD-81-30)". U.S. Government Accountability Office. U.S. GAO. 15 May 1981. Retrieved 3 November 2010. "Attack Warning: Better Management Required to Resolve NORAD Integration Deficiencies (IMTEC-89-26)". U.S. Government Accountability Office. U.S. GAO. 7 July 1989. Retrieved 3 November 2010. BTW, in addition to some procedures to prevent recurrence, a number of Cheyenne Mountain upgrades were completed in the late 1980s which undoubtedly took care of the issue. Again, with appreciation, MK
When did your friend serve? Times that I can see SAC going on a real world alert would be: 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis 1973 Yom Kippur War 1976 Operation Paul Bunyon 1983 Downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007
David Holt Ah, an OPSEC commando. Were you counter-intel, by chance? I ask this without any hard-feelings, just had a few knuckleheads in my unit who had a ton of enthusiasm for catching spies around every turn, and not a whole lot of common sense. WHERE IN THE HELL DID YOU HEAR ABOUT TALENT KEYHOLE!?!?! Uh, Sergeant, it's publically available information. Google "Keyhole intel satelllites". I DON'T CARE WHAT THE INTERNETS SAYS! WHO TOLD YOU THAT CODE WORD? I WANT A NAME! Roger, I got it from the Janes Information Group, Washington DC. YOU SAID JANE? YOU MEAN YOU'VE BEEN TALKING TO A WOMAN ABOUT CODEWORD INTEL!?!?! *sigh*
Mary Kay Higgins Thanks for the info! I was not aware of those incidents. The one I WAS aware of was the 1971 EBS false alarm where a guy at Cheyenne accidentally ran the WHITE CARD EAN-1 alert tape instead of the weekly test tape. For some reason, they were hung right next to each other on the wall... Didn't involve any mobilization of assets, I don't think, but an Emergency Action Notification from the POTUS is nothing to sneeze at. A lot of people were pretty pissed.
My USAF son was stationed at Minot AFB for five years. He witnessed a few MITO's from inside the fence. The trifecta that flew over Super Bowl 55 showed one bomber that left quite the smoke trail - the B-52. It's a sight you don't soon forget.
My boy friend is a Vietnam Vet and USAF MAN! Yes I am proud of my military people and I do thank them for there service. My dad is a WWII Veteran to which I love dearly also. THANKS FOR OUR FREEDOM!
I spent three years on Minot AFB from 1963 to 1966 when I graduated from Minot High School thanks to SAC and my dad, the Observer on a B-52 crew. You don't know what cold is until you've been outside for a while at minus-50 degrees. Also was at Barksdale twice,Westover for four years. Was born in the base hospital on Castle Air Force Base in 1948. Thanks to these planes and the men in them who prevented a global nuclear war.
North Dakota State Bird! I remember fueling them when I was stationed there in 1994. The old pump houses for the flightline used to be between the main taxiway and the runway. Talk about a front row seat!
After high school let out my buddies and I played a lot of golf on the Walker AFB golf course, across from the mole hole and the bomber parking apron. This was the early 1960s. Several times I saw this sight, only live, at ground level, and closer. The earth stood still. It was too huge live to describe. Volcano after volcano erupting. Until seeing this I'd forgotten the sight of the ragged line of outgoing birds. Too good! Thank you!!! (My father piloted one of these monsters.) USAF!
AMERICAN AIR POWER! The clear message is: "Don't mess with the USA - we will come and get you!" Oh how I love to see my tax $$$ at this kind of work. God bless and thank you for your service!
+Bud Spencer I feel the same way Bud, but unfortunately some people do mess with the USA because the politicians forgot the meaning of "victory" and force the armed forces to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.
Absolutely incredible. During my career I was stationed at Minot AFB for 10 years. I packed the B-52 deceleration parachutes at the Survival Equipment shop. Of all the aircraft I've encountered my favorite will always be the buff...
Aw, c'mon guys, you must've taken my previous comment off since it wasn't PC enough. That launch was NOT a 12 or 15 sec. "MITO" launch, since there would have been 4 or 5 aircraft on the active runway simultaneously. Also, there is NO smoke or major wake turbulence when following any of the later aircraft. It's nice photography, but it was simply a controlled 1 minute launch interval. In the mid 60s our wing launched on our annual ORI mission with all 15 tankers preceding our 15 B-52D models in a real MITO. Our crew was 23rd in the stream, and the wake turbulence just after liftoff was sporting, to say the least.
I spent most of my time with the locals. Played softball, candlepin bowling team, snowmachine trips, and I had a few good civilian friends that had to leave Caribou..
The "BUFF" what more can you say. I learned a lot about life and endurance by working on these it was and is a dear freind to us who served at GAFB as I did in the 416OMS Bomber Branch from 86 to 90.
I was a gunner on the B-52 H at Minot AFB from 1980-1983. I pulled 7 day alert cycles once a month. The Buff is an awesome aircraft, even 53 years after birth!!! I loved my time on this aircraft and would have reinlisted, except they wanted me to stay at Minot! Why not Minot? Freezin's the reason!!!
If they didn't have "Vortex Generators" on top of the wings, the wake turbulence would be too great. The "BUFF" might be 50-60 years old, but it still is a flying masterpiece of aeronautical engineering!
15 BUFFs ..... that'll be ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY (yep) Pratt and Whitneys and ...... wait for it ...... SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIVE years of service that just flew past you. Who's the daddy?.
Brings back memories of sitting in the launch truck at Beale AFB California. To observe close up from the hammerhead all those KC-135's and then the B-52's take off was very impressive, so was the same up close night take offs of the SR-71. Beale had KC-135 Q models, B-52 G models. Sr-71's and the U-2 R's and S's plus a handful of T-38A's. It was a great place for a young radio tech to be, we worked on all of them. Amazing time back in 75-78!
Still sends a chill down my spin. I'm a SAC brat going back to the 93rd BW at Castle when the B-52 was first coming into squadron service. I grew up watching B, C, and mostly D models flying. With that thought in mind would I be mistaken to think these Buffs are pretty lightly loaded or do they actually have that much more thrust than the old J-57 put out? I mean back in the day a loaded B-52D took damn near all of Twelve thousand feet to get airborne. Thanks for the Video, it's good to see the old bird still flying.
Excellent video. I was a tail gunner on the G model. I remember in '83 we did an 8 ship MITO (4-bombers/4-tankers) at Griffiss, and that was impressive, not to mention scaring the hell out of the locals who actually thought we launched the alert force. As for all the negative comments who just see a bunch of planes taking off, you have no clue the precision and timing needed to pull this off. To launch 15 aircraft from a cold start in less than 10 minutes is totally off the charts.
"Now then, Dmitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb. The bomb, Dmitri. The hydrogen bomb. Well now what happened is ... one of our base commanders ... he had a sort of ... well, he went a little funny in the head. You know, just a little ... funny, and he went and did a silly thing. Well, I'll tell you what he did. He ordered his planes ... to attack your country."
"Well, let me finish, Dmitri. "Let me finish, Dmitri. "Well, listen, how do you think I feel about it? Can you imagine how I feel about it, Dmitri? Why do you think I'm calling you? Just to say hello?"
Was stationed here twice in my 20 year career. Worked in the Command Post as an Emergency Actions Controller. I volunteered to go their twice, I loved it there so much!
Ithought they could be a lot faster if they put the pedal to the metal at say 20 second intervals or 10 seconds qnd 3or4 going down the runway at once instead of maybe 1 or 2
Notice no ground equipment like generators or the big air compressors; Alert Birds start with cartridges (that's why all the smoke). These get an engine going and then bleed-air routes to and then spins the other engines. In 82 at Ellsworth we'd get bug-eyed every time they did this elephant walk. At that time, had they taken off, we'd have been at war and our base minutes away from becoming a mushroom cloud. Was an honor to be there!
My dad worked for Convair during the 50's and was part of the Convair team sent to Hollywood to help advise the studio on the B-36 sets, props and other "technical assistance". I met General Stewart 24 years later and mentioned it and he remembered playing poker with dad - and losing "thirty-two bucks!"
What a jet !!!!! When the B-2s,and B-1s retire they send a B-52 to pick up there crews . hard to beleivethat she's over 50 years old, long live that GREAT bomber, your right no other nation has the GREATEST AIR FORCE in the world. Great vid!!!!!!!!!! Sure miss that fine sound of our Air Force.
Proud to have served in SAC as a Minuteman Launch officer. Even more proud we have never commanded the launch crews to turn keys and launch! Keeping the world safe was a great honor. And it was a very demanding job.
I only stopped at Minot once n my way back from Brize Norton in '62. I was stationed at Larson AFB, WA from 1960-1963. We had all D models and KC-135s. I was only on a G or H model once and I was pretty amazed that the tail gunner got to ride up front along with every one else. The only time I ever saw close to this many B-52s take off at once was when we would go on alert and all of the A/C in the alert area would be launched at once. Otherwise, one Chromedome A/C for 24 hours every day.
Used to watch B-52s fly over my grandmother's lake house on approach to K.I.Sawyer in the U.P. big grizzly faces painted on them...so cool. I remember that sound well.
Was at Ellsworth from '80 to '86. Jet mech., 28 FMS. Spent the first 2 yrs. 'in shop' & the last 4 on the flight line. Run qualified. Even got to fly on one. Took it all for granted back then but now realize it was something special. In '86 was xferred to Loring & got to deal with G models for 18 mos. Then I got out.
I remember seeing this site many times growing up as a SAC brat. Never tired of seeing it. Even more impressive was watching a group of B-58 Hustlers during a night MITO takeoff . That was my dads bird. One after another of those delta winged hotrods in full afterburner from 4 J-79s , awesome, day or night. And as far as 15 minutes? In the Curtis Lemay days , you'd better be airborne by then or you'd be out of a job . He wanted results , not excuses.
We launched 30 Bombers and 30 KC-135's for the IG from Andersen, AFB Guam in 1988. Largest peace time launch to date at that time. 3 bombers then 3 tankers, pretty cool. Then we refuled and put water on every one of them suckers when they came back. 43rd Supply Squadron back when it was Strategic Air Command. Nice video!
I loved watching the "G's" launch after the ORI. They did the elephant walk to the runway and launched and the smoke and the roar was chilling. Every plane that could get off the ground except the alert birds. I miss the days when the military had might and real Presidents.
Paul, we lived in Arlington Heights section of Ft. Worth in the late 50's. We got to see (hear and *feel*) the B-36's fly over on approach to Carswell sometimes. Talk about aluminum overcast! We moved before the BUFFS were fully operational at Carswell. Dad worked at Convair on the B-36 & B-58 programs.
I was a B-52 pilot at Minot from 1973-1979 and in all that time, I never recall taking off to the east as they show here..of course going to the NW they would all cross into canadian airspace if not careful...on our T.O. brief we would discuss landing in Lake Darling...I flew the F, G and H with the H being the easiet to fly because of the TF33 fans...I retired in 2000 with 30 years of service..where did all the time go!
Thanks for the memories...I worked in BYH tower from 85-89. Saw a lot of these MITO's. They never...ever departed from the A-Pad though. They cart-started, but never moved. All the MITO's I saw were from the main ramp...no nukes. They did have an alert during the invasion of Lybia though...thought they were heading out for real then...but they didn't.
Seeing them take off reminds you all the movies you've through the years, namely "Strategic Air Command" with Jimmy Stewart. As you said, you can not see this anywhere in the world like what we have with American Air Power. My Brother-In-Law worked on the B-47's back in the 50's, my brother worked on the 52's in the 70's, and his son joined the US Navy, and is a ground pounder at station in Ha'Waii!
"Gonna gas up my woodie, head for Route 101 .. my board's waxed & racked, gonna have me some fun ... ". Great footage, some of the best I've seen in this genre .. congrats .. exciting, stirring stuff ..
I remembered that later about the G. The F`s were the last model made that had the manned tail gunner, and the D`s were the last ones in service to use them when they were retired in the early 1980`s. The G`s and H`s had the gunner up front with the rest of the crew controlling the tail gun remotley. I remember when visiting K.I. Sawyer in 1989, their H`s still had the gun, but they would soon be removed as you mentioned.
The 8 J-57s on the old G model gave off an earsplitting shriek, it was the sound of freedom! Grim work in those days, though. We'd do line standby on the Alert Pad whenever the ordnance crews were working on the nukes, always done in the wee hours with the floodlights glaring on the SRAMs in their rotary launchers. Here's a Strangelovian memory: every duty day at 1300 they'd test the klaxon horn, and EVERYONE would stop and check their wristwatch, it was either 1300 or WWIII had begun.
Been watching these since I was a young pup in the early 70s. We used to do 6-ship MITOs frequently. They have to be careful where they rotate in relation to the previous plane because of the vortex turbulence they create when they rotate. Next ship has to either go past the previous point or rotate earlier. I often saw them with severe wing-waggle due to the turbulence; one almost touched first left then right wingtip on the runway but he got it off. Prob had soiled flightsuits that crew!
I was a Nav-Bomb on the "E" model and participated in MITO's. Ours had the 8 KC-135's taking off first at 15 second intervals and then 30 seconds later the first B-52E and the 7 others at 15 second intervals. One that I was in my then wife commented that the number 3 B-52 was being buffeted heavily on the takeoff. I said I was in that one. Another time we were about 25 miles from the base and could feel the earth shake from a MITO. We held the Fairchild Trophy and were constantly visited by the IG teams at Clinton-Sherman AFB. This was during the height of the Cold War as we did Chrome Domes with nukes.
I used to be stationed at Ellsworth AFB at Rapid City, S.D. and was assigned and was a crewmember of the 4th ACCS which flew EC-135s. I pulled several alert tours at Minot. We never did actually do real takeoffs during practice alerts during that time. All of the alert planes were parked in two different "Christmas Trees" on each end of the runway. This was all back in 1978-79 and I know a lot of things have changed since then.
I remember those movies....as a matter of fact I have them both.The Day After really brought things home to many people back in those days.But in my honest opinion if it wasn't for Mr. Reagan,well,you never know,we would still be worrying about the former USSR.He basically broke them,literally and figuratively.Thank God for Reagan.He nevered wavered...he was very determined.I love him to this day.
I grew up 3 miles south of Carswell AFB in the 60's and there would be days when B-52's would fly one after another right over us. Watching this video brings back a lot of memories of that time.
My Dad, my Mother, and I lived in Minot for a few months, which included the Summer of 1961. My Dad worked at Robins AFB in Georgia (it was SAC until '83); however, he was assigned to Minot to work on some project. Anyway, I don't remember the experience - I was only two. Minot was on the frontline of the cold war. I love the 52's. They're expected to remain in service until after 2040. Amazing.
We had to have a P2 (crash firefighting truck) on the Alert Pad when they'd do a cart start, the cartridges would belch thick clouds of black smoke everywhere. It was something to see, and we always had a front-row seat.
Spent many days as a Crew Chief on Alert at Ellsworth AFB with my B-52H '1017' from 1981-85. This is great to watch, and I'll never forget the smell of the Cart Start. Personal best from the klaxon horn to taxi: 2minutes 11 seconds
as a young adult that was born on Oscoda AFB i have to say this was absolutely beautiful to watch! my father was in supply from 84 to jan87 and jan 89 to jan 91. definitely one of the more graceful airframes in the military. and for 'MRHOWARD2012', get a life tree hugger!! these men and women are what keeps your freedom. who cares what the price to pay is. freedom or communism, take your pick!
From the other side of 'The Pond' I'm sayin thats pretty damn impressive for a squadron scamble. Thats what practice does for you, all the way from the senior pilot down to the greenest mechanic. Plus You're military really knows how to get it's bucks worth from its equipment, 57 years old and still going when the 'replacements' failed to live up to expectations.
I enjoyed this video a lot. Once, while stationed at NCS on Guam, I witnessed 17 B-52's taking off overhead out of Anderson AFB. I watched while working in the Carpenter Shop. They flew right over the shop. One of the coolest sights I've ever seen. One right after the other. They turned west. Don't know where they went, but the war was still on then. This was back in early Jan. '75. Probably one of the last missions of the war.
I was 19 years old stationed at Minot in 1985. Our barracks were semi-close to the flight line. The first day I got there I noticed two things: 1. the wind always blew at Minot and 2. the distinct whine of the B52's engines with the wiff of JP fuel in the air. In fact over 30 years later, just watching this video I can smell the JP fuel. ;)
I missed out on cool stuff like this. My dad retired from the Air Force befor I was born. He was a bombardier in B-36's and B-47's back in the good old days. He started as a bombardier in B-17's in the Army Air Corps and flew combat missions over Germany. Impressive display. Once upon a time that sort of display sent shivers down the spines of everyone in town.
It was indeed a sight to see, and the noise was deafening. As a crash truck driver, I'd have to crank the radio headphones up full blast to hear any radio traffic. These are G Models with water-injected J57 turbojets, the turbofan-powered H models didn't have the same high-frequency shriek.
I was on a Titan II ICBM launch crew at McConnell AFB in the early 70's. When not on missile alert, I used to wonder if something was really going on when I heard the KC-135's doing MITO's at odd times during the night. I'll never forget an alert in 1973 when we thought we would be launching our missile. I finally read a book about what happened that night, even though I knew some 30 years before the book was written. Salute the SAC crews.
The smoke you see around the aircraft on the ramp is from the starter cartridges used to spool up the engines in lieu of a starter cart. this saved much time for the B-52 to start on the alert ramp, then the aircraft would roll out to the runway and take-off. At Fairchild we had up to five B-52's on alert, these aircraft and their crew were ready to depart the base in under 15 minutes warning time, failure to meet that time meant a crew would be standing at attention in front of the commander's desk, definitely not the place you wanted to be. That included Security Police if we got in the way of responding alert crews. The base had a red light similar to those used on police vehicles on the utility posts on designated alert routes to the flight line. If these lights came on, all traffic were required to exit the roadway with exception of Commanders, Fire Department, Security Police and the Alert Forces. This simplified getting to the alert area, onboard an aircraft and at the runway threshold with-in that 15 minutes. Most crews would be in the alert facility adjacent to the aircraft. This system worked great, everyone would pull off the road as the klaxon sounded, otherwise Security Police would pull the car over, and the driver would face the Commander in front of his desk, If it were a woman she might hope she was close to giving birth as a reason to continue driving. This was accomplished from 1957 to 1991, with professionalism, I am honored to have been a part of the SAC Team!
My brother was in SAC as security. He use to guard B-52's and watch them take off. When stationed at Griffis SAC base in NY, everyone knew when the Soviets had boomers parked off our coast. There would be at least two B-52's parked at the end of the runway loaded with ALCM's. If they took off, it was dooms day.
+Kevin Strade Maybe, but not necessarily. The alert birds could be launched under a Delta alert, although by the '70s those were rare due to nuke mishaps during Chrome Dome and previous Deltas. Cocos were still pretty common, though.
THANK YOU sure as hell ain't nearly enough, for all of service men & women (Dad was a Coastie :) but just know it is heartfelt from all of us who say it. And my wife and I say it with all our might (and a prayer each dinner time). Stay safe!
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It's a fact that the mighty BUFF does not take off: rather, the earth gets out of the way. Long live the B-52! Awesome aircraft.
LOL, good response, I lived that life as a kid, my Dad was part of SAC, I live near Luke AFB, my Dad retired, he passed on 27 years ago, but Mom is still alive, so I drive her to the base so she can get her medical help on base and the commissary priviledges. I saw a bumper sticker on some car the other day, I love jet noise, you know she was a military wife :) Anyways enough of the past, but I live under the flight path, Luke is a training base, F-16's and F-35's. I love the sound of jet engines, sound of freedom :)
mikethetuner
Well said
Chuck Norris said "hold meh beer"
The BUFF is the Chuck Norris of the skies. The BUFF doesn't drop bombs, but rather the earth reaches up to take them.
The last B-52H (SN#61-1040) left the factory on 10/26/1962. It was delivered to the Strategic Wing at Minot AFB That was 59 years ago and they're still flying. Amazing airplane.
Still flying even today, with plans to upgrade them with new more fuel-efficient engines and other mods. Probably going to be 2040 before they're finally retired.
I am a SAC veteran from the 60s and saw this in person from the flight line and there is no way to describe the awesome chill that comes over you when you are a part of something great that won the Cold War.
Thanks for serving Sir, there is nothing like a B-52 scramble, can't describe it, you have to just experience it. That is like the fist of GOD ready to rain hell down on anyone that tries to F with us.
You got it, when they scramble it is just awesome, and you know that some serious hurt is coming down on the enemy if this is not a drill.
Thank you for your service Sir!!
Agreed! None, what-so-ever! The sound is unreal!
Rusty Bracewell: I watched them from my backyard at Homestead A.F.B. when it was a SAC base.
Pretty impressive! I had about 900 hours in between D's, F's & H models. Last flew as a crewmember in May of '77. Still miss it some days. What a great old plane!
23rd Bomb Sq IRN SO 1 1973-77.
@@murrygandy6546644th bomb Sqdn.-KI SAWYER 73-77
I think the b-52 is the most awe inspiring plane ever built!
It pretty much says "See that? That's physics. See what we're doing? Yeah we just broke everything you thought was possible."
Rolling Thunder in NAM, the VC were blown out of their boots, :)
Sandals, not boots, I think. Ho Chi Minh sandals.
You have got that right!
That should make everyone proud of our air force. What a sight
my Dad did 23 years Air Force, I didn't come along until near the end of the Korean War, but he served in WW2 navigator in a B-25, never shot down, put bombs on target. then the Korean War, but he got stationed in the UK cause they were worried the Soviets would use the Korean War to invade Europe, then a long stretch of peace till Vietnam, I had to take my draft phyiscal and get registered for the draft, he was retired by now, but they tried to call him up, his old base commander, Robin Olds, he ended up an ace in NAM. Any ways when I told my Dad I was going to enlist in the Marines, getting drafting into the army was like the worst option you were facing, he told me you ain't doing shit but go to college and lay in that bed or I will shoot you dead. Well Nixon ended the draft, they went to some lottery scheme and my number was so high I was safe. So I went to college became an engineer and spent 20+ years designing bombs, planes, missiles, so I guess I could say I did my part
A whole s___load of whoop ass going somewhere in a hurry.
I can't believe I sat through this entire video, watching intently at the same thing over and over again. I usually can't sit through more than 30 sec of a video. But this is AWESOME. God, the SCREAM of those engines... I found myself chuckling in amazement or literally hollering YEAHHH at each takeoff.
The only thing at all I miss about living in DC is getting to see badass military aircraft fly over at least weekly.
Thank you so much for sharing!
In 1959 at Dow AFB the lst B52G landed on our base and I was so excited I jogged in front of it
probably for several blocks. Six months later we had about seventeen and they were beautiful and got our devoted attention. SAC was good in those days and spirits were high!!
Gotta love those BUFFs! Watching those floating take-offs is beautiful. I love the feeling you get in your chest when they come trundling down the runway and you can feel those engines in your chest! HUA! Air Force for life!
I remember i was TDY at March AFB back in 1980 from Norton AFB. They lunched a whole bunch of B-52's and KC-135's very quickly. What a mind blower. The B-52's still had tail gunners then. That was awesome. Good video.
Thank you for sharing! I am proud to be an American!
ditto, old fart, lived through the 60's never met a hippy I loved.
im a crewcief on these b52's and i dont get much appreciation when i work on these jets day in and out for 8, 12, maybe 14 hours a day, but after reading these comments i really appreciate my job more..... thank you all
I spent 32 years in the Air Force and Air National Guard as a Jet Engine Mechanic and crew chief. Retired in 2011. I salute my maintenance troop for getting all these planes in the air at once. I worked T37, T38 B52G,KC-135,RC-135 and c-130 during my career. I would give about anything to Marshal a buff again.
Working on commercial jets for the past several years and being familiar with the regulations and restrictions in regards to flying one, this is amazing to me. The urgency of this exercise is incredible. Start the plane and take off ASAP, just do it, lives are on the line. Amazing to watch!
I have a question. I had a friend once who had worked in SAC as a mechanic on this beautiful dragons. He once told me that there had been a number of emergency alerts that they responded to that that were not just drills but came dam close to nuclear war. Is this true? He said the public was never told. One thing was clear. He loved the old B-52. It was literally a romance of a sort for him. He talked about these cartridge starts and the sheer power and noise. I couldn't believe it when he said that such big engines could start that fast. I knew him when we were working as truck mechanics. I was a good mechanic. This dude was an ace mechanic. Top notch. Maybe the best I'd ever seen. I had seen BUFFs before but never seen a take off until this video. Now I know why he was such a good wrench. Good guy too. He made it clear to me that the world owed a nod of thanks to these old dragons and their air and ground crews.
In spring of 1980, there were two messages delivered that were "ACTUAL". It was caused by a misinterpretation of a computer war game by the Cheyenne Mountain complex (so I was given to understand...I was a tanker navigator on alert and decoded the message... yikes!). A friend of mine was on the floor at the Headquarters SAC Command Post for the second one...given the previous issue, he adjusted the message to prevent having to launch some of the very heavy aircraft in the warm weather in May. We sat in aircraft with engines running for quite some time before we got a new message to "resume normal alert"...IOW, "nothing to see here...move along". We all silently proceeded to the briefing room and sat there until someone came in and explained what the heck happened. What was gratifying is that we all performed our mission professionally.
Dear David,
I really appreciate your concern. It was 3 and 6 June 1980 and was covered in the following publicly released GAO document. It is a little wonky to read, but the Wikipedia entry that led me to the reference below captured it well when it said the following:
"On at least three occasions, NORAD systems failed, such as on 9 November 1979, when a technician in NORAD loaded a test tape, but failed to switch the system status to "test", causing a stream of constant false warnings to spread to two "continuity of government" bunkers as well as command posts worldwide.[26] On 3 June 1980, and again on 6 June 1980 , a computer communications device failure caused warning messages to sporadically flash in U.S. Air Force command posts around the world that a nuclear attack was taking place (citation was the GAO document linked at the end). [I got in on the 5 June 1980 message.]
The writer in Wiki goes on to say the following (without citation):
"During these incidents, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) properly had their planes (loaded with nuclear bombs) in the air; Strategic Air Command (SAC) did not and took criticism, because they did not follow procedure, even though the SAC command knew these were almost certainly false alarms, as did PACAF.[citation needed] Both command posts had recently begun receiving and processing direct reports from the various radar, satellite, and other missile attack detection systems, and those direct reports simply did not match anything about the erroneous data received from NORAD." [This rings true based on what I knew personally.]
"NORAD's Missile Warning System: What Went Wrong? (MASAD-81-30)". U.S. Government Accountability Office. U.S. GAO. 15 May 1981. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
"Attack Warning: Better Management Required to Resolve NORAD Integration Deficiencies (IMTEC-89-26)". U.S. Government Accountability Office. U.S. GAO. 7 July 1989. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
BTW, in addition to some procedures to prevent recurrence, a number of Cheyenne Mountain upgrades were completed in the late 1980s which undoubtedly took care of the issue.
Again, with appreciation,
MK
When did your friend serve?
Times that I can see SAC going on a real world alert would be:
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
1973 Yom Kippur War
1976 Operation Paul Bunyon
1983 Downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007
David Holt Ah, an OPSEC commando. Were you counter-intel, by chance? I ask this without any hard-feelings, just had a few knuckleheads in my unit who had a ton of enthusiasm for catching spies around every turn, and not a whole lot of common sense.
WHERE IN THE HELL DID YOU HEAR ABOUT TALENT KEYHOLE!?!?!
Uh, Sergeant, it's publically available information. Google "Keyhole intel satelllites".
I DON'T CARE WHAT THE INTERNETS SAYS! WHO TOLD YOU THAT CODE WORD? I WANT A NAME!
Roger, I got it from the Janes Information Group, Washington DC.
YOU SAID JANE? YOU MEAN YOU'VE BEEN TALKING TO A WOMAN ABOUT CODEWORD INTEL!?!?!
*sigh*
Mary Kay Higgins Thanks for the info! I was not aware of those incidents.
The one I WAS aware of was the 1971 EBS false alarm where a guy at Cheyenne accidentally ran the WHITE CARD EAN-1 alert tape instead of the weekly test tape. For some reason, they were hung right next to each other on the wall... Didn't involve any mobilization of assets, I don't think, but an Emergency Action Notification from the POTUS is nothing to sneeze at. A lot of people were pretty pissed.
My USAF son was stationed at Minot AFB for five years. He witnessed a few MITO's from inside the fence. The trifecta that flew over Super Bowl 55 showed one bomber that left quite the smoke trail - the B-52. It's a sight you don't soon forget.
My boy friend is a Vietnam Vet and USAF MAN! Yes I am proud of my military people and I do thank them for there service. My dad is a WWII Veteran to which I love dearly also. THANKS FOR OUR FREEDOM!
Thank your Dad for serving, and your boyfriend, but make him take you out to dinner first ;) Just teasing.
I spent three years on Minot AFB from 1963 to 1966 when I graduated from Minot High School thanks to SAC and my dad, the Observer on a B-52 crew. You don't know what cold is until you've been outside for a while at minus-50 degrees. Also was at Barksdale twice,Westover for four years. Was born in the base hospital on Castle Air Force Base in 1948. Thanks to these planes and the men in them who prevented a global nuclear war.
WAS THERE JANUARY 10, 1975. HUNDRED 150 DEGREES BELOW ZER9 WITH 80 MPH WINDS!! COULDN'T SEE MY HAND IN FRONT OF MY FACE!!!
North Dakota State Bird! I remember fueling them when I was stationed there in 1994. The old pump houses for the flightline used to be between the main taxiway and the runway. Talk about a front row seat!
Greetings from a fellow 631x0. Castle, Ramstein and Spangdshlem. We put a few gallons on the beauts. 😀
@@thomaswoolard7643 It’s funny…just seeing those numbers (631x0) brings back memories! 👍🏻
After high school let out my buddies and I played a lot of golf on the Walker AFB golf course, across from the mole hole and the bomber parking apron. This was the early 1960s. Several times I saw this sight, only live, at ground level, and closer. The earth stood still. It was too huge live to describe. Volcano after volcano erupting. Until seeing this I'd forgotten the sight of the ragged line of outgoing birds. Too good! Thank you!!! (My father piloted one of these monsters.) USAF!
AMERICAN AIR POWER! The clear message is: "Don't mess with the USA - we will come and get you!"
Oh how I love to see my tax $$$ at this kind of work. God bless and thank you for your service!
+Bud Spencer I feel the same way Bud, but unfortunately some people do mess with the USA because the politicians forgot the meaning of "victory" and force the armed forces to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.
Absolutely incredible. During my career I was stationed at Minot AFB for 10 years. I packed the B-52 deceleration parachutes at the Survival Equipment shop. Of all the aircraft I've encountered my favorite will always be the buff...
Ah, 240p we meet again.
Aw, c'mon guys, you must've taken my previous comment off since it wasn't PC enough. That launch was NOT a 12 or 15 sec. "MITO" launch, since there would have been 4 or 5 aircraft on the active runway simultaneously. Also, there is NO smoke or major wake turbulence when following any of the later aircraft. It's nice photography, but it was simply a controlled 1 minute launch interval. In the mid 60s our wing launched on our annual ORI mission with all 15 tankers preceding our 15 B-52D models in a real MITO. Our crew was 23rd in the stream, and the wake turbulence just after liftoff was sporting, to say the least.
everyone always forget us SAC folks lol we won
I'm almost 62 years old but I'd go back into the USAF tomorrow! I miss it so much!
I was at Loring AFB.. I was always intrigued by this. People who have never seen this don't know what they are missing.. Thanks for posting..
I spent most of my time with the locals. Played softball, candlepin bowling team, snowmachine trips, and I had a few good civilian friends that had to leave Caribou..
The "BUFF" what more can you say. I learned a lot about life and endurance by working on these it was and is a dear freind to us who served at GAFB as I did in the 416OMS Bomber Branch from 86 to 90.
The sound of freedom!
The sound of freedom? Are you insane? The sound of destruction, war, death, yes!
It's the sound of freedom for you, because it's the sound of destruction, war and death to our adversaries.
Bombing innocent countries isn’t freedom
I was a gunner on the B-52 H at Minot AFB from 1980-1983. I pulled 7 day alert cycles once a month. The Buff is an awesome aircraft, even 53 years after birth!!! I loved my time on this aircraft and would have reinlisted, except they wanted me to stay at Minot! Why not Minot? Freezin's the reason!!!
That IS American air power as the man says!!
Remember these days well from my Air Force days at KI Sawyer AFB in MI and supporting and watching the B-52 MITO take offs.....loved it!!
If you saw this happen back in the Cold War days there was a real chance it would be the last thing you saw before getting nuked.
If they didn't have "Vortex Generators" on top of the wings, the wake turbulence would be too great. The "BUFF" might be 50-60 years old, but it still is a flying masterpiece of aeronautical engineering!
15 BUFFs ..... that'll be ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY (yep) Pratt and Whitneys and ...... wait for it ...... SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIVE years of service that just flew past you. Who's the daddy?.
Those planes are older than their daddies ;) My Dad passed in 93.
Its the champion of service. Only Tu-95 comes close in active service life, but its way short on action.
I would say, Who your Great Grandaddy!!!
Brings back memories of sitting in the launch truck at Beale AFB California. To observe close up from the hammerhead all those KC-135's and then the B-52's take off was very impressive, so was the same up close night take offs of the SR-71. Beale had KC-135 Q models, B-52 G models. Sr-71's and the U-2 R's and S's plus a handful of T-38A's. It was a great place for a young radio tech to be, we worked on all of them. Amazing time back in 75-78!
Still sends a chill down my spin. I'm a SAC brat going back to the 93rd BW at Castle when the B-52 was first coming into squadron service. I grew up watching B, C, and mostly D models flying. With that thought in mind would I be mistaken to think these Buffs are pretty lightly loaded or do they actually have that much more thrust than the old J-57 put out? I mean back in the day a loaded B-52D took damn near all of Twelve thousand feet to get airborne. Thanks for the Video, it's good to see the old bird still flying.
They won't ever comment, but they are empties. I am a SAC brat as well and it did take almost the entire 12 to pull it off the ground.
This was GLOBAL THUNDER exercise. You can draw your own conclusions on whether the planes were loaded with anything besides JP8.
Excellent video.
I was a tail gunner on the G model. I remember in '83 we did an 8 ship MITO (4-bombers/4-tankers) at Griffiss, and that was impressive, not to mention scaring the hell out of the locals who actually thought we launched the alert force.
As for all the negative comments who just see a bunch of planes taking off, you have no clue the precision and timing needed to pull this off. To launch 15 aircraft from a cold start in less than 10 minutes is totally off the charts.
who in here has lived on the "PAD" and done a cart start? lol
Stationed at Minot 1976-1978 enjoyed watching the Buff takeoffs and later talking to the pilots. Cool cat's
"Now then, Dmitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb. The bomb, Dmitri. The hydrogen bomb. Well now what happened is ... one of our base commanders ... he had a sort of ... well, he went a little funny in the head. You know, just a little ... funny, and he went and did a silly thing. Well, I'll tell you what he did. He ordered his planes ... to attack your country."
You can't run in here! This is the War Room!
..."fight"...
we do
@@zulubalandre9851 Peter Sellers is dead! Long live Peter Sellers!
"Well, let me finish, Dmitri.
"Let me finish, Dmitri.
"Well, listen, how do you think I feel about it? Can you imagine how I feel about it, Dmitri? Why do you think I'm calling you? Just to say hello?"
Was stationed here twice in my 20 year career. Worked in the Command Post as an Emergency Actions Controller. I volunteered to go their twice, I loved it there so much!
BTW, Peacetime MITO and EWO MITO are different. An EWO MITO would have been a much shorter video... ;-)
+Mike Morgan Yes- notice where the BUFFS came from, NOT the Alert Ramp :)
Ithought they could be a lot faster if they put the pedal to the metal at say 20 second intervals or 10 seconds qnd 3or4 going down the runway at once instead of maybe 1 or 2
As long as they get off the runway and deliver their ordnance they done good :)
@@alanharaldson4229
Problem is if they get too close, the turbulence from the preceding plane can, and has, caused a catastrophic stall.
Don't know about B-52 MITO times. But in B-58 there was only one time criterion, 7.5 sec on alternating guidelines..
Notice no ground equipment like generators or the big air compressors; Alert Birds start with cartridges (that's why all the smoke). These get an engine going and then bleed-air routes to and then spins the other engines. In 82 at Ellsworth we'd get bug-eyed every time they did this elephant walk. At that time, had they taken off, we'd have been at war and our base minutes away from becoming a mushroom cloud. Was an honor to be there!
I post this now for Ronald Reagan and Nancy. RIP Nancy we won
My dad worked for Convair during the 50's and was part of the Convair team sent to Hollywood to help advise the studio on the B-36 sets, props and other "technical assistance". I met General Stewart 24 years later and mentioned it and he remembered playing poker with dad - and losing "thirty-two bucks!"
Makes me homesick. I grew up on this base. Still call Minot home, no matter where I am.
Shondell Shughart I grew up here as well... 1980-1990 my teen years... best of my life. 😊
What a jet !!!!! When the B-2s,and B-1s retire they send a B-52 to pick up there crews . hard to beleivethat she's over 50 years old, long live that GREAT bomber, your right no other nation has the GREATEST AIR FORCE in the world. Great vid!!!!!!!!!! Sure miss that fine sound of our Air Force.
Proud to have served in SAC as a Minuteman Launch officer. Even more proud we have never commanded the launch crews to turn keys and launch!
Keeping the world safe was a great honor. And it was a very demanding job.
I only stopped at Minot once n my way back from Brize Norton in '62. I was stationed at Larson AFB, WA from 1960-1963. We had all D models and KC-135s. I was only on a G or H model once and I was pretty amazed that the tail gunner got to ride up front along with every one else. The only time I ever saw close to this many B-52s take off at once was when we would go on alert and all of the A/C in the alert area would be launched at once. Otherwise, one Chromedome A/C for 24 hours every day.
I used to love watching the Buffs take off like this when I was stationed up there. Thanks for the memories!
Used to watch B-52s fly over my grandmother's lake house on approach to K.I.Sawyer in the U.P. big grizzly faces painted on them...so cool. I remember that sound well.
Was at Ellsworth from '80 to '86. Jet mech., 28 FMS. Spent the first 2 yrs. 'in shop' & the last 4 on the flight line. Run qualified. Even got to fly on one. Took it all for granted back then but now realize it was something special. In '86 was xferred to Loring & got to deal with G models for 18 mos. Then I got out.
I remember seeing this site many times growing up as a SAC brat. Never tired of seeing it. Even more impressive was watching a group of B-58 Hustlers during a night MITO takeoff . That was my dads bird.
One after another of those delta winged hotrods in full afterburner from 4 J-79s , awesome, day or night.
And as far as 15 minutes? In the Curtis Lemay days , you'd better be airborne by then or you'd be out of a job . He wanted results , not excuses.
The noise , the smoke , the sound & the heat... I have died & gone to heaven !!!
We launched 30 Bombers and 30 KC-135's for the IG from Andersen, AFB Guam in 1988. Largest peace time launch to date at that time. 3 bombers then 3 tankers, pretty cool. Then we refuled and put water on every one of them suckers when they came back. 43rd Supply Squadron back when it was Strategic Air Command. Nice video!
I loved watching the "G's" launch after the ORI. They did the elephant walk to the runway and launched and the smoke and the roar was chilling. Every plane that could get off the ground except the alert birds. I miss the days when the military had might and real Presidents.
Vote Dem 2020.
Paul, we lived in Arlington Heights section of Ft. Worth in the late 50's. We got to see (hear and *feel*) the B-36's fly over on approach to Carswell sometimes. Talk about aluminum overcast! We moved before the BUFFS were fully operational at Carswell. Dad worked at Convair on the B-36 & B-58 programs.
Was stationed at Minot 1981-1983 working in the 5BW command post and had the "honor" to launch these on an occasion awesome!
I was a B-52 pilot at Minot from 1973-1979 and in all that time, I never recall taking off to the east as they show here..of course going to the NW they would all cross into canadian airspace if not careful...on our T.O. brief we would discuss landing in Lake Darling...I flew the F, G and H with the H being the easiet to fly because of the TF33 fans...I retired in 2000 with 30 years of service..where did all the time go!
Castle, 1970. I used to go to sleep & wake up to this. Nothing like trimming the throttles for an alarm clock!
Thanks for the memories...I worked in BYH tower from 85-89. Saw a lot of these MITO's. They never...ever departed from the A-Pad though. They cart-started, but never moved. All the MITO's I saw were from the main ramp...no nukes. They did have an alert during the invasion of Lybia though...thought they were heading out for real then...but they didn't.
I was at Minot from 87-91. Most of our aircraft were on alert at that time, so we never got to see this many in the air at any time.. Awesome video.
no to bad for 1950`s technology and engineering. very impressive
"No other country in the world can do what you just saw." That's the truth...and we've had these birds for more than 50 years now.
Great memories! I was a 135 boomer at Minot 79-83 and 90-93 when the 135 were pulled out. Thanks
Seeing them take off reminds you all the movies you've through the years, namely "Strategic Air Command" with Jimmy Stewart. As you said, you can not see this anywhere in the world like what we have with American Air Power. My Brother-In-Law worked on the B-47's back in the 50's, my brother worked on the 52's in the 70's, and his son joined the US Navy, and is a ground pounder at station in Ha'Waii!
"Gonna gas up my woodie, head for Route 101 .. my board's waxed & racked, gonna have me some fun ... ". Great footage, some of the best I've seen in this genre .. congrats .. exciting, stirring stuff ..
That first one rolling is so exciting.
watching this brings back so many thoughts and emotions from when i was in during the cold war era
I remembered that later about the G. The F`s were the last model made that had the manned tail gunner, and the D`s were the last ones in service to use them when they were retired in the early 1980`s. The G`s and H`s had the gunner up front with the rest of the crew controlling the tail gun remotley. I remember when visiting K.I. Sawyer in 1989, their H`s still had the gun, but they would soon be removed as you mentioned.
The 8 J-57s on the old G model gave off an earsplitting shriek, it was the sound of freedom! Grim work in those days, though. We'd do line standby on the Alert Pad whenever the ordnance crews were working on the nukes, always done in the wee hours with the floodlights glaring on the SRAMs in their rotary launchers. Here's a Strangelovian memory: every duty day at 1300 they'd test the klaxon horn, and EVERYONE would stop and check their wristwatch, it was either 1300 or WWIII had begun.
Brings back memories-both pleasant and unpleasant! SAC/AAC, ‘86-‘92
Been watching these since I was a young pup in the early 70s. We used to do 6-ship MITOs frequently. They have to be careful where they rotate in relation to the previous plane because of the vortex turbulence they create when they rotate. Next ship has to either go past the previous point or rotate earlier. I often saw them with severe wing-waggle due to the turbulence; one almost touched first left then right wingtip on the runway but he got it off. Prob had soiled flightsuits that crew!
I was a Nav-Bomb on the "E" model and participated in MITO's. Ours had the 8 KC-135's taking off first at 15 second intervals and then 30 seconds later the first B-52E and the 7 others at 15 second intervals. One that I was in my then wife commented that the number 3 B-52 was being buffeted heavily on the takeoff. I said I was in that one. Another time we were about 25 miles from the base and could feel the earth shake from a MITO. We held the Fairchild Trophy and were constantly visited by the IG teams at Clinton-Sherman AFB. This was during the height of the Cold War as we did Chrome Domes with nukes.
I used to be stationed at Ellsworth AFB at Rapid City, S.D. and was assigned and was a crewmember of the 4th ACCS which flew EC-135s. I pulled several alert tours at Minot. We never did actually do real takeoffs during practice alerts during that time. All of the alert planes were parked in two different "Christmas Trees" on each end of the runway. This was all back in 1978-79 and I know a lot of things have changed since then.
I remember those movies....as a matter of fact I have them both.The Day After really brought things home to many people back in those days.But in my honest opinion if it wasn't for Mr. Reagan,well,you never know,we would still be worrying about the former USSR.He basically broke them,literally and figuratively.Thank God for Reagan.He nevered wavered...he was very determined.I love him to this day.
I grew up 3 miles south of Carswell AFB in the 60's and there would be days when B-52's would fly one after another right over us. Watching this video brings back a lot of memories of that time.
I'm a 20 year Air Force Viper guy, but nothing is as awesome as a MITO B-52 program taking to the air.
My Dad, my Mother, and I lived in Minot for a few months, which included the Summer of 1961. My Dad worked at Robins AFB in Georgia (it was SAC until '83); however, he was assigned to Minot to work on some project. Anyway, I don't remember the experience - I was only two. Minot was on the frontline of the cold war. I love the 52's. They're expected to remain in service until after 2040. Amazing.
Tanker Crew Chief Minot AFB 86-90. Thanks for posting this, brings back a lot of memories!
We had to have a P2 (crash firefighting truck) on the Alert Pad when they'd do a cart start, the cartridges would belch thick clouds of black smoke everywhere. It was something to see, and we always had a front-row seat.
Love this dino. Never realized why they haven't replaced the engines with less smoky, and more efficient turbofans.
I was stationed at Minot from Jan 73 to Jan 74. That was long enough but made alot of good friends.
Spent many days as a Crew Chief on Alert at Ellsworth AFB with my B-52H '1017' from 1981-85. This is great to watch, and I'll never forget the smell of the Cart Start. Personal best from the klaxon horn to taxi: 2minutes 11 seconds
Great video! I used to be stationed there from 86-89. Seen the elephant walk before but never a full take-off like this. Awesome!
as a young adult that was born on Oscoda AFB i have to say this was absolutely beautiful to watch! my father was in supply from 84 to jan87 and jan 89 to jan 91. definitely one of the more graceful airframes in the military.
and for 'MRHOWARD2012', get a life tree hugger!! these men and women are what keeps your freedom. who cares what the price to pay is. freedom or communism, take your pick!
From the other side of 'The Pond' I'm sayin thats pretty damn impressive for a squadron scamble. Thats what practice does for you, all the way from the senior pilot down to the greenest mechanic.
Plus You're military really knows how to get it's bucks worth from its equipment, 57 years old and still going when the 'replacements' failed to live up to expectations.
I remeber back in the day. B52s and 135s taking off out of davis monthan afb with water injection. Man that was a sight.
I enjoyed this video a lot. Once, while stationed at NCS on Guam, I witnessed 17 B-52's taking off overhead out of Anderson AFB. I watched while working in the Carpenter Shop. They flew right over the shop. One of the coolest sights I've ever seen. One right after the other. They turned west. Don't know where they went, but the war was still on then. This was back in early Jan. '75. Probably one of the last missions of the war.
I was 19 years old stationed at Minot in 1985. Our barracks were semi-close to the flight line. The first day I got there I noticed two things: 1. the wind always blew at Minot and 2. the distinct whine of the B52's engines with the wiff of JP fuel in the air. In fact over 30 years later, just watching this video I can smell the JP fuel. ;)
I missed out on cool stuff like this. My dad retired from the Air Force befor I was born. He was a bombardier in B-36's and B-47's back in the good old days. He started as a bombardier in B-17's in the Army Air Corps and flew combat missions over Germany. Impressive display. Once upon a time that sort of display sent shivers down the spines of everyone in town.
It was indeed a sight to see, and the noise was deafening. As a crash truck driver, I'd have to crank the radio headphones up full blast to hear any radio traffic. These are G Models with water-injected J57 turbojets, the turbofan-powered H models didn't have the same high-frequency shriek.
I was on a Titan II ICBM launch crew at McConnell AFB in the early 70's. When not on missile alert, I used to wonder if something was really going on when I heard the KC-135's doing MITO's at odd times during the night. I'll never forget an alert in 1973 when we thought we would be launching our missile. I finally read a book about what happened that night, even though I knew some 30 years before the book was written. Salute the SAC crews.
HEARD ABOUT THAT INCIDENT FROM MY B-52 PILOT FRIEND THAT HE AND HOS FELLOW PILOTS WERE ALL IN LINE READY TO TAKE OFF!!
Brings back memories, Carswell AFB Texas! Thanks for the video!
Thanks so much, for sharing this awesome demonstration of US air power with the rest of us. Just LOVE the B-52!
The smoke you see around the aircraft on the ramp is from the starter cartridges used to spool up the engines in lieu of a starter cart. this saved much time for the B-52 to start on the alert ramp, then the aircraft would roll out to the runway and take-off. At Fairchild we had up to five B-52's on alert, these aircraft and their crew were ready to depart the base in under 15 minutes warning time, failure to meet that time meant a crew would be standing at attention in front of the commander's desk, definitely not the place you wanted to be. That included Security Police if we got in the way of responding alert crews. The base had a red light similar to those used on police vehicles on the utility posts on designated alert routes to the flight line. If these lights came on, all traffic were required to exit the roadway with exception of Commanders, Fire Department, Security Police and the Alert Forces. This simplified getting to the alert area, onboard an aircraft and at the runway threshold with-in that 15 minutes. Most crews would be in the alert facility adjacent to the aircraft. This system worked great, everyone would pull off the road as the klaxon sounded, otherwise Security Police would pull the car over, and the driver would face the Commander in front of his desk, If it were a woman she might hope she was close to giving birth as a reason to continue driving. This was accomplished from 1957 to 1991, with professionalism, I am honored to have been a part of the SAC Team!
I was at Minot 64 to 70 and flew in more of these than I can recall. Each was exciting when at max gross weight 488,000lbs
My brother was in SAC as security. He use to guard B-52's and watch them take off. When stationed at Griffis SAC base in NY, everyone knew when the Soviets had boomers parked off our coast. There would be at least two B-52's parked at the end of the runway loaded with ALCM's. If they took off, it was dooms day.
+Kevin Strade Maybe, but not necessarily. The alert birds could be launched under a Delta alert, although by the '70s those were rare due to nuke mishaps during Chrome Dome and previous Deltas. Cocos were still pretty common, though.
THANK YOU sure as hell ain't nearly enough, for all of service men & women (Dad was a Coastie :) but just know it is heartfelt from all of us who say it. And my wife and I say it with all our might (and a prayer each dinner time). Stay safe!