BUFF coming home dirty. BUFF heading out dirty! Them’s are some big wings!
Source: strategypage.com
Source: strategypage.com
Follow the link to read an article about a B-17 crew in England around 1944-1945.
I'd like to share with you what would be considered in the car world to be a "barn find" — something of great value you didn't know was there, assumed to be gone forever. This is the story of my grandfather's B-17 crew, based on a journal and photos found in his attic after his passing away.
On June 25th 1944, ten brave young men began training together at Ardmore, Oklahoma. Two months later, they picked up a Boeing B-17-G in Lincoln, Nebraska, with orders to deliver it to Burtonwood Air Depot at Cheshire, England. The pilots, Bill Whitehead (back row, 1st on the left) and Sully Sullivan (back row, 2nd from left) had a combined total of 250 hours in the cockpit. My grandfather, Gene "Hack" Hackney (back row, 3rd from left) was the Navigator. From Lincoln, they refueled in Grenier Field, New Hampshire, Goose Bay in Labrador, and Reykjavik. Hack's crew was part of the Eighth Air Force, 385th Bomber Group and stationed at a base called Great Ashfield, at Elmswell, England.
http://flightclub.jalopnik.com/the-tale-of-the-b-17-blind-date-crew-1561993381/1563881866/+matthardigree
Source: flightclub.jalopnik.com
This would have been completely nerve-wracking.
Douglas A-20 begins a dive bombing run. From Air Force Historical Research Agency - Capt. Joseph J. Merhar Jr. Collection
Source: strategypage.com
Quick, Weiner-Man! To the Weiner-Plane!
The Martin B-10 was the first all-metal monoplane bomber to go into regular use by the United States Army Air Corps, entering service in June 1934.
(via Photo: B-10: A First)
Source: strategypage.com
This is the XB-36 next to the B-29. I’d never realized the scale difference before. it’s pretty amazing!
The Air Force's newest superbomber, the XB-36, compared with veteran B-29. The Air Force's huge six-engine bomber, the Convair XB-36, parked alongside a battle tested Boeing B-29, has a wingspan of 230 feet and the B-29, a wingspan of 141 feet. The length of the XB-36 is 163 feet; the B-29, 99 feet. The range of the XB-36 with a bomb load is 10,000 miles; the B-29 with a bomb load, approximately 4,100 miles. Though the Boeing B-29 Superfortress was the latest of the very heavy bombers, the improvements and the new developments incorporated in the Convair XB-36 show the remarkable technological advancement of the AF in the brief time that has elapsed since the end of the war. The XB-36 flew for the first time on 8 August 1946.
(via Photo: Big and Bigger)
Source: strategypage.com
the BUFF shows it's stuff
A B-52H Stratofortress flies over Minot Air Force Base, N.D., during a training exercise Nov. 3, 2013. In a conventional conflict, the B-52H can perform strategic attack, close-air support, air interdiction, offensive counter-air and maritime operations. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Brittany Y. Auld)
Source: strategypage.com
This is really interesting. I remember seeing propaganda pictures from WWI and WWII of giants fleets of bombers destroying cities...that looks like a thing of the past. I'm not sure if surgical drone strikes are better, but I am a fan of the lowering of collateral damages.
Of the 5,195 F-4s manufactured, some eight percent are still in service, plus a hundred converted to be unmanned targets for the U.S. Air Force. The F-4 is a 1950s design that, for its day, was quite advanced. The two seat, 28 ton F-4 is still a credible fighter bomber, able to carry eight tons of bombs and missiles. Normal combat radius is about 700 kilometers. The average sortie lasts about two hours.