KJakker 901 Posted January 4, 2012 In a video I watched on you tube titled "Meet the B-52", a number of still shots and film footage of the B-52 set to music, I came across an interesting clip of HUD video in the middle of it. In the video from 2:09 to 2:59 the music stops and there is a clip of HUD footage from a fighter trying to intercept a B-52 in a training mission with the voices of the pilots cursing in frustration as they attempt to engage it. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this HUD clip? Meet the B-52 HUD Clip Link Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SayethWhaaaa 245 Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Alls I know was that he was putting out flares like a MF... Edited January 4, 2012 by ZmelliFahrdz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
macelena 1,070 Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) I once read an older than dirt magazine (aviation review, i think, 1982) with an article about an exercise in the wich a soon to be retired B-52D flew from the UK to Rammstein to "bomb" the runway. The BUFF got intercepted by Luftwaffe Phantoms, but the bomber pilot claimed that, should that been real, the pantom guys would be with tears in his eyes. I tried to find out how, and using the mission editor replayed it. I ended up with tears in my eyes. Flared out all my winders and it took about a hundred 20mm rounds to kill, with my Phantom getting a 50 cal hole courtesy of Mr Tailgunner. Edited January 4, 2012 by macelena Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KJakker 901 Posted January 4, 2012 Well at least some people got a kick out of the clip. When I saw this clip it reminded me of an article in what I think was a newer Air and Space Magazine issue written by a former B-52 crew member. He talked about how in a training exercise, in Alaska I think, during the early 1980's his unit was acting as an attacking force verses Alaska based air defense units. Due to the rules of the exercise they had to use flight profiles that put the bombers at a significant disadvantage and did not allow them to use the full capability of the aircraft. As a result the fighter pilots intercepting them were getting rather smug about it and B-52 crews PO at them for it. Eventually they brought the situation to the attention I think the Group/Wing commander who sort of looked the other way and told them something like "I expected you to fly to the best of your ability" or words to that effect. They B-52 crews in the unit took that as permission to toss the exercise artificially imposed rules out the bomb bay. They instead planned to fly the mission to the full capability of their aircraft and their training and realistically did not bother telling anyone what they were going to do. As a result they came in from a surprise ingress route following the terrain at something like 200 feet AGL at high speed with their EW equipment making a hash of the defenders tactical communications. Most of the defending fighters were unable to find locate the B-52s. One got shot down by friendly fire when he lost situational awareness wile trying to intercept and crossed out of his air defense zone into a neighboring one and an F-4 Phantom got shot down by one of the B-52's 20mm tail gun when the bomber he was following popped the speed breaks and forced him into cannon range. By the end of the mission all of the B-52 hit their targets and only one defending fighter managed to get off a shot at one bomber, which I think was a miss if I remember the article correctly, and that was as it was coming off of the target after its bomb run. It has been awhile since I read the article but I think what I described is more or less correct. I wish I could remember the article title or issue number so I could look it up again. That voices on that clip make me think that that must have been the kind of frustration the defending fighter pilots in that training exercise must have felt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rotarycrazy 4 Posted January 5, 2012 (edited) Great video, love the pilots audio The pilot manuvers like the buff has a tail gun how many flares does a buff carries ? Edited January 5, 2012 by rotarycrazy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KJakker 901 Posted January 5, 2012 According to what could find the B-52 has "Six AN/ALE-20 flare dispensers, with a total of 96 flares" and "eight AN/ALE-24 chaff dispensers, with a total of 1,125 bundles of chaff." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+daddyairplanes 10,235 Posted January 6, 2012 sometimes think that they took out the tail gun not because it was redundant, but cause fighter pilots kept getting pissed at Red Flag! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
