THE OFFICIAL IN THE BUFF B52 GROUP BUILD

I pulled the sheet styrene out for the clips today. I thought I had enough on my desk, but as I need 9 clip 'chips,' I realized I will need to cut from a big stock sheet.

all I have on hand is 1mm, I think the blue print from Russ calls for 0.5mm,

Dom

Dom,

Sorry, bud - that's an error. I made my panels from 1 mm styrene sheet. I'll send out a correction.

Thanks,

Russ

Russ, the ratio by eyeball and the micrometer said i could get away with 1mm, it seemed to look the

same proportion as in your pictures of the real clips and your new clips.......

Thanks for the correction......now i feel better....

I was going to start cutting the clip chips, but a fan stopped working so I had to pull it apart to clean and lubricate the bearings, so to avoid frustration, I just pretended i was working on a J-57 fan.......lol:

Photo credit: S.A. Young, www.photography.ca

Dom

You're welcome, Dom.  Cool fan BTW - that would keep your shop ventilated .

Russ

Thanks Russ!

I was trying to scribe a line in the styrene with my new tungsten scriber, but it looks like the very

sharp point about half a thou was snapped off, I think it happened when I dropped the sucker

while I was cutting those little mirrors.

I'm trying to re-sharpen it with a 600 diamond grit paper.......

So the clip chips are still clip strips of styrene for Saturday,

oh what will Sunday bring?

Dom

Got the styrene stock cut for the clips......what a fiasco,

the scriber gave me almost a thou variance on the cut,

thank gosh for the 'tolerence theory'......

Dom

Update:

Ga-Dang, thanks again Russ for that Clip blue-print......

saved me a ton of time today........

The chip clip blanks are done.

i cut then 1mm shorter, and will use 'T' stock to

complete the top portions.

i am seriously considering cheating here, and only painting in 6mm bomb-release gap,

a single piece of shaped stock for the 'Brace' and Brackets, as they will be buried deep in the belly of the beast.

I dunno, Russ has done a watch-maker proud with his reconstruction of the clips, I just can't afford to put the time in for a 12-part build on each panel.

I'm just lucky to have those blank clip chips done this weekend.....

i still need a glue strategy for 84 Mk 82's.....

Dom

Bockscar

The chip clip blanks are done.

i cut then 1mm shorter, and will use 'T' stock to

complete the top portions.

i am seriously considering cheating here, and only painting in 6mm bomb-release gap,

a single piece of shaped stock for the 'Brace' and Brackets, as they will be buried deep in the belly of the beast.

I dunno, Russ has done a watch-maker proud with his reconstruction of the clips, I just can't afford to put the time in for a 12-part build on each panel.

I'm just lucky to have those blank clip chips done this weekend.....

i still need a glue strategy for 84 Mk 82's.....

Dom

Hey, Dom,

Build those clips the way you want, bud. There are no hard and fast rules - the manual is just a guide. As you say, the slots won't be seen anyway inside the plane.

As for gluing the bombs on, I would just scrape about 1/2 inch (~12 mm) of paint on the side facing in and glue it directly to the panel. When scraping the paint, make sure it's in a position so your bomb tail fins are oriented the way you want them. You will also have to adjust the level of each bomb and make sure the fuses on each bomb line up with the ones above it. I suggest starting from the top so you can use the square ends of the panels to even up the first few bombs before the panel angles inward.

BTW, this is the reason I added the shackles - it saves a lot of frantic adjustments at the last seconds before the glue dries.

Good luck!

Russ

PS - If you need some additional photos for reference, let me know and I'll send you what I have.

Thanks Russ:

never would have been this far without your guidance, I was going to make that a SAC nuke build!

Now she's a 'Nam basement digger! - many thanks!

Hey, never too many photos of the BUFF and related material, if and when you get the time,

anything you want to share will find a happy home with me!

Dom

You're welcome, Dom. I don't have any particular photos I was going to put up - just let me know if there's some detail you need more... ah... detail on .

Russ

Guys,

If you send me your email, I will send you some .pdf files on bomb shackles and bomb releases and other triva.

I would post them here, but my brain isn't being very efficient right now.

Hi, All,

I was looking for some ramp details tonight and came across some links that I think you'll like. The first one is an AF propaganda film on You Tube about the B-52 in Vietnam. It shows the B-52 effort in terms of the crews, the maintenance personnel on the ground, and even Job Control. There are also some quick frames of bomb clips being loaded at night - note the wet ramp. Note that during the preflight at the aircraft, the aircraft commander is checking the write-ups in the book of 781A maintenance forms with the crew chief.

During the bomb run, you can hear the soft tones of the Radar Homing and Warning (RHAW) receiver in the background. The tones vary according to the type of radar that is painting the aircraft. On the RHAW scopes, there are strobes that radiate from the center and indicate the direction of the threat. The strobes are coded (dotted, dashed, solid, etc.) depending on the type of threat. These systems were fairly simple compared to the highly sophisticated ECM systems they have today.

 Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdoAY3qGLHk

 The second is a series of pictures of Utapao and even Guam. It's a mix of cool pics of the B-52, scenes of the beaches and jungles on Guam. Also, a USO tour by Bob Hope,  and some nice pictures of bombs being loaded on bomb clips at a hard stand on Guam.

 Here's the link: http://valpam.home.netcom.com/ramp.htm

Enjoy ,

Russ

I found some cool stuff too!

www.criticalpast.com/.../65675039076_airman_loaded-bomb-racks_airman-near-bomb-bay-of-B-52-F-plane

[Russ, Dom, and others,

56-0632 arrived today at the Phase dock. its in for DLM and a good wash...whstl]

Major Kong

Buffirn

I found some cool stuff too!

www.criticalpast.com/.../65675039076_airman_loaded-bomb-racks_airman-near-bomb-bay-of-B-52-F-plane

Hi, Jim,

That is cool! Even though it was a hot job  

Thanks!

Russ

Hey, Alle...er...Maj ,

Sounds interesting. Looking forward to seeing it unwrapped!

Russ 

Dom,

Here's a better view of the cracks in the ramp pavement. You can see the tar oozing out .

BTW, that large square unit next to the aircraft is an air conditioning unit. Its being there in that position usually meant the aircraft was loaded and ready for an imminent mission. The ACs were in big demand for the crews because of the extreme heat and humidity and the long preflight time. They were rarely available for the maintenance troops but the AGE people did their best to provide them when they could.

The other clue that the aircraft was primed to go was the presence of the MA-1A air compressor unit. This unit provided forced air to turn the turbine and start one of the engines (see second photo).

When a bomber was on nuclear alert and got the word to launch, there was no time to spin up an MA-1A so they used a cartridge start, or "cart start". An explosive cartridge was inserted into the engine and when It was ignited, it produced enough force to turn over the turbines and start the engines. It also produced a huge cloud of smoke! Very impressive .

 Cheers,

Russ

Even better than a cart start was a Quick Start.  Carts were loaded in all 8 engines.  We spent a lot of time in Quick Start in the mid to late 80's.  We always knew when we were going to get a practice horn because they took us out of Quick Start.  Had to be a good steward of the People's money

Hey, Jim,

Might as well tell them about the FASAGAs too (First Sortie After Ground Alert). After an aircraft came off alert status, it was flown to test out the systems and burn off some of the fuel that had been sitting idle. The FASAGAs were probably used as training missions as well. You would know that for sure, Jim.

Each plane was towed to the parking ramp and a no-lone zone with armed guards was established around it. Pretty soon, a convoy of MMS and escorting MP vehicles arrived. The nukes were offloaded and replaced with practice bombs, or the plane flew clean. If the chaff had been in the magazines for a long period of time, it was dropped so new chaff could be loaded. I believe it was the same with the flares too (Jim?).

We knew were most likely in for a lot of work when one of these birds came back .

Russ

buffjock

[Russ, Dom, and others,

56-0632 arrived today at the Phase dock. its in for DLM and a good wash...whstl]

Major Kong

looking forward to its first mission....

i've been trying to get some styrene stock to put together some 'Moscow Party Favors'......

Von Neumann

Buffirn

Guys,

If you send me your email, I will send you some .pdf files on bomb shackles and bomb releases and other triva.

I would post them here, but my brain isn't being very efficient right now.

 

 

If my brain was efficient, I'd have a brain.........lol

Yeah, i'll PM and would love to see those!

Thanks!

Dom

Striker8241

Buffirn

I found some cool stuff too!

www.criticalpast.com/.../65675039076_airman_loaded-bomb-racks_airman-near-bomb-bay-of-B-52-F-plane

Hi, Jim,

That is cool! Even though it was a hot job  

Thanks!

Russ

Many thanks Jim for that link......yes, very cool for a hot job!!!

Dom

Striker8241

Hey, Alle...er...Maj ,

Sounds interesting. Looking forward to seeing it unwrapped!

Russ 

Dom

Striker8241

Dom,

Here's a better view of the cracks in the ramp pavement. You can see the tar oozing out .

BTW, that large square unit next to the aircraft is an air conditioning unit. Its being there in that position usually meant the aircraft was loaded and ready for an imminent mission. The ACs were in big demand for the crews because of the extreme heat and humidity and the long preflight time. They were rarely available for the maintenance troops but the AGE people did their best to provide them when they could.

The other clue that the aircraft was primed to go was the presence of the MA-1A air compressor unit. This unit provided forced air to turn the turbine and start one of the engines (see second photo).

When a bomber was on nuclear alert and got the word to launch, there was no time to spin up an MA-1A so they used a cartridge start, or "cart start". An explosive cartridge was inserted into the engine and when It was ignited, it produced enough force to turn over the turbines and start the engines. It also produced a huge cloud of smoke! Very impressive .

 Cheers,

Russ

 

 

 

That is not a BUFF, you can't fool me man, that is a Starfighter....LOL

yeah, i see what you mean, I can smell that bubbly pitch from here,

those are very cool photos, I wish I could walk that line......

Thanks again,

Dominic

Buffirn

Even better than a cart start was a Quick Start.  Carts were loaded in all 8 engines.  We spent a lot of time in Quick Start in the mid to late 80's.  We always knew when we were going to get a practice horn because they took us out of Quick Start.  Had to be a good steward of the People's money

over my short fore-head,,,,lol

did they put one cart out for each engine?

Quick Start was to get the BUFF's off the ground ASAP?

Dom

Striker8241

Hey, Jim,

Might as well tell them about the FASAGAs too (First Sortie After Ground Alert). After an aircraft came off alert status, it was flown to test out the systems and burn off some of the fuel that had been sitting idle. The FASAGAs were probably used as training missions as well. You would know that for sure, Jim.

Each plane was towed to the parking ramp and a no-lone zone with armed guards was established around it. Pretty soon, a convoy of MMS and escorting MP vehicles arrived. The nukes were offloaded and replaced with practice bombs, or the plane flew clean. If the chaff had been in the magazines for a long period of time, it was dropped so new chaff could be loaded. I believe it was the same with the flares too (Jim?).

We knew were most likely in for a lot of work when one of these birds came back .

Russ

If the nukes were in the magazines for a long period of time, where did you drop those, Venezuela?.....LOL

Yeah, I wish.........they sure worked those planes and crews like Satan's Servants.......

Thanks guys, we never hear about stuff like that anywhere else. Must have been a real curse to have to be the soldiers unloading the Nukes and reloading the practice bombs just to FASAGA.....

Dom

Guys,

I met a Vet from the Airforce, he sold me an SR-71 on Ebay......

Turns out he was stationed in a large AFB in Okinawa....i wonder which one......

A 14 year Vet, with F-4 experience......he may be dropping by just to say hello, goes by the name Jim,

it would be nice if he stopped by.

Dom

Von,

Your one crazy BBF..... As long as we're on guard, We will never speak RUSSKi. That being said, perhaps I should hide my Tu-95....

No hurry on the party favors, just having to be responsible for one is almost keeping me awake at night...

632 will be in Phase for around a week or so. Got a new decal sheet from the UK.

Basher Five Two- Over and out..

MK

Shhhssssshhhhh.......

I got a great ride from a soft-skinned Russkie 'diplomat', very Bear,.......

she pointed out all the great features of the Tupolev between

the flight office and bomb bay.......special vacuum systems........

but i need her to keep thinking she has turned me, otherwise

no more USSR honey-pots for me......you know how Bears like honey........

LOL......

Striker8241

Hey, Jim,

Might as well tell them about the FASAGAs too (First Sortie After Ground Alert). After an aircraft came off alert status, it was flown to test out the systems and burn off some of the fuel that had been sitting idle. The FASAGAs were probably used as training missions as well. You would know that for sure, Jim.

Each plane was towed to the parking ramp and a no-lone zone with armed guards was established around it. Pretty soon, a convoy of MMS and escorting MP vehicles arrived. The nukes were offloaded and replaced with practice bombs, or the plane flew clean. If the chaff had been in the magazines for a long period of time, it was dropped so new chaff could be loaded. I believe it was the same with the flares too (Jim?).

We knew were most likely in for a lot of work when one of these birds came back .

Russ

I remember FASAGA birds.  In my days during the late 80's and early 90's the weapons were unloaded in the Alert Area and taken back to the Weapons Storage Area (WSA).  The plane got towed back over to the "C" Ramp, the mass parking ramp and the defensive stuff was unloaded.  The sortie was then set up for a training flight with no weapons on board, training chaff uploaded.  The simulation mode worked pretty well.  Usually, you flew the EWO (Emergency War Orders) fuel load.  That worked out to about a 9.5 hour sortie with about 45 minutes of aerial refueling, 2-3 hour of low level with bombing and ECM training and finally, the pilot's lowering the landing zone elevation for 2 hours.  Sometimes they didn't flare when they were supposed to.  The BUFF isn't an easy plane to land smoothly.

Those flights could be nightmares.  But that meant you got to log all the degraded equipment training you were required each quarter.  Lotsa fun!

There was worse.  Flying the first sortie after Phase or flying the cann bird.  Absolute certainty of some sort of airborne malfunction.