I was stationed at a SAC base for four years. Always loved these beasties.
Spent 5 months with the “G’s” at Beale in '73. I do have a soft spot for them now, but hated the ECM boxes in those things back then.
I had the pleasure of having one fly over my head on arrival and departure when we had our local air show. A slight to behold for sure!
Snapped on arrival
On departure
The pilot did a Falls(Niagara Falls) tour on departure and came back over the runway for a second pass. On that second pass he tipped the plane back and forth to wave at all of us standing there taking pictures, it was great.
Growing up in Central NY, seeing B-52s flying overhead was the norm on a daily basis especially you know Griffiss AFB is located in nearby Rome, NY. Since the closure of the base due to realignmen, it’s now a rare thin* to see and hear one fly overhead nowadays.
Thanks for the post. I never knew how the main gear retracted. Looks more complicated than I thought. I did the big 1/72 monogram kit as a boy and made a mess of it. Video makes me want to build another, in a much smaller scale.
Only one smaller is 1/144 scale. I’m not sure how hard they are to find. Revell Germany is the most recent release; really well detailed for its scale.
Minicraft does an “H” in 1/144…no pit detail at all except for a couple of seats on the floor, but you can’t see much of it anyway. Fit isn’t too bad.
I think there might be either a “D” or “G” out now as well in the same line. Around 16 inch wing span. Mini also does a KC135 in the same scale. Doing a refuel ceiling hanger with both of them.
Just grabbed a 1:200 DML/Dragon G off of ebay 
itty bitty!!!
You don’t waste any time do you keavdog?! Lol.
If you think that is itty bitty, he’s doing a C-47 Skytrain in that scale for a GB that starts in Decemeber! Now that is itty bitty.
The 1/144 really isn’t that small. I like that scale for the “BIG” stuff, like the C-5, C-17, and B-52. I did the B-1 in 1/72 and I should of done that in 1/144.
About 10 years ago, when I was working on my instrument rating…I was shooting an approach (under the “hood”) into POntiac MI.
ATC…“Cessna 4 delta tango…traffic at your 12 o’clock, 4000 feet…traffic is a B-52!!!”
The hood came off immediately!..“Traffic in sight…can’t miss that sucker!!!”
It was headed out to Selfridge, for the airshow.
Just recently, I flew a “Wings of Mercy” mission up to Sawyer, in the U.P. Former SAC base. That runway was a LOT more than I’m used to!
I did too. Boy, that was one BIIIIIIG kit! LOL!! Years ago just before Griffiss AFB closed down I bought a 1/144 scale B-52 kit that included decals of Griffiss AFB markings. For the life of me, I cannot find it anywhere in my house. I know I didn’t build it or toss it. The only possibilty a contractor spied it in my cellar and stole it from me along with a Hasegawa A-10 Warthog kit. This happened going back in 1998 when I moved in my house.
That was my base, fermis. K.I. Sawyer aka KI Siberia.
Revell had the 1/175 kit, which I always liked. An easy and fun build.
I’ve got no love for the 1/72 kit.
Thanks. I spent 3 years at Vandenberg. Not a '52 base, but we got them stopping by occasionally. Biggest number of visitors were the 133’s delivering missiles to test.
Loved to watch the 52’s take off and land, however. They looked strange because of the different pitch angles at those times. I guess the angle of incidence was a lot different than on other big birds.
I really remember the Super Guppies down at Santa Barbara Airport.
I’ve only ever once seen a B-52 in flight. We were on a commercial flight one morning from SFO up to Boise. The pilot alerted us that we were about to cross paths with an Air Force flight. It came by on a 90 deg heading relative to us, several thousand feet below. A great view.
“Siberia”…haha, I can see that! I was up there in August…there was a nice chill in the air…felt way better than back at home! I was not aware of the history of Sawyer. In the short time I had to view the airport (we broke out of the clouds with only about 400 feet down to the runway), I could see some remnants of what looked to be military at one time. There was a few pics on the walls in the terminal. The place is in a sad state, compared to its former glory.
The only thing there, was this old ghost…
It’s a Ruskie. Canada wouldn’t let em through their airspace, so they turned back and landed at Sawyer. The pilots got deported back to Czech Repub. She’s been rotting away for about ten years now.
“It’s a Ruskie. Canada wouldn’t let em through their airspace, so they turned back and landed at Sawyer. The pilots got deported back to Czech Repub. She’s been rotting away for about ten years now.“
Wow! I had no idea that thing was up there! I left in 87 so I guess there’s been many changes. I’m looking to do a road trip up there next summer to see what’s what.
A friend and I recently visited Wurtsmith here in lower Michigan and it was very eerie being able to just drive into the old alert pad and weapons storage areas. Very sad what’s become of once great places.
Awsome link! Thanks.
Jim [cptn]