Airplane Markings USA

[Conan71]

I don't know that I've ever seen one with the radar unit rotating.  They are in a fixed position when they are doing touch and go's at TIK.

[AquaMan]

It was a twin engine, so I'm thinking its some variation of the 737. Too fat for the 707. The scoop wasn't so big. Oh, yeah, no windows, or very few. I was pretty close to it around Pine and 77th east avenue.

As an update, I spoke with someone with the TFD who seemed to be aware of the plane. He says its an Air Force unit, one of a half dozen, that flies the prez and other high ranking officials around the country. It is in addition to the 747's apparently. They practice touch and goes as well as ILS systems all over the country. Some are carrying officials while some are just decoys.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I don't know that I've ever seen one with the radar unit rotating.  They are in a fixed position when they are doing touch and go's at TIK.

I think they leave them off most of the time, but have seen a few times when they were rotating out of Tinker.  It is especially cool when running down the turnpike just in front of where they come over to the north.  Still low enough to get good look at the plane.  Very cool.

Was traveling in western OK (panhandle) one time (early 80's), heading east and a flight of B-52's came over my head at about 500 feet!! - 7 of them in a kind of staggered row, maybe 1/2 to 1 mile behind each other.  Saw them from a distance and pulled over quickly, shut off engine and watched.  You could have counted rivets on the body if they weren't moving so fast!  And loud!

Very exciting to see warplanes moving fast and up close.  As long as they aren't dropping things on me!  Worked on some B-1 stuff once upon a time and would love to get up close to one of those - only got to see at a distance.

[dbacks fan]

A freind in Tucson has a picture of a BUF (B-52)  flying above the Colorado river but below the canyon top on Lake Powell.  Awsome sight.

[Hoss]

A freind in Tucson has a picture of a BUF (B-52)  flying above the Colorado river but below the canyon top on Lake Powell.  Awsome sight.

Those things are awesome to see up close.  When the Tulsa Airshow hit town last year I got down to the south observation area at TIA and watched him come in, turn around and fly out.  10 minutes later the B-2 stealth did the same thing.  Awesome sight.

[Ed W]

I was hiking along a ridge in NW Pennsylvania on the north side of Moraine State Park when a string of C-130s flew by...below me!  I looked down on the tops of the planes as they flew about a hundred feet above the lake.  There's an air cargo wing at Pittsburgh.  Sure, the C-130s may not be fast, but it would still be a nervy bit of flying.

[dbacks fan]

I was hiking along a ridge in NW Pennsylvania on the north side of Moraine State Park when a string of C-130s flew by...below me!  I looked down on the tops of the planes as they flew about a hundred feet above the lake.  There's an air cargo wing at Pittsburgh.  Sure, the C-130s may not be fast, but it would still be a nervy bit of flying.

I don't remember who was in charge of the USAF in the 70's and 80's but they had the philosophy and training for the cold war era that they flew knap of the earth training missions and this lead to several B-52 crashes because of the low altitude. Some crashed because they were not flying fast enough to do a pull up and bank turn, stalled and basically nosed into the ground.

This is similar to the manouver....

[Conan71]

I think they leave them off most of the time, but have seen a few times when they were rotating out of Tinker.  It is especially cool when running down the turnpike just in front of where they come over to the north.  Still low enough to get good look at the plane.  Very cool.

Was traveling in western OK (panhandle) one time (early 80's), heading east and a flight of B-52's came over my head at about 500 feet!! - 7 of them in a kind of staggered row, maybe 1/2 to 1 mile behind each other.  Saw them from a distance and pulled over quickly, shut off engine and watched.  You could have counted rivets on the body if they weren't moving so fast!  And loud!

Very exciting to see warplanes moving fast and up close.  As long as they aren't dropping things on me!  Worked on some B-1 stuff once upon a time and would love to get up close to one of those - only got to see at a distance.

I was about to comment on where you saw the B-52's then realized you said "panhandle".  I figured you has seen one going over I-40.  You can see some really big iron just south of Foss Lake at Clinton-Sherman, also known as the Oklahoma Space Port.  With Altus just about 20-30 miles to the south and being a convenient hop from TIK, Vance, and McConnell it still has a fair amount of traffic. I had to put a 172 down there one day as a result of some quickly-deveoping storms pretty much in any direction to east of when I took off from Elk City.

At any rate, the B-52 is a deceptively large aircraft and looks like it's creeping along when they are on an approach speed of 160 kts. or so.

As per DBack's video of the Fairchild crash, Lt. Col. Holland, the PIC, had a history of being a complete idiot behind the controls.  Thankfully he never made it into civilian service.  Sorry to sound so harsh, but read the accident report and it's hard to arrive at any other conclusion.

[Red Arrow]

As per DBack's video of the Fairchild crash, Lt. Col. Holland, the PIC, had a history of being a complete idiot behind the controls.  Thankfully he never made it into civilian service.  Sorry to sound so harsh, but read the accident report and it's hard to arrive at any other conclusion.

Maybe it was too late before he realized it but I wonder why he didn't try to roll level earlier.  It's better to abort a maneuver and be embarrassed than try to complete it and be dead.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I interviewed with Boeing in Wichita once upon a time to maybe work on avionics.  They had a B52 fuselage in a hanger that I got to climb around on during the day!  Magnificent plane!!  Love it almost as much as I like the B-17.

Maybe it comes from my early indoctrination to the plane in "Dr. Strangelove"!  Always did like Peter Sellers, too.

[JCnOwasso]

Possibly an E-4B? Those are not long for this life. 

I think Pilots are required to do Touch and Go's at any landing stripe they may be required to land.  But I honestly have no clue.

[dbacks fan]

Possibly an E-4B? Those are not long for this life.

The 747 like the B-52 was built in sufficient numbers, that it can fly for many more years. There are enough spares for 747's in all the various bone yards to keep them going. Also they were so well built.

In January 2006, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the entire E-4B fleet would be retired starting in 2009. His replacement Robert Gates reversed this decision in May 2007. The E-4B fleet will remain in service until at least 2015.[9] This is due in no small part to the unique capabilities of the E-4B, which cannot be duplicated by any other single aircraft in Air Force service, as well as the recent resurrection of Russian Military forces under president Vladimir Putin, and also the cancellation in 2007 of the E-10 MC2A program, which was considered a successor aircraft to the EC-135 and E-8, and could also perform many of the same tasks of the E-4B. In addition, despite its build cost, the E-4B is comparatively inexpensive to maintain and operate, as it uses the engines and structural components of the civilian 747, which have become plentiful following the demise of several airlines in the early 21st century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_E-4

[Vision 2025]

Maybe it was too late before he realized it but I wonder why he didn't try to roll level earlier.  It's better to abort a maneuver and be embarrassed than try to complete it and be dead.

You can't roll a stalled wing level.  Unfortunately, you can see the 52 start to loose altitude in the first turn.  This was a classic slow speed high angle turn stall/spin entry that would have taken 10's of thousands of feet to recover from in such a large aircraft.  Very sad, the entire flight crew died because of an idiot.

[dbacks fan]

My favorite USAF bomber record"

The B-58 set a number of records, including a low-level flight covering 1,930 kilometers (1,200 miles / 1,044 NMI) at altitudes of under 150 meters (500 feet) with an average speed of 1,100 KPH (683 MPH / 610 KT), and a dash climb to a maximum altitude of 26,025 meters (85,360 feet).

Talk about hauling the mail!

http://www.vectorsite.net/avb58.html

[Red Arrow]

You can't roll a stalled wing level.  Unfortunately, you can see the 52 start to loose altitude in the first turn. 

Which is when the pilot should have unloaded the wing to prevent a stall and then roll level.  At the end with the wings near vertical, it was indeed too late.