B-52 "FICON": B-52 carrying F-104's *finished*

Old Wombat · May 07, 2018, 08:13:49 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on May 07, 2018, 06:21:32 AM
That's absolutely splendid

+1

b29r · May 08, 2018, 11:59:53 AM

Dave, I'm just gobsmacked!

That is a marvelous build, and a great storyline, and you just wrestled the old girl into submission in a wonderful way. If the seams gave you fits, the finished product sure doesn't show it.

Fantastic!

Best regards,
Kem

sandiego89 · May 17, 2018, 05:19:17 PM

Thank you everyone! A few of the underside to see how the F-104s fit.

TheChronicOne · May 17, 2018, 09:19:45 PM

McColm · May 17, 2018, 10:22:40 PM

Wow!

jalles · May 18, 2018, 10:33:18 AM

Yeah, that's pretty darn fantastic

Love the anti-flash white and silver

Glenn Gilbertson · May 19, 2018, 12:28:48 PM

Great idea and splendid work!

Stratos · June 06, 2018, 02:20:02 AM

Amazing work!, If I understood correctly by reading the backstory, the idea was to refuel the F-104 until they can land on a friendly airport. Is that?

sandiego89 · June 06, 2018, 05:08:55 AM

Quote from: Stratos on June 06, 2018, 02:20:02 AM
Amazing work!, If I understood correctly by reading the backstory, the idea was to refuel the F-104 until they can land on a friendly airport. Is that?

Correct Syratos. Once the F-104s were launched they could not hook back up to the B-52E launch ship, but the B-52 had a hose/drouge reel in the rear of the bomb bay to refuel the probe equipped fighters.
This refueling worked reasonably well for recon flights, and there were reports of the F-104s making brief, high sped penetrations of Soviet controlled airspace, but crews were less optimistic about making the rendezvous with the mother ship (or a sister ship B-52) if all out conflict broke out and they had to find their tanker in the heat if battle. Finding a suitable divert base in Europe, Iran, Turkey and other places was often part of the plan, and if all out nuclear war had happened the unspoken "head to the East of the Ural mountains, punch out, and marry a local girl" plan common to other B-58 and Vulcan crews was always an option...

sandiego89 · June 16, 2018, 08:32:45 AM

Wow, very humbled to take the GB honors for this. Thank you so much for the encouragement and support.

This monster is really tough to take pictures of.

Weaver · June 16, 2018, 07:51:44 PM

Not surprised you won. It's the epitome of the 1960s Cold War: a mix of technical innovation and ridiculous risk-taking...

Congratulations!

TheChronicOne · June 16, 2018, 08:20:45 PM

Hell yeah, those are some righteous new shots.

zenrat · June 16, 2018, 10:08:12 PM

Well done Dave.

King of the big jobs...

kitnut617 · June 17, 2018, 04:36:12 AM

You did a terrific job on it Dave

TheChronicOne · June 17, 2018, 05:41:56 AM

Quote from: zenrat on June 16, 2018, 10:08:12 PM
Well done Dave.

King of the big jobs...

That's what I was thinking... to that end... let's get a picture of this together with the crop duster . . . . . .