B-52 Stratofortress

Martin H · February 11, 2007, 11:02:03 AM

How about a Black buck buff to go with AD's falklands group build?

Hmmm might just strip down and repaint the 72nd antiflash (with blue steel's) buff i did the other year...........

Gekko_1 · February 13, 2007, 12:06:22 AM

Guys, Jennings was kind enough to allow me to use his B-52 profile line-art (thanks again Jennings!), so here's my first rendition of an RAAF B-52OM (Oz Maritime).
As Greg suggested it would carry 12 Harpoon anti-ship missiles. (which I think I calculated correctly at 19mm in length with a diameter of 1.7mm at 1/200th scale?)

As you can see I haven't shaded it yet, but hope to do so this week. I also have to add the MAD boom tail extension.

Question: Is it at all possible for a B-52 to carry some form of air to air missile like the AMRAAM or Sidewinder for self defence? I know bombers like this would probably have some form of fighter escort (F-18F/F-35) in a hostile environment, but just entertain my query for a moment, would it be possible? If so, how/where would they be carried?

Richard.

GTX · February 13, 2007, 12:22:44 AM

Richard,

Looking very nice - can't wait to see it in plastic.

As for the AAMs, with something the size of the B-52 it certainly wouldn't be a problem (hell even the Nimrod carried sidewinders under the wings during the Falklands war). You could probably fit sidewinders or even AMRAAM or ASRAAM (given it's RAAF) either on special pylons under the outer wing, mounted on the existing inner wing pylons or in the weapon's bay. Only thing to remember for something such as the AMRAAM is to ensure the radar is compatable.

On a related note, are you going to have sonobouy launch tubes like the P-3 or simply have the sonobouys drop from the weapon's bay like on the Tu-142? Either way, I would probably convert the rear weapon's bay into the sonobouy bay.

Being an ex maritime patrol boy, if you want any other tips, just ask.

Regards,

Greg

Jeffry Fontaine · February 13, 2007, 02:54:16 AM

QuoteQuestion: Is it at all possible for a B-52 to carry some form of air to air missile like the AMRAAM or Sidewinder for self defence? I know bombers like this would probably have some form of fighter escort (F-18F/F-35) in a hostile environment, but just entertain my query for a moment, would it be possible? If so, how/where would they be carried?

Some versions of the B-52 were fitted with an additional stores pylon between the engine pylons. These pylons were part of the defensive countermeasures and were intended for the carriage of some kind of active countermeasure such as a rocket equipped with a chaff or flare warehead. As the misson of the aircraft changed and defensive countermeasures improved through the use of other types of equipment these pylons were removed from those aircraft that had them fitted. If your PB-52 was to be fitted for carriage of AAM, this pylon would be the ideal location for that purpose.

Madoc · February 13, 2007, 10:59:36 AM

Richard,

Looking uber cool!

I don't know about fitting the BUFF with a MAD set up though. As I understand it, a Magnetic Anomaly Detector has to be pretty close to the water's surface in order for it to work. On such a large bird as the BUFF this might not be a good thing. The B-52 can fly at low level but it's not terribly handy down there and that would present more problems for it to fly such missions than a smaller aircraft like the Nimrod or Orion.

From what I understand of the B-52's maritime mission it was to carry the war loads and those would be cued by other, specialized, aircraft. Thus the B-52 didn't need to fly that low and do all the maneuvers required for such a sensor mission.

As to air to air self defense, I'd imagine you could stuff the missiles inside the bombay without much issue. Even 12 Harpoon type missiles wouldn't take up all the Mighty BUFF's carriage space. Also, internal storage reduces drag and that helps with keeping the plane on station - a highly desireable thing for a maritime patrol bird.

I gotta say that I'm real tickled with the idea of OZ BUFFs!

Madoc

kitnut617 · February 06, 2008, 07:21:12 AM

You can find a lot about this here: http://www.vectorsite.net/avb52_1.html

And this is a plan view from the website, the -35 is about the same size as the B-52:

LemonJello · February 22, 2008, 03:40:46 PM

How about a delta-wing BUFF?

dragon · February 23, 2008, 11:53:18 AM

If you must do something, do it with gusto!
Forward swept B-52, Rutanized.

Wyrmshadow · February 24, 2008, 04:05:02 AM

That -35 gave me an idea. The Bear wings I just resized them to be the same span as the original on the B-47. The engines are from a C-130 and they are the same scale. Propellers I took from an E-2 hawkeye. I would think the Propfan on the An-70 would be too high tech for this time period.

GTX · March 27, 2009, 05:45:26 PM

Some more B-52 inspiration - a couple of real world proposals for re-engining:

Regards,

Greg

MAD · March 28, 2009, 12:45:27 AM

Quote from: GTX on March 27, 2009, 05:45:26 PM
Some more B-52 inspiration - a couple of real world proposals for re-engining:

Regards,

Greg

Hay Greg
If your ASW/MP 'Buff' was to working at constant low-level altitudes, then a high by-pass turbofan arrangement would be far more efficient than the low by-pass turbofans.
It would also be desirable to have enough thrust in the four high by-pass engines (as opposed to the original eight!) so that like in the case of the P-3 Orion and Nimrod, some of the engines could be shut down or put into idle, so as to lower fuel consumption and increase time on station/patrol.

Also of note – that first picture of the 'Buff' with canards wouldn't be a bad idea for a ASW/MP aircraft flying at low altitude so often, as it would contribute greatly to taking a lot of buffeting out of the ride over water – especially with the Buff's tendency to be susceptible to cross winds and its nose-down flight profile at low speed

M.A.D

GTX · March 28, 2009, 11:03:16 AM

There have been quite a few proposals to re-engine the Buffs with modern more fuel efficient/higher thrust and more reliable engines (some didn't even involve owning the engines) - all have been rejected, despite what apparently is very attractive savings/performance increases.

Regards,

Greg

rallymodeller · March 28, 2009, 06:28:43 PM

Here is one I was kicking around for a while, finally finished it tonight:

ChernayaAkula · March 29, 2009, 08:28:53 AM

That RAF BUFF looks fantastic!

anthonyp · March 29, 2009, 08:44:20 AM

Quote from: Overkiller on March 28, 2009, 11:54:22 PM
How about the USN as a Buff operator?

Funny you should mention that. I just picked up two 1/144 B-52's (and a B-47) that I was going to turn into PB-52's (and a PB-47), armed with Harpoons, torps, and in a nifty USN paint scheme (may do one in non-low vis white and grey, and the other in low vis).