B-52D tail turret question

No. This is a museum display A/C. The little posts are nails/wire welded onto the upper surfaces to keep the birds/bird shit off the airplane.

Ugly isn't it?

Norm

Those little spine thingies were put on the airplane after it was retired and put on permanent display. They are supposed to help keep birds from landing on the Buff and doing their "business". Judging from the white streaks I see on the plane, the spines have not been entirely successful. Scott Wilson

"Pauli G " wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

Nice picture. Did any tail turret gunners shoot down NVA fighters during Vietnam? Did any B-52 tail turret gunner ever score?

Frank

Yes. Twice.

18 Dec. 1972. S/Sgt. Samuel O. Turner got a MIG 21 24 Dec. 1972 A1C Albert E. Moore got a MIG 21

One of these two B-52s is displayed at the now closed museum at Fairchild AFB in Spokane, WA.

Norm

"Norm Filer" wrote in news:GyUfe.4329$Fn1.863@trnddc03:

Talk about being in a very small club.

The other B-52 MiG Killer is on display at the north entrance of the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Martin

If the histroy of the aircraft is explained to the cadets, maybe it will let them know that enlisted men are capable of doing more than cleaning up around the base and being the servants of junior officers. (please note slight attempt at ironic humor here)

Don McIntyre Clarksville, TN

Fairchild

it must be quite the feat to shoot down a jet with a tail turret, considering A) the limited traverse that such a gun would have and B) the incredible speed of a jet making a firing pass. Were the B-52Ds tail turrets assisted by some sort of radar or tracking, or was it the old fashioned squint/aim/trigger method?

Radar. The B-52 wan't the first US bomber to take advantage of the technology either.

WmB

Well, a couple of things to remember here. First, since it was a tail chase (due to the limited aspect of the AA-2 Atolls used on the MiG-21), the speed differential would not be that high. The B-52 was probably moving along at around 600 mph. Also, the Mig was probably on a fairly steady course from nearly dead astern to provide good tracking for the missile seekers (i.e. it wasn't a high deflection angle pass). That also provided good tracking for the B-52 gun tracking radar. The MiG just got too close.

Dave

Dave is correct -- the MiG drivers didn't pay attention to the fact that the only place the B-52 could shoot at them is dead astern.

As for who shot who down, the numbers right now still read B-52s 2, MiGs maybe 1. (A MiG-21PFM supposedly ran into a B-52 during December

1972 and both aircraft crashed, but the dates and other info don't match up.)

The rest of the losses were to SAMs, so don't get things confused between losses and methods of loss.

Cookie Sewell