Distribution of armor on a B-52

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 09:12:06 -0400, Dweezil Dwarftosser
wrote:

Guy Alcala wrote:

[ Concerning B-52s and armor... ]

It's not as if the crews would be
bringing a damaged a/c back to anything, even assuming they weren't already
killed by blast or dying of radiation sickness.

Then I guess you don't subscribe to the apochryphal stories
of massive armadas of empty B-52s and KC-135s winging south
(Brazil? Australia? S. Africa?) afterwards...

Hell - I knew a guy who'd 'swear' that if his F-4 was ever
launched from Victor Alert in Germany, he'd be the 'Emporer
of Pyrenees' within a few hours: Head of State for the newest
nuclear nation, Andorra. (And he wasn't gonna take any lip
from either the President of France OR the Bishop of
Sao de Urguel!!)

Since the launch runway out of Victor Alert at Incirlik as well as the
one out of Aviano was 23, I always figured that starting with full
tanks, jettisoning when empty and cruise climbing carefully, I could'a
been real close to Kenya or maybe even make Rhodesia (then).

Then I read Nevil Shute's "On the Beach" and thought, "screw-it...I'm
going to Tiblisi and go out with a bang not a whimper."


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
"Phantom Flights, Bangkok Nights"
Both from Smithsonian Books
***www.thunderchief.org