Cold War ALternate Basing

On 07 Aug 2004 04:47:48 GMT, (BUFDRVR) wrote:

John Hairell wrote:

I used to work at an airfield that had an 11,000 foot runway and ramps
and taxiways designed to handle fully-laden B-52s. Loaded C-5s would
often buckle the concrete

Hmmm, this doesn't make sense. The B-52 psi "footprint" is heavier than any
other USAF aircraft. Between our twin tandom gear and our relatively small
wheels, a fully loaded B-52 has a ridiculously high psi....at least that's what
we were told and what AP-1B bears out.



I'm not saying that loaded B-52s would never have buckled the concrete
either, we just never had any visit to put it to the test.
Regardless, the airfield was built originally to handle B-52s, and
I've seen fully-loaded C-5s buckle the concrete.

John Hairell )