Kerry's coming to OSH

John Gaquin wrote:

I thought they found that one off Spain.

They certainly might have recovered it and I missed the news.

George Patterson
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
you look forward to the trip.

Jay Honeck wrote:
I have given up a number of activities over the years, for various
reasons. One is ham radio.


Apples and oranges. As fascinating as ham radio can be, it ain't flying.

It was when I was really into it.

It was actually part of a show on the History channel. The B52's tail
came off during refueling. The nose pitched down, the fuselage hit the
back of the KC135 which exploded. All the B52 guys got out and were
interviewed on the show, all three tanker crew died. The Air Force
descended on this little town in Spain. Pretty cool show.

G.R. Patterson III wrote:


John Gaquin wrote:

I thought they found that one off Spain.


They certainly might have recovered it and I missed the news.

George Patterson
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
you look forward to the trip.

Denny

Picky, Picky, Picky G

NORAD ran the ground radar systems and used the Fighters and Missiles
(BOMARC) to defend Canada and the US from any Russian bomber attack.
They passed the detection of a bomber attack to SAC (and National
Authority) and launched Fighters to kill the bombers.

Our Bombers were run by SAC out of Omaha and when authorized by
President (say Football) would have executed the SIOP. NORAD had
nothing to due with our Bombers.

On a day to day basis in those years, SAC kept a modest number of
armed bombers in the air 7/24 to assure we could kill the #1 targets
in Russia under any circumstances.

During those on station missions SAC (starting with Le May) generated
a bunch of 'Mickey Mouse" activities to keep the crews busy and not
let them die of boredom from 'flying in a circle'. There were of
course other areas where they held or flew in than orbiting in the
arctic.

I'm surprised about the Nav getting on Ham freqs. In SAC there were
random contacts from Omaha that required crews to monitor with all
their radios. Was also a AF (as I recall) reg that said no ham radio.
I used to, when the HF was not being used, get on ham freqs
occasionally and talk ) Also did some on 220. Used my Ham call and
not any A/C ID.

Long time ago in a War far away.

Big John

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 08:58:34 -0500, "Dennis O'Connor"
wrote:

Long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away, for one entire winter I used to
chat with Paul every tuesday night, the navigator on board a NORAD bomber,
loitering somewhere to the north of Michigan near the arctic pole... He, of
course, could not tell me where he was I knew enough not to ask, but by
switching antennas I knew the direction... He was one bored puppy stuck on
an 18 hour ride, several times a week...
denny

"Jay Honeck" wrote Apples and oranges. As
fascinating as ham radio can be, it ain't flying.

Umm, strain brain, strain brain
- smoke rolling out, belts squealing, do you how much junk I havstashed in
my head -
it would have been '67 as best I can remember..
denny
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:vvoZb.365334$na.562740@attbi_s04...
Long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away, for one entire winter I used
to
chat with Paul every tuesday night, the navigator on board a NORAD
bomber,
loitering somewhere to the north of Michigan near the arctic pole.

I know we kept recon early warning flights airborne for much of the Cold
War, but I didn't know we kept bombers in the air.

What year would this have been?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

We kept armed B-52s up at all times through at least 1980.

Up? Or on 5-minute scramble alert?

I didn't think we kept them airborne 24/7...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Thanks for the clarification and history, Big John. As always, we're
indebted to you and your expertise.

I had no idea that we kept the bombers airborne 24/7 -- I thought it was
just "Looking Glass" and recon stuff that was always in the air, with the
bombers on stand-by alert.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

G.R.

Off Spain a B-52 and it's tanker collided. Tanker crew perished. 5 of
B-52 crew ejected ok.

B-52 had four bombs aboard. Three stayed in bomber when it crashed. HE
on two bombs went off and scattered Nuc material and we (US) took 1500
tons of dirt back here to dispose of.

4th bomb fell clear of A/C and into the water. It took 80 days to
locate and recover.

No record of any Alabama incident I can find.

One near Goldsboro, NC off). B-52 broke up in flight (wing fell off)
and dropped two bombs. One safety chute failed and bomb impacted
ground with 5 of the 6 safety switches activated (24 Mega ton
Weapon).

B-52 crashed landing at Tule Air Base, Greenland. Fire and Nuc
material scattered on Ice. Big clean up.

Other accidents through the years.

Airborne alert was discontinued in 1968 and since then Military A/C
weapon accidents have diminished.

Big John


On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 14:39:10 GMT, "G.R. Patterson III"
wrote:



Jay Honeck wrote:

I know we kept recon early warning flights airborne for much of the Cold
War, but I didn't know we kept bombers in the air.

We kept armed B-52s up at all times through at least 1980. There's an H-bomb
at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Spain and another one in the Gulf
near Alabama. I don't remember why they were jettisoned. Prior to the buffs,
we kept B-36s up and had F-100s carrying nukes out of Turkish bases.

George Patterson
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
you look forward to the trip.

BTW, do a google on terms like
cold war
sac
Curtiss LeMay
airborne command center

Not only were there 52's with nukes constantly airborne, also 24/7 there was
a general in the air who was empowered to initiate nuclear war by all assets
of the US military and to take control of the USA if nukes wiped out our
federal government and our military command in their entirety... Literally,
Armegeddon would happen if we were attacked....

You are too young to know these things... Those of us who lived through
them, will never forget... As a young man I used to drive by the airbase
here in Michigan, and B-52's with nuclear weapons aboard were parked in
rows, roughly 150 feet from the road, ready for immediate takeoff... There
were armed MP's standing at intervals between the bombers, and signs
prohibitng stopping or taking pictures, and if you slowed down too much they
would point and tell you to get a move on... But, if you waved and smiled,
they would wave back... The government and the people were vastly more
unified in that era, except for some of the liberal universities... I never
heard of anyone getting shot at, but a car load of lads with a too much beer
in their skins did stop and try to take pictures one time and got
arrested...
denny

"Jay Honeck" wrote I know we kept recon early
warning flights airborne for much of the Cold
War, but I didn't know we kept bombers in the air.

One near Goldsboro, NC off). B-52 broke up in flight (wing fell off)
and dropped two bombs. One safety chute failed and bomb impacted
ground with 5 of the 6 safety switches activated (24 Mega ton
Weapon).

Yikes! How do the safety switches on an H bomb work?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"