Why was the USAF.....................

"Tex Houston" wrote in message
...

"Bjørnar Bolsøy" wrote in message
...
(BUFDRVR) wrote in
:

Anyone with D model time, is long retired, or dead.


Not true. There a few "tall tail" guys around. They're all O-6
or above.

Or E-9...

Very good, bad on my part to exclude our gunners.

I'm a bit unclear on one thing, was the 0.50 quartet replaced
by the m61 on all the B52s and then, subsequently, removed from
service in the early 90s?


Regards...

I've copied two paragraphs from Joe Baugher's website and these only apply
to the B-52H.

Which might leave a false impression.

The defensive tail armament was changed. The quartet of 0.50-inch machine

Yes it was changed, but it was changed with the change in construction
model:
all B-52s before the B-52H had the quad 50 installation and the H model
factory
installation was changed to the 20mm Vulcan.
The previous models were not retrofitted with the Vulcan.

guns carried by earlier versions was replaced by a single General Electric
M61 20-mm six-barreled rotary cannon. The maximum firing rate was 4000
rounds per minute. The magazine carried 1242 rounds of ammunition. The
Emerson AN/ASG-21 fire control system was installed as standard. The
gunner
was still seated in the main crew compartment forward of the wing leading
edge, sitting in an upward-firing rearward-facing ejector seat beside the
electronic warfare officer.

It was with the G model (continuing through the H) that the gunner was moved
up with the rest of the crew.

In October of 1991, the gunner's station was removed as an economy
measure,
reducing the crew complement to only five. The gunner's ejector seat was,
however, retained, and can now be occupied by an instructor or flight
examiner who often goes along on training missions.

Before the gunner moved up front he was isolated in the tail with his guns
and
back there I don't believe he had an ejector seat: just blow the cover off
and
fall out the back. Of course by '91 all that was left in the active
inventory were
the G & H. The D's outlasted the Bs, C, Es & Fs but were gone too by about
'83.

The M61A1 Vulcan 20-mm
cannon in the tail was taken out during 1991-94 and the gun opening was
covered over by a perforated plate, although the wiring and instruments
associated with the gun were all retained so that the gun could in
principle
be reinstalled, although there are no longer any trained gunners available
to operate it.

Tex Houston