"Darrell" wrote:
Ron wrote:
I remember watching F-4s heave practice bombs
in Spain simulating
nukes. I assume the nukes simulated, this
was in the late 70s, were
a bit smaller that 1
MT, but even so the F-4 seemed to not be
very far away at time of
detonation.


But just think how it would have been for
one of those Navy
Skyraiders, lofting a nuke..


Ron
Tucson AZ
C-421 air ambulance

I was Aircraft Commander in the B-47 shortly
after they stopped "tossing"
them since the wings were about to break off.
When I flew the B-47 in
1959-61, for a high altitude free fall release
we had to do a combat
breakaway maneuver after release to escape
weapon effects. Later we began
doing a "long look" which involved climbing
from approach (treetop) level to
about 15,000', simulating releasing the nuke
which had a parachute on it,
then diving down to low altitude again to escape.
The chute was planned to
give us time to escape the blast.

Later on, they developed better chutes and we
could then do a "short look"
which involved climbing from treetop to around
4,000', release, descend to
treetop to get the hell out of there.

In 1961-66 I was AC in the B-52H (brand new
then) and we soon used the
"laydown" technique, which involved releasing
the weapon(s) at approach
altitude. Multiple chutes would open and the
weapon had a frangible nose
cone to absorb ground impact. Then it would
tick away to allow us to get
clear before it detonated. (simulated only,
of course).

I went to the B-58 Hustler in late 66-70 and
our primary delivery technique
continued to be the "laydown" maneuver.

--

Darrell R. Schmidt

B-58 Hustler History: http://members.cox.net/dschmidt1/



I can understand B-58s going in low with the SA-2 threat, but what about
in the early 1960s, when a SAM wasn't considered a threat? High alt dash
release?

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