If the RAF had had B-52s...

[c52]

what are the chances they would still be in service (a) if built the same as USAF aircraft or (b) with as much UK equipment as the MoD thought possible?

I read the other day they're expected to stay in service until the 2050s which is remarkably good going for a plane whose first flight was in 1952.

I can't help feeling they'd have been retired early except that with UK equipment they might never have been delivered.

[N707ZS]

Would have been sold to America for spares.

[treadigraph]

We don' need no stinking bombers!

[chevvron]

Only RAF airfield where you could operate them would be Brize now that Marham has been 'modified' for F35s; you need extra wide taxiways to accomodate the outriggers.

[RetiredBA/BY]

Fairford copes with B52.

[chevvron]

Fairford copes with B52.
Yes but operated by USAF; I meant RAF operated airfield.

[Rutan16]

For many years the Vulcan in particular performed exceptionally well in various strategic bomber competitions again the Buff..

With probably half a dozen and usually Tory ( we are the party of law order and defence not) defence reviews and stand downs; there would be no way a conventional heavy bomber and one with a nuclear free fall bomb capability would be in service today; it’s a fantasy dream period stop

The roll of the Buff in carpet bombing is pretty much redundant after the first few days of any military intervention today, and even that can be accomplished via alternative methods including cruise missiles and stealthy cover of night attacks delivered on strategic targets.

These are what’s called command and control facilities including media, power, air traffic , runways and controls systems .Cut these and the enemy is blinded

None of those require Buff to be honest .

[c52]

I admit to being quite surprised to learn that the Vulcan could beat a B-52 in anything.

[chevvron]

I admit to being quite surprised to learn that the Vulcan could beat a B-52 in anything.
Rate of climb?

[Roadster280]

I admit to being quite surprised to learn that the Vulcan could beat a B-52 in anything.

Bombload of the B-52 was a tad more.

[Rutan16]

Easy USAF were hopeless at navigating.- Evidence F111D that flew over Manchester Airport when should been displaying at Woodford many years ago.

Like I said strategically the Vulcan performed exceptionally well- Remember the Falklands and putting out the runway at Stanley while operating a round trip from Ascension and landing square on target . No remedial casualties or collateral damage .

If that had been a Buff the entire town of Stanley ( five roads, a school, pub, chapel and supply store) would have disappeared and a million innocent smelly and sorry penguins as well !

The Buff isn’t exactly subtle and neither I am afraid to say were SAC in it’s day.

That said need to flatten a mountain and different story to be told.

Personal interest - spent nearly 6 months at the new RAF Mount Pleasant working on the Hanger doors many moons agp.

Horrid place in southern summer; bazillion bitting midges , smelly penguins( they really are !), mud to the waist, bloody cold and wet , utterly crap contractor accommodation, and locals not exactly friendly or helpful to be honest.

However that’s for another story.

[Rutan16]

Bombload of the B-52 was a tad more.

No sh*t Sherlock however not exactly subtle and certainly not in the modern warfare terms.

Okay to carpet bomb a million hectares of virgin forest , perhaps flatten a mountain, or deliver and wipe a small city off of the map.

Rather less useful in and of itself in taking out a specific bridge, command post or media building.

[hiflymk3]

Should have kept the TSR-2.

[pax britanica]

On USAF navigation some few years back a B52 due to display at Farnborough ended up doing its flyby at Blackbushe( a few miles tot he north west and on the other side of the M4 motorway the main visual clue for the area) no doubt to the shock of the airfield users. I believe there were some mitigating circumstances but it certainly didnt look very clever at the time

[dixi188]

On USAF navigation some few years back a B52 due to display at Farnborough ended up doing its flyby at Blackbushe( a few miles tot he north west and on the other side of the M4 motorway the main visual clue for the area) no doubt to the shock of the airfield users. I believe there were some mitigating circumstances but it certainly didnt look very clever at the time
I think you mean M3 motorway.
Didn't a B2 have a similar problem?

[pax britanica]

Dixie-you are right of course although years earlier the Cousins in the form of Panam landed north instead of south of the M$ LHR and Northolt .

Only moved away from the FNB area three months ago and cannot get the motorway name right even though I used or crossed it every day for 20 odd years

[treadigraph]

I mix up NE and NW regularly... no idea why...

[Boeing Jet]

Would be nice to see B52'S dotted around the UK, filling the skies of UK airspace again!!

[treadigraph]

As mentioned on the "What have you seen" thread, a B-52 made an unexpected trip into Fairford this evening (on 7 engines I believe) - it came in across Sussex and Surrey and had the bloody weather been as nice as it is nice I would have seen it...:{

[chevvron]

I think you mean M3 motorway.
Didn't a B2 have a similar problem?
Even though the B2 destined to display at Farnborough was given details of the Odiham TACAN about 7nm SW of Farnborough, we still had to give it radar vectors to find us.
The autofocus on my camera and that of others standing near me had great difficulty locking on to it!
Some years earlier, the B1 pilot saw Blackbushe and could not be convinced he was heading for the wrong airfield!. This was most surprising as both pilots were Rockwell TPs who had practiced their display run a few weeks earlier using F111s borrowed from Upper Heyford.

[chevvron]

On USAF navigation some few years back a B52 due to display at Farnborough ended up doing its flyby at Blackbushe( a few miles tot he north west and on the other side of the M4 motorway the main visual clue for the area) no doubt to the shock of the airfield users. I believe there were some mitigating circumstances but it certainly didnt look very clever at the time
The pilot saw the correct airfield, it was just that all 8 engines on full power increased his radius of turn so it looked to the spectators as though he was going for Blackbushe by mistake. I was standing behind the radar controller at the time and heard him continually updating the pilot to try to correct him.
A few days later when I vectored it, I made sure the same thing didn't happen again!

[DuncanDoenitz]

With its manoeverability, size and overall presence, a skilled crew should be able to demonstrate the aircraft at Blackbushe, Farnborough and possibly Shoreham simultaneously.

Getting back to the OP; as well as UK avionics, engines and weapons (including 4 x .303 Brownings in the tail, obviously), the thing would have needed a British moniker. Beginning with V.

[Asturias56]

Vildebeast MkII

[Pontius Navigator]

Bombload of the B-52 was a tad more.

The original B52 bomb load was the same as the Victor. I give you that the B52 could carry fuel as well.
​​​

[Ant T]

Personal interest - spent nearly 6 months at the new RAF Mount Pleasant working on the Hanger doors many moons agp.

Horrid place in southern summer; bazillion bitting midges , smelly penguins( they really are !), mud to the waist, bloody cold and wet , utterly crap contractor accommodation, and locals not exactly friendly or helpful to be honest.

However that’s for another story.

Sorry it’s slightly off topic, but must comment on the above - I quite understand that the Falklands are not to everyone’s taste, but there is no need to exaggerate the things you didn’t like. There are no midges in the Falklands, and virtually no biting or stinging insects at all, and the rainfall is statistically less than almost any part of the UK. And the locals are some of the friendliest and most helpful people I know (I married one...).
Yes, southern summer at these latitudes are not as warm as Southern England, more on a par with Shetland, and I can’t argue with your assessment of the contractor accommodation. ;-)

[chevvron]

The pilot saw the correct airfield, it was just that all 8 engines on full power increased his radius of turn so it looked to the spectators as though he was going for Blackbushe by mistake. I was standing behind the radar controller at the time and heard him continually updating the pilot to try to correct him.
A few days later when I vectored it, I made sure the same thing didn't happen again!
Thinking back, I've seen the horrendous crash on YouTube at an air display in the USA where a B52 tried to turn in to the airfield; the angle of bank got higher and higher and it looks to me it went over the vertical and then sideslipped into the ground from about 1,000ft.
After that I suspect the pilots were briefed to use a certain maximum AOB during low level manouevres hence the pilot of the Farnborough one couldn't turn into the 'correct' airfield without exceeding this angle.