Great display given by Uncle Spam's finest over Rattlesden, not Wattisham one fine air show day back when real aeroplanes flew from Wattisham!

But a FAF Mirage IV actually carried out an airfield attack on Rattlesden during one exercise (target being WTM)....something of a long bomb, one would think!

The odd B-36 managed to land at the wrong place back in the'50s, I seem to recall - much to the fury of LeMay!

Not really terribly fair to compare the BUFF crew with the B17 crews of WW2. Had these B52 dodos been in one of those old ships, I doubt their combined piloting abilities would have made it over the airfield fence.

Another stunning display of American military ineptitude.

RivetJoint,

Think you are probably right, as far as I am aware, there are very few airfield taxiways in the UK that can handle the B-52's undercarriage configuration. Certainly Mildenhall and Fairford can but not a lot else as far as I know...

PHX

Biggest problem with the Buff in the UK is its outrigger wheels, apparently landing at Brize would take out all their runway edge lights!

Once again, the usual rush to judgement from pprune "experts".

Well he was supposed to fly past at Farnborough and did it at Blackbushe instead, not much judgement needed to form an opinion on that one really. A very public and very embarrassing cock-up. Perhaps they should ask for radar vectors next time.

....in an attempt to redress the balance, a similar mis-ident was apparently made by an RAF C130 a few years back :)

The Buff at FFD at the weekend had a lady commander - err, no, let's not got off down that route.

I remember well the B1B incident in 2000 - I was driving near Odiham and could see him holding in the overhead. There was a Cb between him and Farnborough. As he came out of the hold, it looked like he headed visually towards the first airfield he could see.

If their USAirships are PPRuNing, one could say in the crew's mitigation that Blackbushe car auction makes it look as if a lot of people have parked there.
Must say I'd have expected the whole thing to be done on GPS :confused:

US bomber misses target for flypast at air show
 

From todays Daily Telegraph:-


US bomber misses target for flypast at air show
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 21/07/2004)


An American B52 bomber flew from America for a flypast at the Farnborough Air Show yesterday but picked the wrong airfield.

To the consternation of the announcer and spectators at the Hampshire airfield the US bomber could be seen over Blackbushe, five miles to the north-west.

Show organisers initially appeared confused by the non-appearance of the bomber. "It didn't fly over Farnborough," one said. "It flew over Blackbushe instead.

"You could just see it in the very clear distance. We don't really know what happened, it is being looked into."

They later issued a statement saying: "We can confirm that the Boeing B52H Stratofortress did not arrive at the airfield".

The B52 is known for its range - it can fly 8,800 miles without refuelling. It played a key role in the 2001 attack on Afghanistan and during the Iraq War.

Disregard

Maybe they fly for Northwest in their free time

Cant even find a bloody great airfiled let alone a smaller target!

Was anyone else at the RAFA airshow at Woodford about 1977/8?

USAF F-111 (from Upper Heyford?), Boss up, on a brilliant sunny Sunday afternoon, does a very respectable job of beating up Manchester airport, about 6 miles North.

Same navigator perhaps?

TP

So much for precision bombing, then..:O

Oh no, unless i just heard wrongly i believe today was a rerun of yesterday - the Buff DID IT AGAIN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So ladies and Gents, go to Blackbushe tommorow!!

Five miles? What do they care?

With what they're carrying, if they drop it on Blackbushe, Farnborough's going as well. :(

....Have I missed something? The B-52 was due to do a flypast wasn't it?

Regardless of whether it has happend again, I must confess to a little puzzlement over the ATC issues.

In my day we used radio to talk to each other and the lads and lasses on the ground could not have been more watchful, helpful, understanding of the display aviators needs or competent to assist.

It makes one wonder how it is all done today - Windows 95 perhaps - surely not DOS?

They were going to do a bit of shopping at Blackbushe Market.

:rolleyes: :O

Wonder how many civilians were killed in Iraq with this type of precision bombing.