B-52 bombs Blackbushe
 

Well - not quite, but this afternoon at Farnborough a B-52 was expected and seen preparing for a run by - However it was about 6 miles north and - as confirmed by a friend there - completed a low pass of the 'bushe.

So much for all the new fancy gadgetry - and puts new meaning to the phrase collateral damage

It was last seen scuttling away in the direction of Fairford. Wonder if it was the same guy who damaged the edge lights at FFD on Monday?

Yup, was on the ground at Farnborough waiting for it, never seen one in the air before. Went past miles away, I thought to myself that it was flying past b/bushe just as the announcer said much the same thing. Doesn't give you much confidence in the bombing capability of the US Air Force does it?.

B1B and a F117 Nighthawk both made passes down the runway so I suppose 2 out 3 isn't too bad.

I was at F'boro and saw the B52 circling away to the north but was then involved with something else and didn't watch for it to arrive - but didn't hear it either. Wondered afterwards so maybe this explains it.
Anyone paying attention to the display at F'boro confirm it didn't arrive?

Watched the "flypast" also. All I can say is ...................worrying!!!:ooh:

Did the same thing yesterday but managed to turn back on track to fly part way down the display line. From where I was standing 250kts (announced over the APP frequency by the pilot) was FAR too fast to make the turn needed, and a turn too far to the north was ineveitable. When he realised the mistake and tried to correct, the controller was having none of it and told him to break off.

Oh dear :ouch:

Tight turn at 250KIAS
 

Wouldn't have been a problem in a Vulcan.

Gave me the best laugh in ages, standing there watching this with my AAIB chum. Must have been fun in the circuit , C150's, Cherokees, B52......

The commentators words were great, never heard so much laughing in an airshow crowd for a long time!!

EGGW.

Brilliant!

I was one of the priveliged few to see such a spectacular c@ck up.

My chum sat beside me watching the debacle did wonder, tho, whether the captain would ever find out his mistake- I rather suppose he would be told by someone, but not really shure who...

CC

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahaHA!

What is even more worrying is this happened last time around with the B52 carrying out fly-pasts at Blackbushe and Lasham instead of Farnborough.

srs what? - i think (needs confirming tho) that the incident last time around was in fact by a B1B flashing past just under the speed of sound at 500ft at both Lasham & Blackbushe on the public days, just imagine pottering around at Lasham in one of the gliders to find one of those things thundering past!

LOL :O

This has just made my day!! Wonder what excuse the USAF will come out with.

Hahaha!!!

:ok:

The last time this happened was indeed by a B-1B.
Funny thing was, i was talking to someone today about 'what if' the B52H did the same thing this year. An hour later and 'ICER21' bloody did it! He told ATC something along the lines of "I was suppose to be displaying at Farnborough, now enroute Fairford".

Poor guys in the circuit on a solo!

Come on; be fair guys! Blackbushe IS pretty close to Farnborough - I've made the same mistake in Microsoft Flight Simulator many times. They both look alike from the air, what with all those tents and crowds and aircraft parked all over the place. The runway is almost lined up the same way too... ;)

Err,Err ------ why were so many civilians killed in Iraq?

Yes yes, we can all enjoy other people being humbled, but let's not forget an earlier time, when thousands of B-17/24 crewmembers never came back while operating from similar airfields not far from there, along with the Canadians etc and so many in the RAF. We visited Churchill's War Room during our vacation "over there" recently and saw some sobering statistics.

And now, back to the smug observations...:D

You can just imagine the dialect on the flight deck...

"Hey Chuck - Wass all da fuss about this Farnbo-raah errrshow.... looks kinda primitive to me!"

"Sure is Hank - I ain't never seen so many Cessnas"

And it was a B1B in 2000 over the Bushe. (Should have just freecalled it to 122.3!!):)

Is there any truth in the rumour that the B52 flew in direct from the USA, and then flew straight back again? Or would it have come from a UK / European base?

The B-52 arrived direct from the USA, I believe it landed at Fairford after it's "flypast"...Don't know how long it's staying.

PHX

Farnborough's bits on the ground aren't wide enough for a Buff apparently! Is this true?

What's all the fuss about? 5 mile error in 4,400 miles is pretty good.

Back in about 66 or 67, one of the first F111 in UK visited Cottesmore to show the V-crews there the shiny new jet that we had just ordered.

"And coming in from the east is the USAF F111 . . . "

Long, long pause then, 400 k heading 080 one F111 low and fastish disappeared into the clear blue countryside only to return and land about 10 minutes later

"Why did you come in from the WEST when we were told you were coming from the EAST?"

"You put Wittering in the computer; it goes to Wittering."

They had taken the position off the chart, maybe the Buff crew did too.

Years later, pair of Vikings out of ISK for one of the flat tops came close to ditching/diverting to Sumburgh when one of the Brit pilot pax said "Isn't is supposed to be WEST?" The USN had never flown across the Greenwich meridian.

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.