THE B52 bomber is an old brute of a plane flown by young, Boy Scout-ish crews. The aircraft wheeled out for inspection in Guam on February 8th carries its history on its matte blank fuselage. Its tail number indicates that it was built in 1960, meaning that it joined scores of others that pounded Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1960s and 1970s. A painted K near the nose means that the same airframe has flown missions over Syria and Iraq, in the seemingly unending wars of today.
Captain Joseph Trench Niez, its clean-cut 28-year old navigation officer, decodes the bomb-shaped stickers on the fuselage for your blogger, one of four journalists travelling in the Asia-Pacific with the chairman of the joint chiefs, General Joseph Dunford. Those marked “Winchester” signal a mission on which all munitions were dropped. That could mean 14 separate bombs carried in the B52s belly and on pods that hang from its long, drooping, albatross wings.
The captain shows off the modern bomb-bay technology that allows guided weapons to be dropped...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/2FWFyJW
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