Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire BUFFs!

Working out in the warehouse with the doors open and hear a throaty roar. I go out and look up and a pair of B-52s is headed west. The big airshow at Hill AFB is this weekend. I'm betting there will be a lot of interesting airtraffic for the next couple of days. I sort of wish I could go to the show, but I really don't want to deal with the crowds and traffic either.

Hill AFB is one of the nations premiere airshows, we went to one about 4 years ago and glad we did. Well worth any hassle involved.

I thought this was gonna be about the Barksdale AFB Buffs hitting ISIS,

Yes, indeed. I'll avoid the crowds and watch from my deck. But I am half tempted to go and see some of the display aircraft. Nostalgia, ya know.

I thought it would be about shooting buffalo/bison!!

Very cool video. If not an exercise and you saw it you knew that the commie portable suns were inbound.

Each B52 gets its own tanker?

I bet the wingtip vortices off a B52 would be fairly exciting for a smaller plane

I'm surprised they have never replaced the engines with 4 new turbofans. Seems like the fuel savings & range increase would be worthwhile

Yes, each buff gets its own tanker.

If you noticed during the launch each airplane moved into its own airspace after lift-off. #1 goes high, #2 goes right, #3 goes left, #4 stays low. Repeat for each cell. It gets a little bumpy...

Those were "G" model buffs equipped with J-57 TJ engines. They've all been chopped up. The "H" models are still flying with TF-33 engines. They've tested the CFM engines (KC-135s run them now) on buffs but haven't changed over to them.

Mom & Dad used to park at the gate by the end of the runway to watch B58 MITO's. No wonder they can't hear one and another anymore.

They said it would nearly shake the car off the ground.

FC

At about 8:00PM this evening I was out checking the horse's water when I hear a very distinct roar of a jet coming from the west. Two "Buffs" flew over, separated by about five miles, headed east. Nothing sounds like a B-52.

Ed

very neat

Hunting in far West Texas, it's not uncommon to see B1's training. A few years ago we were in camp at dusk and one flew over, then turned toward the border and lit all four afterburners. A minute or so later he banked east, to avoid an international incident. Pity he didn't keep going and give the cartels a gift.

I saw a guy sporting a hat that read "Buff Gunner" once. I should have struck up a conversation with him.

Back when Loring AFB was open, they would fly at nearly tree top level along the Allagash River. I also think they used to "target" cars along Route 11 at night. Very very impressive airplane.

Around 1969 or so AF was asking for volunteers to train as B-52 gunners. It was a dead in job but I almost took it.

I was reading the paper on my deck this morning when I heard a strange jet noise. Strange it was, too! Right overhead went a privately owned British Vampire. A local guy owns two of them. I wonder if he was moving it from the local airport to Hill AFB for the airshow. This isn't it, but one like it...

That reminds me of a DeHavilland Venom, which I saw at an airshow in North Texas about 20 years ago. Similar layout, single engine behind the pilot, and twin tail.

Yup. The Venom was a followup design to the Vampire. They're actually twin-seaters, side by side. Hence the fat fuselage.

Here's the front office...

From what I recall of it, they didn't seem big enough to carry much ordinance