Thursday My family went on a drive to Utica, NY to a zoo, after the zoo I decided to see  how much Griffiss AFB had changed since I saw it last. ( it was an AFB when I had seen it last).  It is now an industral park with a few active Air Force  duty units like a communications unit and an R&D unit
As I rounded the corner near the old North gate, I spotted this vision of grace and beauty.


A cruise missile on display near the BUFF

Head on shot, showing the EVS "chins"

The Statue Of Liberty showing its home of Griffiss AFB, NY

To understand the size if you have never been near a BUFF, My four year old son is in frount of the rear wheel(which is taller than him!)

I was happy to see this old bird, and I hope that it is maintained for others to see it in the future

well, about the size...as you all know i went to RIAT a few weeks back and actually, the buff on the static there looked very very small! i wonder if it really was a 1:1 model 

Both you guys are quite correct in thinking that the B-52 isn't so large .......when it first came out there were no 747, 757,767,777, DC-10, L1011.........well you get the picture.........its all relative....I saw one about 20 yrs ago and thought it was small, as it sat on the apron of CFB Trenton in Ontario ........right behind it was a KC-10.....sorta dwarfed the B-52........one thing I did notice was the stress ripples on the fuselage in front of the wing root.........wasn't eager to go up in one after seeing that !

30 years and still flying, no wonder you see the signs of that on the aircraft

Quote:

Well said Craig....me too !

30-years old?  It's older than you think....  Remember, most B-52 pilots were probably not even BORN when their plane was delivered to the USAF.  Of course, they've been rebuilt, re-engined, etc,over the years, but still, a venerable testimony to modern aircraft.



"The last B-52H was delivered in October 1962. Only the 40-year-old H-model aircraft remain in the Air Force inventory."

about the son and (grand)father thing i've heard too!

Talking about stress wrinkles in B-52's.

I overheard two veterans talking about B-52's while at the museum at Castle AFB in California. One was explaining to the other that the wrinkles only showed up when the plane was on the ground. While airbourne, the shape of the wings changed quite a bit and all the wrinkles were stretched out. I wonder how the engineers calculated the wrinkle factor?