Down to the wire
Tonight's Net Flicks offering shows another view of B-52H 'Aero 71' aka 'High Tension III' crossing the fence at RAF Fairford
Visible in this view are not only the unique undercarriage layout with the four directional main undercarriage legs - in this case they are very slightly turned to cater for the crosswind, but in addition the outrigger wheel can be seen - designed to protect the wing tanks and low slung engines on take-off and landing as when they taxi or when the lift is dumped, the wings droop and the outriggers take up the slack
Additionally, on top of the wings you can see those huge 'tufted' ailerons - here the pilot is working hard to keep straight and level and which double as air brakes too
If you look closely along the tops of the inboard part of the wings - and on the tailplane top surface are rows of spiked vortex generators - used to smooth out the airflow over the wings - decreasing turbulence and therefore increasing the lift
At the very rear, on the earlier models a tail gunner would have been carried but the later models deleted that option with more modern equipment being carried as an alternative
A sobering thought is that the last B-52 to roll off the Boeing production line was in 1962!
That was serial number 61-0040.
This one is s/n 61-0013
276A1844
Down to the wire
Tonight's Net Flicks offering shows another view of B-52H 'Aero 71' aka 'High Tension III' crossing the fence at RAF Fairford
Visible in this view are not only the unique undercarriage layout with the four directional main undercarriage legs - in this case they are very slightly turned to cater for the crosswind, but in addition the outrigger wheel can be seen - designed to protect the wing tanks and low slung engines on take-off and landing as when they taxi or when the lift is dumped, the wings droop and the outriggers take up the slack
Additionally, on top of the wings you can see those huge 'tufted' ailerons - here the pilot is working hard to keep straight and level and which double as air brakes too
If you look closely along the tops of the inboard part of the wings - and on the tailplane top surface are rows of spiked vortex generators - used to smooth out the airflow over the wings - decreasing turbulence and therefore increasing the lift
At the very rear, on the earlier models a tail gunner would have been carried but the later models deleted that option with more modern equipment being carried as an alternative
A sobering thought is that the last B-52 to roll off the Boeing production line was in 1962!
That was serial number 61-0040.
This one is s/n 61-0013
276A1844