Here it is from the front, I think:
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It’s expected to be ready for future wars in the next few years. Yippee?
Yes, they’ll be climate wars. Food and water security will continue to deteriorate and every nation will be scrabbling for what’s left.
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IIRC they built the B-29 as a high-altitude bomber because defensive measures like fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns were ineffective at that altitude, but they ultimately had to change tactics because the tradeoff was dramatically reduced bombing accuracy.
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With ya there…
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This must be some sort of technical use of the term “survivable” - or at least highly selective.
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Well AksHuaLLy the obscene price was because the R&D costs were so high. There was supposed to be around 140 aircraft but congress cut the quantity to 22 to save costs. However this meant that the engineering R&D costs were spread over 22 aircraft instead of 140, making the per unit cost ridiculously high. Probably would have been a “bargain” at $1bn apiece!
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B-52 is currently the only US aircraft capable of carrying and launching hypersonic missiles so it will have many more years of use.
I get to work on B-52s from time to time. Every aircraft is unique in that they are so old they have been retrofitted numerous times over their 60+ years of life, so you need to consult the tech docs for that specific serial number. Some have unused electronics that are just left in the aircraft to act as ballast and nobody wants to find out what happens if it is unplugged.
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“Whoops, wrong wire!”
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It’s 700 million in 2011 money probably, so great?!?
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I believe that the B-52 is older than the Wright Flyer was when they were manufactured. Not just the design, but the actual airframes.
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Wow. Some of those B 52s would have flown over SE Asia. Alot of death and carnage. Bad Juju.
I dont like them.
The aircraft and the band.
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LOL, no.
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is it?
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Not as such. The long range bomber project was started even before the US joined WW II because it seemed likely that the US would fight in Europe at some point for some reason, but it was entirely unclear whether Britain could be used as an unsinkable aitcraft carrier. So a plane that could take off at the Eastern seaboard, bomb Europe, and return was called for.
One of the planes that came out of this programme was the B-29, and it cost more than the Manhattan project.
By the time the B-29 neared completion it was clear that it wouldn’t be needed for the European theatre, but it’s long range capabilities really paid off in the Pacific theatre.
The “strip off everything to fly as high as possible” came much later and was the brainchild of everybody’s favourite carpet bomber, Curtis B. LeMay.
(Will post some videos on the subject later.)
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Willies are, of course, subjective. I think the most willieful one for me was the Davy Crockett:
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Atrocity Delivery Vehicle is the name of my screamo band.
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To be fair, the Ford Model T is really quick and simple to repair.
(But to be honest, they require frequent maintenance - such as greasing and adding water to the radiator.)
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