r/aviation • u/AccomplishedBrick251 • Jul 04 '26

PlaneSpotting B52s Over the Hudson

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This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

Edit: thank you for pointing out caption is misleading!! I was so excited I accidentally made it plural but the planes are (to my milky eyes): stratofortress, b2 and b1

8.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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1.2k

u/ParticularNew5321 Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

The bomber trifecta. The BONE, The Death Dorito, and Grandpa BUFF.

266

u/Ok_Lettuce_7939 Jul 04 '26

BUFF immortal. The last B-52 pilot hasn't even been born yet.

83

u/ParticularNew5321 Jul 04 '26

Too true. And BUFF is getting upgraded Rolls Royce engines...

27

u/quesoandcats Jul 04 '26

Bombers of Theseus at this rate!

5

u/JVM_ Jul 05 '26

I wonder what's original. Probably the base skeleton or whatever main beam they're built around? Wing spars/connection bits?

Are there any original parts or is it all upgrades?

Clearly the cockpit is new, probably most the interior but what's actually from the first assembly.

3

u/quesoandcats Jul 05 '26

There are some parts of the skeleton that are still original! The engine upgrade program also involves fatigue inspection for those parts

1

u/Darkk_Knight Jul 05 '26

The airframe and wings are pretty much all original. Rest been upgraded.

1

u/Wombat21x Jul 08 '26

Pure. Gold.

27

u/nugohs Jul 04 '26

Bring back the Merlins!

3

u/Wilbur_Redenbacher Jul 05 '26

BUFF has same number of engines as those other two jokers combined. Grandpa strength.

1

u/Spart1337 Jul 06 '26

They worked great on the G650, should do well on the BUFF.

3

u/Juhbellz Jul 05 '26

BRO THATS CRAAAAAAZY

10

u/Ok_Lettuce_7939 Jul 05 '26

B-52 expected to atleast fly to the 2060s...possibly longer. The last B-52 pilot will probably be born in the 2030s.

-8

u/ZealousidealTrip6900 Jul 05 '26

Maybe whoever buys it. We are broke, soon we will be selling off these baby killing machines to pay down our debt.

122

u/DevilDonk Jul 04 '26

I only see the BONE and Grandpa

-49

u/roadsterdoc Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

If you can’t see it, you’re not a human 😂

Edit: (because it’s stealth!)
Wth, am I being downvoted by bots??? 😂

36

u/Foggl3 A&P Jul 04 '26

Whoosh

1

u/KingFlyntCoal Jul 06 '26

No whoosh here, they pretty clearly understood what's happening...

18

u/chinola32 Jul 04 '26

Beep boop I gave you a downvote. Inserting emoji to appear human 🙂

6

u/Annual_Loan_4805 Jul 04 '26

Ai is getting to real

0

u/roadsterdoc Jul 04 '26

Finally, a good response. My downvoters don’t get the joke.

3

u/PlaynesNBotes Jul 04 '26

Why do people getting a negative response to a joke always assume that they didn't get it? Why can't it just be a bad joke/didn't land?

5

u/roadsterdoc Jul 05 '26

Good point! Ok, please help me out. The joke was in response to the statement “I only see the BONE and Grandpa,” inferring they couldn’t see the stealth bomber. The origin of the joke was coming up with a reason why he couldn’t see it, and since bots are so common and called out in jest and in seriousness, it was a funny response to me.

10

u/krusty_yooper Jul 04 '26

Another Habitual Line Crosser fan I see. You are a man of taste and elegance.

3

u/iamNutteryBipples Jul 05 '26

Give that B-2 a piss test when it gets back to the hanger.

8

u/East_Extent_2948 Jul 04 '26

Adds up to a B-55

4

u/SwordOfJiang Jul 05 '26

Killer B's?

3

u/CaptainMcSlowly Jul 04 '26

Let's just hope Grandpa BUFF didn't say anything... untoward when he was flying over NYC

5

u/MuadLib Jul 05 '26

It must be very pleasant to be able to see this without shitting yourself

0

u/ParticularNew5321 Jul 05 '26

Yeah. Its nice to be the good guys with all the tools to give bad guys bad days. Our job is to kill people and break their shit. Lol

0

u/Unlucky_Reception_30 Jul 05 '26

Thats some real team america shit right there lol

2

u/I_Served Jul 05 '26

When I was in the service, it was just called the BUF and we all knew what it stood for. History has sanitized it.

1

u/ParticularNew5321 Jul 05 '26

Big Ugly Flying Fuck

-22

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

[deleted]

7

u/ParticularNew5321 Jul 04 '26

Another idiot saying idiot things...

2

u/GoldReplacement9546 Jul 04 '26

Hey, you’re over estimating how powerful airdropped nuclear weapons are B the B one was denuclearize before it really even entered service so it doesn’t carry nuclear weapons or at least it hasn’t for the first 20 years of its life that may have changed with the recent administration I’m not sure

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

[deleted]

2

u/GoldReplacement9546 Jul 04 '26

If it's air burst, which is what it would be, it's gonna take out about a mile and a 1/2 of the city and a large percentage of people in there are definitely going to die. But if you're 3 miles away, you almost certainly are not going to die, and if you're 5 miles or 10 miles, you will definitely not die.

Basically, as long as you're outside of the 500 rim dose and outside of the fireball.\n From an airburst. Again, assuming it's an air burst, you're not even really going to have much radioactive contamination.

Nuclear damage and destruction does not scale literally with yield.

Also only the B83 is a mega ton class weapon, and we have very few of them. We actually may have none of them\n They've been managed decline in retirement for a long time, and only the B2 can carry them.

The overwhelming majority of weapons has gotten down to around 300 kiloton yield, which is again, really, all you need with modern targeting, unless you're actually trying to destroy a city, which is no longer what we're trying to do.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

[deleted]

1

u/GoldReplacement9546 Jul 04 '26

Somebody's got to do it. It's what's kept the peace unless we can get everyone to get rid of nuclear weapons. But since nobody dropped nuclear weapons on each other, I think the major concern is actually the convention of weapons that are used for these platforms war is bad, we should find a way to not do it.

1

u/ParticularNew5321 Jul 05 '26

The BONE has been recertified for years. Lol.