Sunday afternoon Flight Nerd Theatre continues – Exceeding the performance envelope of the B-52
December 6, 2009After a Law Enforcement Officer was kind enough to direct me into the world of Mini-Jet Turbine Engines and I contemplated the awesome power of putting eight of them on to a remote controlled B-52 Bomber scale model, I surfed You Tube to see if this had been done before. Of course it has. Anyone who looks at one of these engines immediately contemplates what to do with several of them and an impressive wing span.
The model you see below has a wingspan of 23ft. It has Eight miniature jet turbine engines and cost Sixty-Five Thousand U.S. Dollars to build. Pay attention to the MC of the airshow as he explains that looking at the profile of the model in flight is so perfectly replicated to look like the real thing.
I’ve seen what the real thing looks like in flight, from very close range…
Having had the voluntary misfortune of running numerous patrols at the U.S. Army Ranger Camp on Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, I have experienced the B-52 flying nap of the earth into the bombing ranges there just above treetop level and passing directly overhead with its bomb bay open. It happened several times actually, to the extent that I am familiar with the image in great detail. It is one of the most impressive things I have ever seen in my life.
Anyone who loves the B-52 should read the “Flight of the Old Dog” by Dale Brown. Buff is tricked out with an air-to-air missile turret, evades the Air Force and invades the Soviet Union. Yes, it actually lands, the crew conducts a raid at a remote airstrip and re-fuels. Buff takes on MIGs and all kinds of whatnot, doing some real tricky stunt flying.
Last night I found a video of a guy stunt flying his B-52 as he rehearsed for an airshow at Fairchild AFB. The pilot was considered to be a bit of a lunatic, apparantly. Nonetheless he was accustomed to hot dogging that B-52 for airshows. It was all fun and games until someone put their eye out.
Like the MC at the airshow in the previous video said “Notice the profile of the aircraft while in flight”.
NEXT WEEKEND on Real Revo Flight Nerd Theatre…
More craziness and things that get wet.
Jim 22 :
Date: December 6, 2009
Sad. Looked like it had a problem with stability. I’d like to play with RC aircraft. But not at that price level.
MadBrad :
Date: December 6, 2009
It’s too bad that we don’t know the speed of those wind gusts. Based on the scale of the model to the actual aircraft we could imagine what the wind would have been at full scale. You can see how the aircraft accelerated when it made the first turn and was running with the wind. If the pilot would have made a starboard turn back into the wind without kicking it over into such a steep bank the inertia of the aircraft might have overcome what I’m sure would have been winds above hurricane force if realized at full scale.
MadBrad :
Date: December 6, 2009
As for the price tag, $40K can buy a REAL personal helicopter. If I had that kind of money to blow that’s what I could be getting.
notamobster :
Date: December 7, 2009
In my defense, I am only a part-time Law Enforcement Officer!!! hahaha!!!
I went to college for professional aviation, and am currently a manager for an applied technology company servicing NASA, NAVY, and the offshore oilfield.
http://www.oceaneering.com
I am a father, a husband, a citizen and an oathkeeper above all else!