B52-Bomber

Popular culture

The B-52 has been featured in a number of major films and other media:

• Bombers B-52, a 1957 film starring Karl Malden and Natalie Wood
• A Gathering of Eagles, a 1963 movie starring Rock Hudson
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a 1964 Stanley Kubrick film
• Trinity's Child, a 1983 novel by William Prochnau
• The Day After, a 1983 made for television movie starring Jason Robards
• Flight of the Old Dog, a 1987 novel by ex-B-52 crew member Dale Brown, many of whose works involve the B-52, EB-52, or other variations of the Stratofortress
• By Dawn's Early Light, a 1990 HBO telemovie adapted from the novel Trinity's Child
• Stolen Thunder, a 1993 novel by David Axton about the hijacking of a B-52
• The B-52's, a New Wave rock band, were named after a hairstyle that resembles the nose of the airplane

There are many B-52s on static display at USAF air bases and museums around the world.

Specifications (B-52H)

Boeing B-52H static display with weapons, Barksdale AFB 2006

Data from Knaak,^[79] Quest for Performance^[80]

General characteristics

• Crew: 5 (pilot, copilot, radar navigator (bombardier), navigator, and Electronic Warfare Officer)
• Length: 159 ft 4 in (48.5 m)
• Wingspan: 185 ft 0 in (56.4 m)
• Height: 40 ft 8 in (12.4 m)
• Wing area: 4,000 sq ft (370 m²)
• Airfoil: NACA 63A219.3 mod root, NACA 65A209.5 tip
• Empty weight: 185,000 lb (83,250 kg)
• Loaded weight: 265,000 lb (120,000 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 488,000 lb (220,000 kg)
• Powerplant: 8× Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-3/103 turbofans, 17,000 lbf (76 kN) each
• * Fuel capacity: 47,975 U.S. gal (39,948 imp gal; 181,610 L)
• Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0119 (estimated)
• Drag area: 47.60 sq ft (4.42 m²)
• Aspect ratio: 8.56

Performance

• Maximum speed: 560 kt (650 mph, 1,000 km/h ^[81])
• Combat radius: 4,480 mi (3,890 NM, 7,210 km)
• Ferry range: 10,145 mi (8,764 nm, 16,232 km)
• Service ceiling 50,000 ft^[81] (15,000 m)
• Rate of climb: 6,270 ft/min.^[76] (31.85 m/s)
• Wing loading: 120 lb/sq ft (595 kg/m²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.31
• Lift-to-drag ratio: 21.5 (estimated)

Armament

• Guns: 1× 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon in a remote controlled tail turret now decommissioned and removed from all operational aircraft
• Bombs: Approximately 70,000 pounds (31,500 kg) mixed ordnance -- bombs, mines, missiles, in various configurations ^[81]

Avionics
Electro-optical viewing system that uses platinum silicide forward-looking infrared and high resolution low-light-level television sensors