B-52 pilots tell why although the BUFF is unpleasant to fly, the mission and the challenge of flying it well make up for its shortcomings

The backbone of US strategic bomber force

For 70 years, B-52s have been the backbone of the strategic bomber force for the United States.

The B-52A first flew in 1954, and the B model entered service in 1955.

After it became operational, the B-52 remained the main long-range heavy bomber of the US Air Force during the Cold War, and it continues to be an important part of the USAF bomber force today. A total of 744 B-52s were built, with the last, a B-52H, delivered in October 1962.

Dubbed “BUFF” (Big Ugly Fat F*cker”) by her aircrews, the B-52 has set numerous records in its many years of service. On Jan. 18, 1957, three B-52Bs completed the first non-stop round-the-world flight by jet aircraft, lasting 45 hours and 19 minutes and requiring only three aerial refuelings. It was also a B-52 that made the first airborne hydrogen bomb drop over Bikini Atoll on May 21, 1956.

Flying the B-52 BUFF

Lee Alloway, former USAF B-52 pilot, explains on Quora;

‘From my perspective, the B-52 was fun to fly. Half my Air Force career was spent in direct flying jobs as pilot, instructor, or evaluator in eight different aircraft flying for SAC, MAC, and Air Training Command. Each of those aircraft was fun to fly given the opportunity to leave the local area and do something other than fulfill HHQ-directed training requirements. The BUFF was not the most agile, comfortable, or attractive aircraft but the mission and the challenge of flying it well made up for its shortcomings. With any flying assignment, the fun factor has more to do with the unit personnel, leadership, and mission than the aircraft.

‘For me, flying the B-52D from Guam was the best. Great people, good mission, occasionally quirky leadership, and each airframe had its own personality. Too many years in the salt air took its toll on the hardware but maintainers had enough workarounds to get us in the air. Once there, things started falling apart. No mission came back with a Code 1 aircraft. My last flight on the D came back with 100 maintenance issues.’

He concludes;

‘Still she flew, always took care of us enroute and got us home. For those who say she is sluggish, I recommend you kick off the autopilot and learn to feel what the aircraft is asking for. Embrace her design, fly her with subtlety, and she will dance the skies like a (somewhat portly) ballerina.’

The most unpleasant plane to fly

Vilmos Shepard, another former BUFF pilot, shares his perspective;

‘It handles terribly, sluggish and with some weird behaviors due to the location of the spoilers and flexibility of the wing. The plane is incredibly noisy, has a low cabin pressure differential so you must be on oxygen whenever you’re cruising at high altitude. Every regular crew member sits on an ejections seat that is about as comfortable as sitting in an…… ejection seat, except unlike a fighter crew member who is typically in the seat for an hour or so, a typical B-52 mission is 10+ hours.

’There is no bathroom, only a piss can hanging on a wall where the ceiling isn’t high enough to stand up straight, and a bucket under the EW instructor seat for the women on board or the poor sucker who has to take a dump. There is no legit bed for sleeping on extremely long flights, just a bit of floor where you can lay down.

‘I would say it was the most unpleasant plane I ever flew.’

Vilmos concludes;

‘But the mission was challenging. An hour of air refueling on every mission, several hours of low level flying every mission (not done anymore), day, night, VMC or IMC. And an hour of approaches and touch and goes at the end of each flight. So at least it wasn’t pure boredom, like flying an airliner on a 10+ hour flight.’

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force