B52H - "Ghost Rider" brought out of 7 year storage

[B-29 Super Fort]

U.S. Air Force serial number 61-0007, a B-52H known by its nose art as "Ghost Rider," was brought out of seven years of storage at the Defense Department's boneyard in Arizona. Its new mission? To replace an active B-52H that was badly damaged by fire while on the ground at Barksdale Air Force Base and make the USAF arms treaty-dictated fleet of 76 B-52s whole once again.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-gh ... 1686588702

[JohnB]

As the article states, it's the first B-52 to be brought out of mothballs for operational use.

Good to see they don't part out all the aircraft, it's nice to keep a few intact spares as attrition aircraft.
Hopefully, they do it for B-1s as well.

[JOMiller]

Wonder if she'll get to keep the nose art??

[Cubs]

B-52 flies out of the "boneyard." Yeah!
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/21/us/arizon ... index.html

[Rob Mears]

I've been trying to get out to the base and get some photos of "Ghost Rider" since her arrival here. I'll post the photos here, of course, if I'm able.

[sandiego89]

Nice to see her escape the Boneyard. With a serial number ending in 007, your would think "License to Kill" would be a natural nickname.

[p51]

Nice to see her escape the Boneyard. With a serial number ending in 007, your would think "License to Kill" would be a natural nickname.

Not in this PC era...

[tom d. friedman]

the entire existing fleet are going to be eventually "re -engined" over time. no clue to what company is going to do the upgrade.

[Rob Mears]

[SaxMan]

I remember watching a segment on the NBC Nightly News in the late 1970s regarding the B-52s and how the Air Force had planned to keep them in operation until the 1990s "When the planes will be nearly 40 years old". Looks like they missed that deadline. I've heard the USAF is could keep them flying through 2040 when the airframes will be approaching 80 years old. That would have been like flying a Curtis Pusher in Desert Storm.

I guess as taxpayers we should be pleased that we got so much of our money's worth from these planes.

[p51]

I've heard the USAF is could keep them flying through 2040 when the airframes will be approaching 80 years old. That would have been like flying a Curtis Pusher in Desert Storm.

I was talking about this with someone at work the other day who knows old airplanes. I compared this by saying, "Imagine B-17 bombers sitting on a ramp, getting ready for missions... during the Invasion of Iraq in 2003."

[wendovertom]

Rob,

I LOVE that artwork!

P51 - thinking about the B-17 comparison, THAT is quite a mental image to process.

Tom P.

[phil65]

I think they should think about re-engineing the B-52.
The JT3D are getting a little long in the tooth.
Maybe I can find some extra F100's here at Pratt....

Phil

[ArtS]

Overhaul complete!:

http://www.newson6.com/story/33303788/t ... to-service

Regards,

Art S.

[airnutz]

Thanx for the hedzup ArtS. Here's a link to the news release from the Air Force Sustainment Center containing links to 34 HI-REZ zoomable download photos of 007 Ghost Rider in various states of preparation. NMF, fresh nose art, new paint, etc. She is gorgeous in her new paint! It'll be quite a while before this bird is ever this clean again...if ever!
http://www.afsc.af.mil/News/Article-Dis ... ic-flight/