Conservative Political Forum

SAC: Strategic Air Command



I grew up near two major air force bases in Sacto. It was common day undertakings seeing takeoffs and landings of the early day revamped B-52's to thunder overhead, even felt a little uneasy when the program was discontinued, but quickly adjusted when I realized the real threat to the country came from within.

Well, looks like SAC is Back, with the nut in NK daring us to remove NK from the annals of history.

Defense One: Air Force Putting B-52s Back on 24-hour Alert

The U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed B-52s back on 24-hour ready alert, Defense One has reported.

"This is yet one more step in ensuring that we're prepared," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said. "I look at it more as not planning for any specific event, but more for the reality of the global situation we find ourselves in and how we ensure we're prepared going forward."

Goldfein stressed that the alert order, a status that has not been seen since the Cold War ended in 1991, has not been given, but that preparations were under way in anticipation that it might come.

The preparations are being made as President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have engaged in confrontational rhetoric over Pyongyang's rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal, as well as concern over Russia's increasingly potent armed forces and other geopolitical situations worldwide.

It also comes as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis starts a week-long trip to Asian allies on Monday to talk about the North Korean crisis, just weeks before Trump's first visit to the region, according to the Daily Mail.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/b-52-24-hour-alert-air-force-nuclear-weapons/2017/10/23/id/821432/

If you want to send a message, B-52 gets it heard .... er, well, the first time, after that, they're deaf and the internal organs are turning to mush from the concussion.

A couple of planes I have great respect for, AWACS, AC-130 Spectre Gunship, B-52 Bomber & A-10 Warthog.  We got something for everyone!

I used to work a good bit in Shreveport close to Barksdale AFB in Bossier City. It is a base for B-52's. They are majestic planes flying.

I grew up near this little out of the way place called Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio. Back then, WPAFB was one of the AF's primary testing grounds for many new designs, and it was also the largest single air force base in the world. Sonic booms at my house were a daily thing, usually several times a day. (My mom hated 'em, said they made the house dusty.)

Dad used to load up the car and drive us all out to one of the perimeter fences beyond one of the main runways at the base. (Can't do THAT today.) Back then it was almost a parking lot, a gravel area made by parking cars. The planes taking off would roar overhead, and my oldest sister, who I always suspected had a few screws loose, burst into uncontrollable laughter. We used to take popcorn and snacks and soft drinks.... it was our cheap family night out.

The B-52 was, of course, the Big Cajuna then, as now. Hard to believe that this design, which first went into service the year I was born, is still a front-line flyer. Even the newest B-52 in existence is 55 years old. Now just think about this for a moment. Fifty-five years before BUFF went into service, the Wright brothers were still playing with gliders.

A great museum there, in Dayton!   We visited it 3 years ago, time to go back.... one of my kids dropped and broke my beautiful Blue USAF cup, a working-man's size cup.   There is something about flying, we did the same thing at Ohare, park outside the chain link fence and watch them take off & land.  Since the NAVY flies over our place in the late after noons, I love to 'check them out', see if they're running after-burn.

Flying is fun, fun, fun.... it's the takeoff and landing that scares the hell out of me.

Yup, it's always the parts where the airplane and the Earth get together that make flying really damned interesting. What's the old saying...? "Any landing you walk away from is a good landing."

I'm just about an hour away from what used to be called "the Air Force Museum." Now I think it has a fancier name. Just this past year they opened their fourth "hangar," really a HUUUUGE building connected to the first three, for displaying more planes. (When I was a kid, most of the bigger aircraft were on display outside in the weather. The original museum was quite small.) Let me know when you're headed this way, and Mrs. Tbone and I will meet you there!

Wait, you remarried?

Yep. One year ago TODAY. Life is good.

Congrats, glad things are good again.

TB   


We just had our 50th wedding anniversary on 10/28/2017.

That's great!  I heard the secret to a long happy marriage is, "Don't argue, just dicker", seems to work for us.