Nuclear Delivery Testing

[Finn]

Lofting of training shapes by Navy a/c:

 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/81266

 

Jari

[Oldbaldguy]

From back in the day when bombs were dumb and the pilot was the smartest thing in the airplane.

[D.B. Andrus]

Inert Mk 7 gravity bombs(N) in action. Thanks for posting.

 

Cheers,

Damian

[Rockie Yarwood]

Cool video, thanks Finn!

 

Regards,  Rockie

[RLWP]

So close - nearly hit the moon!

 

Richard

 

(38 seconds in)

[Citadelgrad]

My dad flew B 47s.  If you want to see crazy, look for a LABS maneuver.  Nothing like putting a 6 engined airliner sized bomber in an Immelman like maneuver to toss that gravity bomb.   

[Out2gtcha]

11 minutes ago, Citadelgrad said:

My dad flew B 47s.  If you want to see crazy, look for a LABS maneuver.  Nothing like putting a 6 engined airliner sized bomber in an Immelman like maneuver to toss that gravity bomb.   

 

 

My dad was in the air force after WWII and talked about the "Idiots loop" and how dangerous it could be.

[Pete Fleischmann]

Nuke delivery was/is part of the F-16 RTU course. We even had a TOT competition between the students for the title of “Duke of Nuke”.

The B61 Silver Bullet is the coolest bomb I’ve ever seen. The polished silver body and Bakelite nosecone are right out of Dr. Strangelove. I periodically get asked about my feelings about my nuke delivery training. My perspective was that if anyone ever told little old me to chuck a nuke, the whole world had probably gone to shitz anyway; so let that sucker fly!

 

cheers

P

[Citadelgrad]

On 1/13/2022 at 10:11 AM, Out2gtcha said:

 

 

My dad was in the air force after WWII and talked about the "Idiots loop" and how dangerous it could be.

My dad was just after, jet trained. 

 

At the risk of a hijack, I mentioned this thread to him.  He vividly remembers being ushered into the base movie theater, with MPs at the entrances and exits checking ID, nobody without top secret clearance allowed in.  They started a movie, and an F 86 approached a mountain and did a barrel roll.  Then it approached another and did an Immelman.  The younger, fighter trained guys went nuts.  Then a B 47 did the same two maneuvers.  The WWII guys, B-17, -24 and -29 pilots, had not been on their backs since pilot training, looked ill.

 

Then they were told to be on the flight line at X hour, and their wing commander flew over at 500 feet, 500kts, and did the Immelman right over their heeds.  Every wing commander did the maneuver to demonstrate, with a factory rep in the back seat.    

 

He ended with "that's how LeMay ran the Air Force."  

[Astro32]

How did those Fury pilots keep their aircraft trimmed?

[Finn]

Here is a Fury doing a captive test flight:

 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/81267

 

Jari

[John1]

On 1/13/2022 at 12:57 PM, Citadelgrad said:

My dad flew B 47s.  If you want to see crazy, look for a LABS maneuver.  Nothing like putting a 6 engined airliner sized bomber in an Immelman like maneuver to toss that gravity bomb.   

 

Crazy stuff those days.  It was all fun and games in the B-47 doing LABS maneuvers until the wings came off a couple of the jets.   Brave dudes flying those missions.