B-52 Deployment

[Seamus]

Morning all,

Managed a couple fo visits to Fairford over the last few days to catch the B-52 movements as part of BALTOPS/Saber Strike. Took advantage of the European airshow flypasts on Saturday and caught ICER01 departing and returning to Fairford.

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0007 US Air Force RAF Fairford 04/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0007 US Air Force RAF Fairford 04/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0007 US Air Force RAF Fairford 04/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Tuesday morning saw a bonus U-2 arrival as DRAGON86 limped in with Hyrdaulic issues...

Lockheed U-2S 80-1089/BB US Air Force RAF Fairford 07/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Before ICER02 arrived in much better early evening light, although with an emergency of its own, landing on seven engines.

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0007/MT US Air Force RAF Fairford 07/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0007/MT US Air Force RAF Fairford 07/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0007/MT US Air Force RAF Fairford 07/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0007/MT US Air Force RAF Fairford 07/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0007/MT US Air Force RAF Fairford 07/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0007/MT US Air Force RAF Fairford 07/06/16 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Not a bad return, especially having missed any B-52 movements during the previous two deployments. Thanks for looking, comments welcomed.

Cheers,

Shaun

[Big Eric]

Excellent shots.

[Tommy]

The 5th shot is immense, buddy.

[Wissam24]

"The dreaded seven engine approach"

[Seamus]

Thanks for the comments chaps, much appreciated

[BusEng]

Wonderful set of pics, shots 6 and 7 for me though, what a beauty.

Eng

[CJS]

Cracking set of shots, nice to nab the U-2 too! Out of interest, given the length of Fairford's runway, why would they use the parachute? I get it if one of them was landing with an issue but the first one has used it too. Would they periodically use them just to test them out?

[Seamus]

Thanks for the extra comments chaps

I couldn't say for sure why they use a brake chute every time, but I'd assume as a fail-safe should there be a braking issue. They certainly take some stopping, and I'm not sure I've seen them land without using the chute in recent years...

[FarnboroJohn]

I know silk parachutes had issues with sticking together if damp or staticked (is that a word?) so they may pop them each landing just because they need to be opened and repacked anyway for safety reasons.

John

[steved]

Great pictures , and by coincidence "A Gathering of Eagles", 1963 film starring Rock Hudson was on TV Saturday AM, featuring the B-52.