The damage caused by a B-52 bomber at RAF Fairford when taxiing diagonally

@DefAviation EN 7·17·2023 · 20:00 0

The B-52 is a magnificent bomber that has been in service for many years and is sure to retire the more modern B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit.

The deafening experience of a B-52 bomber passing a few meters above you
The visit of the Civil Guard to the B-52H 'Wise Guy' bomber on its deployment in Spain

However, the B-52 has a slight size problem. It is a large plane: its fuselage is 48.5 meters long and the distance between the tips of the wings is 56.4 meters. In addition, its wings are negative dihedral, that is, they are inclined downwards. That inclination is more accentuated when it is on land. Also, the B-52 has an atypical landing gear, called dual-bicycle, with four sets of wheels instead of three, which is common in most aircraft.

This peculiar landing gear gives it advantages when it has to land in a crosswind, since it can direct the four sets of wheels at the same angle and taxi diagonally, something that airplanes with three wheel sets can not do. To avoid losing balance and the wingtips rubbing the ground, the B-52 has two small retractable wheels on the tail end of its wings. These wheels do not usually touch the ground, unless one of the wings is very inclined.

Last weekend, a USAF B-52H, serial number 61-0029 (cn 464456), belonging to the 93rd Bombardment Squadron "Indian Outlaws", based at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, participated in The Royal International Air Tattoo, the large annual airshow held at RAF Fairford, England. The strategic bomber put on an aerial display during which it took off, made two passes and landed, then taxied diagonally while following the "Follow me" car. Epicaviation47 has released a video showing off this display:

As seen at the end, in its diagonal taxiing, the B-52 began to damage the lights on one side of the runway, up to 18 in total, according to the author of the video. It does not appear that this diagonal taxiing was done due to a crosswind, since the plane landed straight. Rather it seems that the pilot wanted to demonstrate the aircraft's ability to taxi while turned . It seems that he did not measure the possible effects well. You can see here some video captures in which the damage can be seen.

In the image above, the B-52 has already touched one of the lights (it looks less intense). In the following image we see how the plane touches another light and the grave.

Eventually, the light ends up being turned off. Some were damaged and others were smashed. Thus up to 18 lights, according to the account made by Epicaviation47.

It must be recognized that the American pilot had a good aim. Even wanting to do it on purpose, it would be difficult to damage 18 runway lights...

+ UPDATED 10:24 PM: Elwyn R has also posted the video of the B-25H display in the RIAT, but in this case the breaking of the lights is not observed: