Sunday, December 13, 2009

Dr. Strangelove . . .

. . . or, How Ian Learned to Fly a B-52.

Yep, that's Ian, the proper Englishman who recently married my all-American daughter, at the controls of a B-52D Stratofortress. His flight instructor (me) is sitting in the first officer's seat patiently offering hints to prevent us from flying at negative altitude.

Actually, we're sitting in a B-52D training simulator at the Strategic Air and Space Museum near Omaha Nebraska. There are dozens of aircraft in this museum, and ALL of them are inside. If you look at the size of some of them, you can imagine the sheer size of the building.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

5 comments:

Lisa said...

cool photos! :) That was a good day... It was the perfect place for the two of you to see together, being the history buffs you are.

I liked that there were British displays, as well.

Punctuation said...

Heh heh - we never did manage to get the landing gear lever to work! So many dials and widgets in that cockpit it's a wonder they remember what they all do.

What a good museum that was. Really good to see so many exhibits looked after so well.

Oh, and you landed that space shuttle simulator first time too didn't you after Lisa and had many many failed attempts. :-)

Brennig said...

I love the Vulcan design, but it was a noisy old bugger at 150' AGL with a full load on.

Lisa said...

space shuttles are not easy to land, eh? :D

Jack said...

Ian, I have had more than a little time on a PC SIM for the Harrier, so it was that - or dumbass luck. Oh, and you should see the control panel on the new helos the Navy has. Double that and more.

Brennig, the B52 isn't all that quiet either. I was overtaken on a remote Colorado highway by a B-52 flying low-level radar evasion training. Rather a surprise when you end up looking down the tailpipe as it goes over.

Lisa, for whom?