1965 B-52 collision

[@robertjensen1438]

An F-15 pilot was assigned to escort an aged B-52 Bomber Being a bit bored, he started executing loops and rolls, never worried about being able to catch up to his lumbering charge. He got on the radio to boast to the BUFF pilot. "Ha! Anything you can do, I can do better!" The bomber pilot replies, "Oh, yeah? Let's see you do this!" and keeps flying straight and level. The fighter jock asks, "Um... What did you do?" The B-52 pilot says, "I just shut down two engines."

[@trishayamada807]

Started my day with a giggle. Thanks! ❤😂

[@highpath4776]

I assume if they are doubles - in pairs, you can take out 4 if balanced and not on full payload/take off

[@jhmcglynn]

The joke originally described the pilot going back and taking a, well, you know what I mean😀

[@rbeard7580]

@@jhmcglynnA coffee break? Maybe with a donut? 😁

[@miket2120]

There are even earlier iterations of this joke. I remember it as a C-141 Starlifter being escorted by F-4s. The cargo pilot got up, did his business, got a sandwich, talked to some passengers, then returned to the flight deck.

[@tom5cox]

Never flew on the 52, but spent many hours walking around them. I always held the 52’s and their crews in awe. Thanks air crews for your selfless service and sacrifice.

[@richardsanjose3692]

Even if unbeknownst to them, they were launching this war on the Vietnamese people based on a lie in the Gulf of Tonkin like all of our wars, which have been a war on the American people's wallet to the investors at Boeing Lockheed Martin yada yada yada yada yada.

[@bcgrittner]

During the late 1950’s a B-52 suffered an elevator trim malfunction and broke apart in the air. There was one survivor. There was one survivor. The plane crashed near a farmhouse. There was significant property damage and injuries of the residents of that farm. This occurred in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. There is a memorial plaque at the sight where the plane came down. It is close to the water tower near highway 52. Having visited that memorial I have to say these guys put it on the line for all of us. RIP, crew.

[@williampotter2098]

You are a fine human being.

[@nealpeterson1530]

I grew up there, never knew that.

[@vlmellody51]

My late father flew a KC 135 during the Vietnam War. He loved that plane. Once while I was a student at the University of Arizona in Tucson AZ, my dad came to visit me and he took me to the Boneyard. Right by the road was his plane being mothballed. He never spoke about his time in the United States Air Force, or any of his missions, having taken his oaths of secrecy very seriously. Once, though, while we were looking at an atlas image of the world, he pointed out all the tiny specks in the ocean that he had been to, and a few of the screw-ups that had gotten people permanently assigned there.

[@williampotter2098]

My father flew Martin B-26 Marauders in WW2, KC-97s after, then 135s during the cold war and C-130s in Vietnam out of the Philippines. I flew C-141s then a civilian pilot career.

[@laserbeam002]

These men deserve our deepest respect. May all R.I.P and thank you for your service.

[@robertblake7145]

Thank you for the documentation of this sad event. I served as a Flight Surgeon with the B 52s 1966-1968 off Guam and flew missions with the crews as part of the Arc Light series of action . While I was there we lost two of the B52s in a mid air approaching the initial point for a bomb run. General Crumm was flying as the airborne commander and riding in the non ejection jump seat. It was his last mission before returning stateside. He and several others did not survive. This needs documentation as well to honor the six that did not survive. You did a superior job with this documentation. Thanks. Robert Blake MD

[@murrygandy6546]

I will always remember that accident. I was in SAC then.

[@Alan-in-Bama]

This is one example of countless others, in which American servicemen have lost their lives in some far away land or ocean… while serving their country. Many times there was no audience to witness their demise and even when given the recognition they deserved back home , it’s usually never visible in the mainstream news. But it should be !!! When any person loses their life while serving our country in the military … they should be recognized and mourned in a headline report in every news show on tv ! Along with all the great deeds that so many risk their lives to achieve. Many thanks to the History Guy for the video and many thanks to all our combat veterans… you are very much appreciated !

[@alanreynolds2287]

It is no small surprise to me that the Buff guys in Vietnam had seat kits full of winter gear. During the first Gulf War, we wore our green flight suits. Consequently, my Escape and Evasion' plan if I bailed out was to act like a saguro cactus with my arms in the air.., They issued us handguns without holsters and a small bag of bullets.... I felt like Barney Fife... But they REQUIRED us to wear our water wings... over a desert...

[@patriciajrs46]

Thank you for your service, and for the story. Our military does some really weird things.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

So you didn't get the gold coins, rubles and nylon stockings?

[@empireoflizards]

@@patriciajrs46 Probably more specifically, that would be military *bureaucracy*. Pencil-pushers who don't necessarily have a clue.

[@TomSwift-wy1gx]

Small world. When I was in Europe during the first Gulf War, I got a phone call saying my squadron's pilots needed holsters, so I expedited the order and got them on the next bird to Bahrain.

[@johnharris6655]

@@WALTERBROADDUS "Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good time in Dallas with all that stuff." The original script but was later dubbed to Vegas after Kennedy was shot in Dallas.

[@-.Steven]

Thanks History Guy! As a sailor in my early 20's back in the 80's I was stationed at NAVCAMSWESPACGUAM, and got to go to Andersen Airforce base, and saw (and have pictures) of a B-52 that was mounted up as a memorial to those who flew out of Guam to missions over Vietnam. It was only then I realized how far those planes flew on their bomb runs. It was thousands of miles round trip, 2 thousand or so, just off the top of my noggin. An amazing feat.

[@firstmkb]

I think some of the missions in the gulf were flown out of Scott AFB in Illinois. B1’s maybe? Shows how much I don’t know. I take my hat off to the military for coming up with the longest acronym I’ve ever seen - NAVCAMSWESPACGUAM.

[@TomSwift-wy1gx]

@@firstmkb What's truly amazing is that we know what it means!

[@murrygandy6546]

I was on B-52 alert and present on Guam for the B-52 dedication that day in 1974. I was part of what we called ourselves "the alert rent a crowd".

[@-.Steven]

@@firstmkb Haha! I'm not even sure if that's the longest military acronym? 🤣

[@-.Steven]

@@murrygandy6546 Wow! That's amazing! Thanks for sharing that memory!

[@johnhammond9962]

Thank you for showing the correct aircraft instead of lazy, stock footage of anything with wings like so many others do. Example: The F-105s when you were mentioning Rolling Thunder.

[@miket2120]

Yes, so many KZbin vids show 105's dropping ordinance for Rolling Thunder. They were used in Rolling Thunder, but usually as Wild Weasels, suppressing the SAM sites and radar. In South Vietnam they saw extensive use as fighter bombers.

[@johnhammond9962]

@@miket2120 Such a badass jet.

[@williampotter2098]

Yeah, too many corporate run KZbin channels are bad about that. The other day I was watching a video of an 707 airliner jet in the 60s I think it was, that crashed. It of course had four engines. The pictures showed modern 4-engine jets, airliners with glass cockpits and wide-body interiors. It's disgusting. KZbin is really going down in authenticity.

[@johnmorykwas2343]

The real stories of B-52s are written in the series of books "We Were Crewdogs", of which I am coauthor.

[@ppsayl1235]

Thanks for the info, John.

[@patriciajrs46]

Interesting. My Dad was a bombadier on B52 in WW2.

[@TheOsfania]

@@patriciajrs46 the B-52 first flew in 1952, seven years after WWII ended. Perhaps he flew a different aircraft or in a later war?

[@johnmorykwas2343]

@@patriciajrs46 maybe B-25s. B-52s did not exist in WWII.

[@patriciajrs46]

@@johnmorykwas2343 Okay. I'm sorry. I get that memory wrong. I know that my Dad lied to get into the Army Aircorps. He said he was was born in 1922. He wasn 't. It was 1924.

[@JeffreyKB]

126,000 sorties flown during the Vietnam War!! Holy crap!! Love your videos THG.

[@firstmkb]

That was truly insane. If you haven’t achieved your goal after 10,000 tries then just do it another 116,000 times and you’ll surely succeed!

[@gmhelwig]

Growing up in a US Air Force family, I remember the saying "A midair collision can ruin your whole day."

[@Wil_Liam1]

Yep,USAAF,and USAF kid here who was there,did that,remembers all of the drills,the sayings brought home by dad(we always lived on base) as well as what the neighbor kids dad told us... We listened,and we heard,and we believed...

[@george2113]

Not sure what happened to my grandfather's merchant marine magazine cover caption " A accident at sea can ruin your whole day"

[@avstud09]

yep I remember that one I grew to hate sos!

[@johnfun3394]

I lived close to MatherAFB in the early 80s and was at home when a B52 crashed a mile and two tenths from my trailer, two big explosions. I jumped I’m my Chevy Luv and was the fourth vehicle to get to the scene. Not much left.

[@johnharris6655]

I lived next to Mather, one night they lit up a B-52 engine on a test stand. Everyone in Rancho Cordova heard that.

[@tedlesher2884]

That crash was caused by a scheduling error, of all things. Two B-52s were making a practice minimum interval takeoff, in which the second aircraft brings the power up 15 seconds after the first and both are rolling on the runway at the same time. The schedule had #2 using water injection, which substantially increases takeoff thrust, but not #1. Just after liftoff #2 was about to overrun #1, the pilot pulled the power back, the excess water killed the engines and in they went. There were many, many opportunities to catch the error before it got to this stage, but nobody did. I still have a copy of that original schedule.

[@StevenDietrich-k2w]

The BUFF turned 72 earlier this year, and still going strong.

[@davidmihevc3990]

That is pretty amazing. A true testament to design and engineering, not to mention some pretty awesome maintenance people all these years.

[@J.C...]

Yep. I watch them fly in and out of the local AFB daily. You can look up pretty much any time during the day and see at least 1 in the sky above us I don't know if any have ever crashed here. We had a C-124 Globemaster II that was carrying 1 or more nukes crash at the end of the runway some decades ago. IIRC, they just buried the wreckage. I'd have to look it up and see what actually happened. They kept the incident quiet for like 50 years or something. Nobody here knew there was nukes invoked until sometime in the 2000's

[@perihelion7798]

As a Vietnam combat veteran, I can say that, in war, you still have all of the numerous ways of dying that you do in civilian life, with the addition of many new, horrible ways. It's not a video game. I noted that in the listing of those that perished, there were two enlisted personnel. Those guys were almost certainly the tail gunners, who had no real chance of surviving the collision. My opinion: If 'Linebacker II' had been done in '67-'68, the war would have ended in 1968. Maybe...

[@russvoight1167]

You are correct, tail gunners on the B-52 were enlisted

[@perihelion7798]

@@russvoight1167 They were the modern version of the ball turret gunners on B-17's.

[@russvoight1167]

The B-17 had tail gunners as well

[@perihelion7798]

@@russvoight1167 Yes, but the ball turret gunners were essentially trapped in their turrets, like the B-52 tail gunners.

[@JG-wu6rx]

I concur with your take that the outcome may have been different if we initiated Linebacker II 5-6 years earlier. Would their resolve waver with a continuing campaign of a Linebacker 3, 4, and 5? Perhaps? We’ll never know.

[@almartin4]

My dad was career AF. He retired after 26 years of active duty in 1972. (as CMSG) His duty assignments with Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) were: 1949-50 Roswell AFB 1951-54 Loring AFB (C-5 Missing) 1955-1957 Ramey AFB (B-52 Down) 1958-1961 Offutt AFB 1962-1965 Loring AFB (B-52 Missing) 1965 -1966 Clark AFB (608th Tac Ctrl Sqdn) 1967-1968/69 Andrews AFB One of the assignments was to Ramey AFB (Puerto Rico) 1956/ 57/ 58, a Strategic Air Command (SAC). At that time he worked as a TV engineer with the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS). There were times when B-52s from Loring AFB (Maine) deployed to Ramey AFB on various missions and had some spare time. I think this was before Chrome Dome was actually in full operation. There were also times when B-36s and C-124s rotated through the base. We did have one bad accident that I recall from that time. Our house looked out over the start of the runway and hanger area. One of the B-52s moved to its position at the start of the runway and began to accelerate. We could hear it reach take-of speed and then lift off, followed by a large explosion. The crash happened right over an empty playground and melted the steel swing sets and slides. The crew were all lost and remain in our memories. Another went missing while at Loring AFB; he was called out to help search for it, no luck. The crash site was found 20 plus years later, after my father passed away. We were stationed at Clark AFB when these events occurred and he must have heard about them: never said anything to me about them. Regards

[@rbeard7580]

Former B-52 guy here. Later, I became a corporate pilot flying the Gulfstream IV around the world. It has super-reliable Rolls Royce engines, and I often wondered if anyone was considering engines used by such large corporate jets to replace those of the aging Stratofortress. The AF is now going to refit the remaining B-52 fleet with a RR engine, a variation used successfully on other business jets for many years. As to who was responsible? Ultimately, the Aircraft Commander (pilot) of that bomber that made the turn.

[@RCAvhstape]

Over the years there was always talk of replacing the 8 engines with 4 big turbofans, but for various reasons that never happened. Practical considerations aside, I'm glad they are sticking with 8 engines in the refit. A B-52 with 4 engines just doesn't seem right.

[@rbeard7580]

@@RCAvhstape I think part of the reason were that the two large outboard ones would then be too low to the ground, potentially sucking up all sorts of FOD (pebbles, lose concrete, etc).

[@RCAvhstape]

@@rbeard7580 I've also read that the Air Force did the math and found that for the cost of buying and changing all the engines in the fleet, they could just keep burning fuel for years on end, making it easy to put off the project.

[@rbeard7580]

@@RCAvhstape That could be true. As a lowly crew dog, nobody consulted me on such lofty subjects, so I'm really just repeating rumors that circulated amongst the force back in the day. (I left the B-52 in 1986.)

[@GolfSierra47]

And so began the era of micro-managing the Viet Nam war from Washington, D.C.

[@miket2120]

It was the era of the technocrat and the start of superpower war by proxy. The military brass also did some bonehead operations too. Operation Linebacker II, during Christmas of 1972, was planned from SAC headquarters in Nebraska. The brass had the 3 waves of bombers approach their targets (about 10 nm from Hanoi) on the same ingress track, at the same altitude, with the same spacing between bomber cells and all making a post target turn to the West (getting into strong headwinds that reduced their ground speed by 100kts and pointed their jammers away from the North's radars). From 18 Dec to 23 Dec, 11 B-52s were lost (over 5 days) all by SA-2 missiles. There was a crew revolt that spread up the chain and SAC finally let the 8th Air Force in Guam to plan their own missions. The 8th's planners had the Buffs come in at all points of the compass, at different altitudes and difference post target turns, overwhelming the North's defense forces. The attack lasted only 20 minutes. Over the following three days of attacks, only 4 Buffs were lost.

[@TomSwift-wy1gx]

@@miket2120 THX for that info about SAC planners. I always wondered why those planes followed those suicide tracks.

[@tedlesher2884]

@@TomSwift-wy1gx That came down to one senior officer, Maj Gen Peter Sianis, HQ SAC Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, who personally overruled his own planning staff and directed the straight-in approaches and post-target turns that got so many shot down. He was canned after day 3 and was out of the service entirely within a couple of months.

[@TomSwift-wy1gx]

@@tedlesher2884 Somebody should write this as a lesson plan and send it to the USAF Air University in Alabama.

[@frankgulla2335]

Thank you, THG, for another terrific tale of air combat and the struggles of the men who served in those planes. Than you for remembering those men.

[@TomSwift-wy1gx]

Perfect presentation as usual with no errors in illustration or facts. The History Guy gives the most important and most interesting bite-size history lessons of all. Thx, THG! And thanks for the memorial at the end, too.

[@PAS_2020]

ONG!! This is the most distressing story on the KZbins. Checking my blood pressure. What a great narrative coverage of this long forgotten disaster.

[@MikeSmith-nx4ct]

THG is the best on KZbin!!!

[@robertheinkel6225]

I was an instructor for training crew chiefs on the B-52. It is a beautiful aircraft, but a pain to work on.

[@gregorycanady2530]

My close friend, Jim Hardbeck, was leading a group of huey helicopters, flying South over 4 Corps on the early morning of the incident. He recalled seeing a huge fireball ahead of him, but never knew what he had witnessed. At a high school reunion, in conversation with another classmate, who was a retired B-52 pilot, and also flew FACs in South Vietnam, told him what he had seen. Strange memories........Jim is dead now. Two years later I arrived in South Vietnam as a drafted grunt with the Wolfhounds of the 25th Infantry Division.......

[@Thefutureooksbight]

You always present a story without political bias keep up the great work. My father was in a ninth arm Air Force during World War II and stayed with the government as a civilian until he retired working on a lot of space projects for NASA through the defense contract administration. He had an office at O’Hare airport on the government side, which is now the international side.

[@joephelan5427]

As a Navy dependent I would sell Stars and Stripes at the galley in the morning at NCS Finnagan and remember these planes taking off that morning. A day to remember and honor!

[@BobFord-i3n]

was stationed on guam in 1965. remember hearing about this.

[@tzkelley]

I used to fly B52s and never heard this story before. Thanks.

[@markaustin643]

Ditto (3000+ hours, 1978-1987)

[@koungpou3795]

THG THIS IS THE KIND OF VIDEO WE ALL WANT . I saw this and immediately tapped thinking it was old and im so happy it’s 6 hours old cheers and pls know im jus tryna help I love what you do so does everyone else

[@Col_K]

We called it "May-thur" AFB, but I'm from the South. My brother lost a nav school classmate in a midair collision between two C-141 Starlifters during a nighttime refueling mission in 1992.

[@HootOwl513]

I had an instructor in Television Production at LA City College in 1970, whose surname was Mather, and he pronounced it that way. He was also an Air Force vet.

[@davidfifer4729]

People in Sacramento called (and still call) it "May-thur" too. That's the correct pronunciation.

[@erictaylor5462]

Not long before my dad's enlistment ended in 1968 he was working on a project when the weekend arrived. He'd had plans to spend the weekend with his girlfriend (Who would become my mother about a year and a half later) but he wanted to finish what he had been working on, and as it would only take an hour or so he picked up his girlfriend and took her into his work space. He was a draftsman and a land surveyor and was working on the plans to build a memorial at a park in base, Travis AFB, in California. My mother found a Coke vending machine and put in her money but did not get a Coke. The noise she made attracted the attention of a Colonel who came out of his office. He asked her what she was doing and she said her boyfriend was there trying to help some old man get a star. She had no idea what that meant, but of course the Colonel knew what it meant. He spent time talking to my mother after buying her a Coke, then a bit later my dad met her and they left. The following Monday the Colonel called my dad into his office. His boss asked him what it would take to get him to reenlist. My grandfather had been a Marine and dad spent his childhood being moved from place to place, and spending weeks or months when his dad was deployed. However, he was very fond of the man and didn't want to tell him that he was getting out, and nothing the Colonel could offer would keep him in. He liked being in the Airforce, but he knew his family would not like it. So he thought of the most outargues and unreasonable thing he could think of and said, "Maybe if I could get on a red horse team?" These guys are the badass branch of the AF, like Navy Seals or Army SF. they deploy behind enemy lines and set up air strips. The following day the Colonel had the orders for him. All he had to do was reenlist. Dad actually considered it briefly, but in the end, they turned it down. Good thing too, as the team he would have been assigned to was deployed to Vietnam and as they tried to land on the beach the NVA were ready and wiped out the entire team.

[@marykmusic]

The bombing started in February of 1965. My family had just arrived. I was a teenager, and for the next several years watched the B-52s return home offshore. Throttling down over the ocean, they landed on Guam's northern end. I always counted them.

[@laura-ann.0726]

I had a co-worker in the 1990's who had been a pilot and Captain in the USAF in the 1950's and 1960's. He was assigned to a Search and Rescue squadron at Narsarsuaq, Greenland, flying SA-16's, very similar to the HU-16 in this video. Their primary mission was to attempt rescue of downed airmen flying Ferry missions between Goose Bay, Labrador, or St. John's, Newfoundland, and Reykjavik, Iceland. They never had to do this for real while my friend was stationed there, but he told me that the weather and sea conditions in their patrol area was often so bad, and the water so cold, that any aircrew having to ditch or bail out had only a slim chance of survival. And he told me that the waves in the North Atlantic were hardly ever small enough that he could have landed an Albatross, picked up survivors, and taken off again; the likely damage being exactly what happened to the HU-16 in this video.

[@TheTropicaltreasure]

I so enjoy listening to your videos while driving to work.

[@drlegendre]

The men who flew & survived those missions were made of some seriously tough stuff. Thanks for everything you did, fellas - this doesn't go unappreciated.

[@stephenwheeler-iu3qy]

I was TDY to Anderson and saw this sortie take off. Really sad when we figured out they weren't all coming back. BTW, the "We Were Crewdogs" books are excellent.

[@gpickmovies]

I was there on Guam and served as number 3 man on a weapon load team out of Biggs AFB, El Paso TX. I loaded some of those planes.

[@StevenDietrich-k2w]

Good morning THG, and fellow history fans.

[@HarryLime-ge6dc]

Good morning, neighbor!

[@rwarren58]

Hello from Sacramento!

[@shawnr771]

Thank you for the lesson.

[@illuzion30]

Since it's a two-for-one of sorts, might want to make a video about the Dean Mellberg shooting / 1994 Fairchild B-52 crash (besides... the video footage of that is something else).

[@Mtlmshr]

I always like and appreciate all the work you and (I suppose) your team does to research all the wide expanse of History that you show!

[@barrybrown3080]

I was there for that first deployment of B-52’s to Guam. I was stationed at Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, TX.

[@raycruickshank4928]

Thank you, Lance. Great job!

[@mattgeorge90]

Thank you for sharing!

[@HistoryNut-1701]

Thanks for the lesson.

[@septembersurprise5178]

"In times of war and not before, God and the soldier we adore. But in times of peace and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted." -Rudyard Kipling” Thanks for not forgetting!

[@167curly]

There must have been many red faces among USAF brass for that muddle!

[@dirtclodmetaldetecting]

Interesting! New sub here! I lived in Guam for 30 years and saw the B-52s come many times. Love those planes!

[@avgjoe-cz7cb]

Back in the mid '70's, working at the old NCS, I witnessed 17 B-52's flying overhead at about 1000 feet at my work place. They were taking off out of Anderson. One after another. Very loud, very beautiful. Very much a memory I never could forget. Our Country is lucky to have them.

[@dirtclodmetaldetecting]

@@avgjoe-cz7cb That would be neat to see!

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Hey History Guy, 🤓 yesterday was the passing of probably the best MLB player ever. The legendary Willie Mays. Do you have any memories of The Say Hey Kid? And fellow Classmates please share your thoughts on him !

[@billythekid3234]

The true GOAT!

[@rwarren58]

My father took me to a game at Candlestick park. I saw him play. He tried to steal third. It was glorious. My father turned 93 earlier this year.

[@HD-J.R.]

There might be a team of greatest of all time, but Mays, the person is in a class of its own. True greatness ⚾️

[@rabbi120348]

I was lucky to grow up in NYC during the days of Mantle, Mays, Snider and all the other legends of the game. I was always a Yankee fan, but it crushed me when the Dodgers and Giants left. I guess I'm a New Yorker first.

[@michaelhowell2326]

I didn't know such a legend was still alive.

[@jeffbangkok]

Good evening

[@dwaynekoblitz6032]

My first B-52's video that wasn't a song. Who gave that order was covered up I'm sure. What a tragic waste of hero's lives. God bless them all. 💯❤️🇺🇸 #rocklobster

[@ricksaint2000]

Thank you History Guy

[@VernonWallace]

Thank you for this.

[@kellybasham3113]

Love your videos

[@BasicDrumming]

I appreciate you and thank you for making content.

[@gusloader123]

THG - Good, informative video. Well done! Hard way to make a liviing..... eject out of a wrecked bomber and land in a ocean with salt water and sharks. NOT good. {Side note: I find it so strange that with all the electronic gizmos and the human eyeballs of several A.F. crew members,,,, people do not seem to notice other aircraft in the sky.}

[@richardsanjose3692]

Guys coming back from Vietnam who witnessed the arc light bombings by b-52s and I believe they carried up to 100 500 lb bomb. Bombs said that they were truly life changing events if you will as they would lay waste to a strip of land approximately a mile long and a couple of hundred yards wide rendering it the appearance of a freshly plowed field with nothing left standing. Nixon's so-called Christmas bombing campaign is said to have been a life-changing event for the North Korean or North Vietnamese rather leader as it was so insanely destructive that it is given as a probable cause for advancing the peace process on the North Vietnamese side. You can find film of these arc light runs on KZbin and other documentaries and it's easy to imagine what it would be like to be on the ground. Beneath a truly life-ending event

[@phantom629]

in the early 60's there was a mid air refueling accident between a b52 and a tanker over spain resulting in the temporary loss of a nuke in the Mediterranean sea, some mention of this incident was made in the movie men of honor. i showed this to my dad who was a tender for the sub that ultimately found the nuke and he said the movie got the story wrong and that there was no way a diver could be walking around in 2500' of water looking for the nuke where it was found. i was wondering if you knew and could clarify this story as there aren't many details available, the sub was called the aluminaut (sp?) it was owned by the Reynolds aluminum company. its a story worth remembering iirc 2 aircrews were lost that day.

[@CFITOMAHAWK]

Operation Chrome Dome is related to the movie, Dr Strangelove.

[@nedludd7622]

There is something to add now that I have seen a documentary "The most bombed Country in History" by the Gravel Institute. It gives a larger historical perspective of the history of the US wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

[@Strlrd1023]

8:00 am I the only one that noticed that a plane turning around is doing “a 180” not “a 360”?

[@OhioDan]

Maybe they intended to loop back around after they had gotten back onto the proper time schedule.

[@garywagner2466]

Very interesting story. Thanks, History Guy. Where’s the History Cat these days?

[@MrOmega52]

I knew a master navigator, a lt col. who began flying in those arc light missions starting with the fourth one. He said after taking off from Guam, about 12 miles directly on their flight path sat a Russian trawler, a spy ship, ready to relay the intelligence to the north Vietnamese goverment that they were on their way. He said that as they flew over the ship, he had an urge to declare an emergency and have to jettision his bomb load on top of that ship. Of course, he didn't. He said had they given them the same kind of freedom to hit targets as was given to the airforce in desert storm, the would have ran out of targets in two weeks. Upon coming back to the US and just three months short of making full colonel, he told his supporters if that's the way we are going to fight this war then I resign. He was a veteran og ww2 and Korea as well and had escaped from the famed left stalag 3 made famous by the movie the great escape.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Speaking of the B-52 in Vietnam.... have we ever covered how a Brig. General Jimmy Stewart happened to go on one?

[@Tessou]

Please do a history of the legendary A-10 Thunderbolt II now that the USAF brass gave it the tentative pink slip. The greatest CAS platform of all time deserves not just to be remembered, but immortalized.

[@vanlepthien6768]

Lived on Anderson 1964-66. My sister and I both thought the B-52s had taken off to bomb the USSR. We just waited to die, until we were still alive and nothing vaporized. In the fall, truckloads of 750 lb. bombs drove past my junior high school every day.

[@deanbuss1678]

Thanks!

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Thank you!

[@murrygandy6546]

Gradualism is a failing strategy once war breaks out. But we repeat that failed strategy every time war we go to war.

[@thecameramantraveler4830]

Can you do a video on the B-52 named "pogo 22"? Its a surprising aviation mystery that involved a B52 and its crew vanishing without a trace over an area of the bermuda triangle while on a military training exercise.

[@mhick3333]

i guess this was before slim pickens famous bomb run

[@markstevenson6635]

Must be since that bomb run triggered the Soviet Doomsday weapon.

[@adambane1719]

Its just so hard to comprehend that America is so proud of its past and current war crimes

[@groomngirl]

Rest in Peace guys

[@phillipzx3754]

In 1968 a B-52 crashed on takeoff from the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. It was fully loaded, heading to South Vietnam. All the bombs went off. It might make an interesting story.

[@dannystaton5386]

Greetings history dude hope you had a happy Father's day 🎉

[@Rogerw1nz]

History, yes. But what a waste of lives the US caused in what is called in Vietnam the “American War.” I hope to visit that country in December.

[@bigstyx]

Politicians should not be in charge of the military. That is the problem that has plague the United States from the start.

[@bronwynecg]

Good morning! 👋🏽 😊

[@steveshoemaker6347]

l remember all of this very well.... Old F-4 Phantom ll fighter jet pilot Shoe🇺🇸

[@haroldlacey7882]

In June or July of 1967 2 b-52D from the 4133d Bomb Wing PROV collided mid-air. On board one of the B-52s was the commanding general of the wing. Do you have any history on that accident?

[@MattH-wg7ou]

I live about 2-3 miles from the 4MT nuke thats still buried in a field in NC. Driven by it and there's no sign or marking or anything. Just a 400ft circular stand of pine trees in the middle of a field. With a deer stand at the edge of the trees, of course! It's a field off a road named, no joke, "Big Daddy's Road". 😂

[@BrassLock]

Soon the B-52's will have Rolls Royce engines, and they'll become collector's pieces in 50 years, trotted out along with the Traction engines and Steam trains at fairs.

[@twoheart7813]

The small rifle was am Armalite AR-7 semi-auto .22 stored in a floating stock. Not much use in the middle of the ocean.

[@robertwalton7307]

God Bless the poor souls who did not survive

[@johnharris6655]

There is another video that shows what would it take to make a B-52 into an Airliner.

[@mikedarr6968]

I was there!

[@murrygandy6546]

It's May-ther AFB.

[@3ducksinamansuit]

Thats what people dont understand about being a pilot, any number of things can put you in instant danger.

[@jessienascar8778]

Do chasety belts

[@miltcamp4255]

What’s serco?

[@Dan-TheOracle]

have you ever done a video of the evils of serco?

[@nelsonbergman7706]

I had never heard of this corporation until now. I did a brief search and agree it desire a video.

[@adambane1719]

Lol ! Great story, thoroughly enjoyed that : )

[@bill2066]

Hey HG...a minor thing, but I live right down the street from Mather in Sacramento...and its pronounced "MAETHER"...(as in "May").....

[@joestephan1111]

FYI: The California air base is pronounced "may-ther"

[@HM2SGT]

*I've enjoyed reading several novels written by helicopter pilots in Vietnam, and it always tickles me that occasionally they get radio traffic from the bombers enquiring about the bomb damage assessment... when the news is positive they've been known to say that the report made them a very happy bunch of dump truck drivers.* 😅 *Those Arc Light, Rolling Thunder and Linebacker missions were dull, boring, monotonous and taxing but they never learned how things went how things went so they found it very unrewarding and their morale suffered.*

[@Spectator1959]

Nice video as usual. One nit: Mather AFB is pronounced “MAY-thur,” not “Math-ur.”

[@ashergoney]

Work In Progress Since August 2021. Old Model Availablity Update Unavailable Till 24th October 2024..

[@susanwahl6322]

Anyone else remember this? I do.

[@Mike_Greentea]

👍

[@debrabennett3009]

Who thought it was a good idea to fly into a typhoon?

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

They were flying over the typhoon.