even modernized, those planes are old. OLD old. They all used to be packed with vacuum tubes sort of old. The last one ever built left the assembly line in 1962. 64 years ago.
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2026
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I mean even so we should've had them all replaced not only by now, but with some regularity. Every moving part should've been inspected she tested before this flight. Ffs, we still have 58 in active service!
I'm not saying they're perfect, but they are doing something right, and more care should've been taken before a test flight with civilians.
It’s the plane Slim Pickens flies in Dr. Strangelove
One down, a bunch more to go, thank you for your service in getting rid of these
Wat? There's like 3 more left. They are a museum piece.
It is not immediately clear if there are any injuries.
Edit - newer info:
Monday afternoon, the base said eight people were on the aircraft during a routine test mission.
"Initial indications are that the crash was not survivable,"
Edit - latest info:
Eight people died after a B-52 Stratofortress crashed and burst into flames shortly after takeoff on a test mission Monday from Edwards Air Force base in California's Mojave Desert
It’s not like there’s ejection seats but it would be fuckin wild if someone managed to jump out of the bomb bay.
bomb bay
It's been renamed to Mumbai
It'd've been wild if someone had managed to jump out the Mumbai
Huh, TIL thanks. That’s just for flight crew though, I imagine the techs were in the bay with no idea
100% although 8 souls aboard is atypical. Crew usually consists of 5, all of whom can eject.
So they don't have ejection seats.
That doesn't bode well.
I was wrong about that but only for the flight crew, it was designed to just carry a whole bunch of bombs so not a lot of passenger safety measures built in.
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Well, that's a Boeing, so a small percentage of crashes are to be expected.
They were built so long ago that it was back when Boeing's engineering reputation was good.
Well, unfortunately the current priorities may not be the same as it was then.
No matter how well something is built, if the maintenance is bad, you waste all that good engineering.
Well did a wave hit it? Was it made with cardboard or any cardboard derivatives?
So no paper?
c/upliftingnews pun obviously intended get recked terrorist America.
Wait what the hell is a Stratofortress? i only know that as the stratovarius song.
(I'm not allowed to view the article for some reason, access denied)
Image from the article
What a wildly disproportionate-looking aircraft
That's because of the era it was designed it. It is from the dawn of the jet age. Jet engines weren't very powerful yet and they believed they had to have very thin and very swept wings to get the speeds they wanted. It was before thrust reversers so it uses drogue chutes. Its wings are too thin to support the weight of the craft so the main landing gear are in the fuselage and the wings droop so much they have the wheels on the wing tips. They were too afraid to have the weight of the plane and payload rotate on take off to the rear wheels so the flaps are so aggressive it actually takes off with a nose down attitude. The front wheels are the last to leave the pavement and the first to touch it. It's just a really strange design because they were still learning about jet design.
The aircraft is also permanently at takeoff attitude on the ground, the front landing gear is significantly longer than the rear. Also, both sets of main gear rotate, so it can crab down the runway, this is for landing in crosswinds.
Yeah, weird plane.
To be fair that's an upward angle on a plane taking off, with the flaps fully extended for maximum lift.
This is what a B-52 looks like when in a regular flight configuration.
It's still kinda janky looking tbh. Like someone put a commercial airliner in MS Paint and just stretched everything away from where the wings meet the fuselage.
Bombers tend to look like that, they have a very small fuselage compared to a passenger aircraft. Very compact cargo.
Yo mama
There is a reason it has the nickname BUFF.
Big Ugly Fat Fuck.
But GOD can they fly!
...well not this one, not anymore. But usually.
It's because the cargo they're built to carry is very dense, hence the very slim fuselage.
It's a flying fortress that flies in the stratosphere. Duh.
How the hell have you not heard of the B-52 stratofortress?
One of today's lucky 10,000?
not noncredibledefense
I realise that, but it's a very famous aircraft type.
I thought the Stratofortress was just ten times bigger than a 747, and I worked in loading them shits topside and I ran the k[loader and oh!
The important points are: do not loiter in front of or behind of giant demonic turbines
Lol Jack Parsons was a roll sma-t shit
https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/compare-aircraft-results.php?aircraft1=19&aircraft2=247
Edited. Possibly the badass name "Stratofortress" was subsumed
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