Chapbook: Final writing

 After adding the references and in-text citation, the final writing is as followed.

Chapter 1: The Design of B-52H

In 1948, after the World War Two ended, the world entered the era of the cold war.  In response to the escalating tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the United States Air Force seek for a new long-range strategic bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons and to replace the B-29.

This is the journey of the B-52 began. Engineers from Boeing worked very hard over the blueprints, sketches, and calculations. They experimented with new materials, such as aluminium alloys and composite materials, to make the aircraft lighter and more durable.

As the design phase neared completion, the project faced a lot of difficulties and obstacles. Budget cuts threatened to cancel the program, and the design team also facing different technical challenges, such as landing gear failure.

Despite the challenges, the engineers worked tirelessly to overcome the difficulties one by one. Months turned into years as the B-52 slowly took shape on the assembly line and successfully finished her maiden flight in 1954. 

The final B-52H, named “the Spirit of Minot” (Minot), was delivered to the United States Air Force in 1962, 8 years after her older sister’s first flight with a total of 744 B-52s were built.

In the following years, the B-52 became the icon of the American’s strong air, serving faithfully in different conflicts around the globe. From the Cold War to Vietnam War, from the Operation of Deserts Storm till now, it still plays an important role in the USAF fleet. Because of the look, the B-52s were called the Big Ugly Fat Fellow.

 

Chapter 2: Vietnam War

It was 1965, and the Vietnam War broke out. The United States, determined to tear down the communist, deployed chemical weapons into the frontline. It was the first combat mission for the nuclear bomb capable bomber.

The bomber fleet flew a total of nearly 114,000 sorties over the Vietnam War, and over 7.5 million tons of bombs were dropped into the southeast Asian country.

When the war broke out, it was one year after Minot first airborne, and she was not allowed to join the combat. Instead, she was sent to training programmes to train talented crews.

On her maiden cross-Pacific training mission in 1970, she flew to Anderson Air Force Base in Guam. As she was getting closer to the base, she was instructed to fly in a holding pattern to give way to bombers that have finished their tasks. "Pine one, descend to 4,000 feet and turn heading to 243. Clear to land 24 Right," as the air traffic controller instructed, "Minot One, maintain heading and altitude, your landing sequence is number four."

It was callsign Pine One, a B-52D, with another 2 aircrafts, returning to the base after completing a bombing mission in Vietnam. They were lucky as they were the only sorties that could made it back to the base.

After landing into the base, Minot sat next to Pine One, as she listened to their story in the frontline.

The Pine Formation was the third group of three-ship bombers heading to Vietnam. As they approached their target area, the first two groups suddenly lost contact with radar and radio communications. Despite their desperate attempts to locate their fellow ships, they received orders from the Airborne Warning and Control System prohibiting any deviation from their mission. they proceeded with their bombing run, dropping their payloads over the designated area. However, as they were returning back to the base, they were informed that the wreckage of all six bombers had been discovered. The first group had fallen victim to Vietnamese fighter jets, while the second group entered the Vietnamese air-defense zone, resulting in the lead bomber being struck by a surface-to-air missile, which caused debris to hit the two bombers behind it. The loss of these six bombers resulted in the deaths of 33 airmen, as reported by the rescue team dispatched to the crash sites.

Minot never experienced such heartbroken event. She decided to stop the war in the future as she was returning to the states on the next day. The war destroyed 15 B-52s and over 2200 airmen died.

 

Chapter 3: The Desert Storm

Gulf War started in 1990, when Saddam Hussein led a well-equipped Iraqi army into Kuwait, a major supplier of oil to the United States. It was a threat to the Saudi, and of course, the Iraqi forces violated the regulation of the United Nations. There were a couple of operations by the United States and its allies. They raided the Iraqi forces with fighter jets.

Minot joined in the Gulf War as her first combat mission. She had been in training and standby missions during the Cold War.

She was in Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, when the war broke out. The crew started to load the bombs into the bomb bay and got ready for the first sortie.

‘Three, two, one, bomb away!’ Minot never forgets her first bomb run, she shook a little bit when the bombs left the bay. ‘Impact in three, two, one!’, reported by the weapon control officer, and she could tell it was a successful strike as black smoke started to wave onto the clear blue skies.  

She then had her final mission to bomb another airport and surrounding facilities. When the bomb bay door opened, she saw a squadron of four Iraqi fighter jets, scrambling to take off and escape. With precised timing, as the bombs descended, meeting the surface just as the enemy planes began their roll down the runway. In a fiery explosion, one of the bombs teared through the lead aircraft and igniting flames that illuminated the sky.

As Minot returning from the burning city, she could hear the god of war sings, and the people of poor cried.

And Operation of Desert Strom was her last mission before retiring from the fleet.

 

Chapter Four: Retirement?

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), signed in 1991, was a nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.

As a long range strategic nuclear bomber, the fleet size of B-52s gradually reduce and most of the airframe were sent to storage, including the last B-52H, the Spirit of Minot.

Minot was parked in a hanger until the late 1990s when she was finally removed from the fleet. The mechanics dismantled the giant bomber, and all the parts from the airframe must go through tests and inspections before long term storage.

 She thought this might be her fate, by ending her service life in the graveyard, but an accident in 2008 changed her life. A B-52H crashed shortly after departure in Anderson AFB, Guam. The fleet has to be grounded for inspection, and there is an opening for the fleet. The mechanics decided to put Minot back to the services since she had a better condition than the others.

In 2012, after 4 years of maintenance, she was back into service. She was sent to Pacific Asia for intimidation missions. She also participated in numerous exercises with pacific countries, such as Japan, Australia.

In 2020, the USAF decided to extent the B-52Hs’ service lives to 2060. At the age of 56, Minot was chosen to be the testbed for the future upgrades for the same variant bomber. She never thought about to work a century for the country. She will be retrofitted with newer and environmentally friendly engines, and newer electronic controls, so that her crew would find it easier to fly with the Big Ugly Fat Fellow.

She now still flying around the globe, from Anderson AFB to RAF Fairford, from Barksdale to Kadena, before the Air Force scheduled her modification.

 

In skies so vast, the B-52 soars,

With wings of steel, and engines roar.

But beneath its might, a plea we find,

For peace to reign, in hearts and minds.

 

Amidst the clouds, a message clear,

To end the wars, to dry each tear.

For in the face of strife and pain,

Love and peace must always reign.

 

So let us dream of skies so blue,

Where B-52s fly, with peace in view.

May the world, in harmony,

Find a future where all are free.

Top of Form

 

Long live the old Buff.

 

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