Writing Research: One

 After completing the initial ideas and planning, it is time to do some researches. 

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, is a strategic bomber that can bring nuclear bombs or missiles (United States Air Force [USAF], 2019). However, it is also known as the Big Ugly Fat Fellows, aka the BUFF (Case, 2021). According to USAF (2019), the bomber can bring up to 70,000 pounds of payload and fly 8,800 miles without refuelling.

According to USAF (2019), the first B-52 was built in 1954, and the last rolled out from factory in 1965, with a total of 744 airframes built. According to USAF (2024), the first combat mission for the bomber was in the Vietnamese War in 1965, and 15 B-52 lost during war, causing 33 airmen died as a result (Lendon, 2022). Lendon (2022) reports that 6 B-52 were shot down in a single day. B-52 did not only join the Vietnamese War, but also the Gulf War, as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom (Air Force Technology, 2023). According to Air Force (2021), USAF will upgrade the remaining 76 active B-52 with newer engines and modern electronic systems. 

There was a treaty, Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (SMART I), signed by the United States and the Soviet Unions in 1991, to control and limit their quantity in nuclear bombers and missiles (Schumann, 2022). The fleet of B-52 reduced to 76, and two bombers from the fleet were crashed, which brought another two BUFF back into services in 2015 and 2019 respectively (Losey, 2019).

Reference

Acton, J., Macdonald, T. and Vaddi, P. (2021), REIMAGINING NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL A Comprehensive Approach.

Air Force Historical Support Division (2024), 1965 - Operation Arc Light, Available at: https://www.afhistory.af.mil/FAQs/Fact-Sheets/Article/458962/1965-operation-arc-light/.

Airforce Technology (2024), B-52H Stratofortress Bomber, United States of America, Airforce Technology, Available at: https://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/b52/?cf-view.

BBC News (2016), American B-52 bomber crashes in Guam, BBC News, 19 May, Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36328582.

Case, M. (2021), 10 Need-to-Know Facts about the B-52 Bomber Plane, United Service Organizations. Available at: https://www.uso.org/stories/2391-10-need-to-know-facts-about-the-b-52-bomber.

Collins, C.K. (2020), Terror at 30,000 Feet: When B-52s Collide, Medium, Available at: https://craigkcollins.medium.com/midair-chapter-two-c04b56e6747e.

Collins, S. (2019), Desert Storm: A Look Back, U.S. Department of Defense, Available at: https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/1728715/desert-storm-a-look-back/.

Ganta, H. (2021), Rolls-Royce wins $2.6bn contract to replace B-52H bomber fleet engines, Airforce Technology. Available at: https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/rolls-royce-replaces-b-52h-fleet-engines/.

Imperial War Museums (2024). Operation Desert Storm: How to win a war in 100 hours. [online] Imperial War Museums. Available at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/operation-desert-storm.

Lendon, B. (2022), ‘Like walking on missiles’: US airman recalls the horror of the Vietnam ‘Christmas bombings’ 50 years on, CNN, Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/17/asia/operation-linebacker-ii-50th-anniversary-intl-hnk-ml-dst/index.html.

Leone, D. (2018), Former B-52 pilot tells the story of a scary bomb run during the Vietnam War, The Aviation Geek Club, Available at: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/former-b-52-pilot-tells-the-story-of-a-scary-bomb-run-during-the-vietnam-war/.

Leone, D. (2021), B-52 Navigator tells the story of when his BUFF was nearly fired at by a Navy/Marine F/A-18 during Operation Desert Storm (and remembers other scary sorties flown during the First Gulf War), The Aviation Geek Club, Available at: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/b-52-navigator-tells-the-story-of-when-his-buff-was-nearly-fired-at-by-a-navy-marine-f-a-18-during-operation-desert-storm-and-remembers-other-scary-sorties-flown-during-the-first-gulf-war/ [Accessed 4 Mar. 2024].

Losey, S. (2017), Air Force: Bird scare led to aborted takeoff that wrecked B-52, Air Force Times, Available at: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/04/19/air-force-bird-scare-led-to-aborted-takeoff-that-wrecked-b-52/.

Losey, S. (2019), ‘Wise Guy’ flies again: B-52 resurrected from Boneyard, Air Force Times, Available at: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/05/16/wise-guy-flies-again-b-52-resurrected-from-boneyard/.

Losey, S. (2024), The new B-52: How the Air Force is prepping to fly century-old bombers, Defense News, Available at: https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024/02/12/the-new-b-52-how-the-air-force-is-prepping-to-fly-century-old-bombers/.

Museum of Flight (2009), The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress--A Story of Design Longevity, Museum of Flight, Available at: https://www.museumofflight.org/about/press/2254/the-boeing-b-52-stratofortress-a-story-of-design-longevity.

Panko, R. ed., (2013), Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, Available at: https://www.pearlharboraviationmuseum.org/blog/boeingb-52-stratofortress/.

Raughton, B. (2016), B-52 veteran recalls close call on Desert Storm mission, United States Air Force, Available at: https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/643959/b-52-veteran-recalls-close-call-on-desert-storm-mission/.

Raughton, B. (2016), Desert Storm: 2nd Bomb Wing leads the air war, U.S. Air Force, Available at: https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/643292/desert-storm-2nd-bomb-wing-leads-the-air-war/.

Schumann, A. (2022), Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Available at: https://armscontrolcenter.org/strategic-arms-reduction-treaty-start-i/.

The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration (2024), Week of July 3–9, 2022: The Loss of a B-52 Stratofortress, July 7, 1967, Vietnamwar50th.com, Available at: https://www.vietnamwar50th.com/education/week_of_july_3_2022/.

Thomas, C. (2021), Bombing Missions of the Vietnam War, ArcGIS StoryMaps, Available at: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/2eae918ca40a4bd7a55390bba4735cdb.

United States Air Force (2024), B-52 Stratofortress in Southeast Asia, National Museum of the United States Air Force, Available at: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/195842/b-52-stratofortress-in-southeast-asia/.

United States Air Force [USAF] (2019), B-52H Stratofortress, U.S. Air Force, Available at: https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104465/b-52h-stratofortress/.

Vergun, D. (2022), Nation Observes Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, U.S. Department of Defense, Available at: https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2879147/nation-observes-anniversary-of-operation-desert-storm/.

Warner, G. (2024), Air Force audit says B-52 modernization undercut by failure to track spare parts needs, Stars and Stripes, Available at: https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2024-01-01/air-force-audit-b52-modernization-failure-track-spare-parts-12505723.html.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

William Klein: Tatiana + Marie Rose + Camels, Morocco (Vogue), 1958

Image
 The second photographer that I am going to research for re-assessment would be William Klein (1926-2022). He was an American-born French photographer, and was well-known for fashion and street photography. According to  Howard Greenberg Gallery (n.d.), Klein did not study photography formally but instead he studied painting at the City College of New York, and he won his first camera in the army when he was stationed in Germany.  TATIANA AND MARIE-ROSE WITH CAMELS, MOROCCO, 1958 The photograph was taken with black-and-white colour negative, as at that time colour films were not widely used. It was taken in a sunny day in Morocco, as we can see the light came behind from the photographer onto the models' body and creating shadows. Klein took this photograph through his eye-level, because we can see that the photo itself was levelled at a low height, probably he was sitting or squatting down his body. The photograph created some contrasts between the female models and the ...
Read more

Processing Post: Shot One & Contact Sheet

Image
 I took my first shooting on 11/11/2023 in London. I have been to a couple of places to under my photo shooting. I have created a contact sheet for the shooting but it contains 55 pages, and I will put the contact sheet into a Google Drive folder, so that it would save a lot space for the post. There was a total number of 1,648 photos and 3 videos. I have used panning, rule of third, leading line and low angle for my photos. Here is ZFC_6659.jpg, this is a night shot that I have taken at St. Pancras Station. In order to avoid being noisy, I have used a very low ISO of 200 and as a result I have to lower my shutter speed to capture more light. I set the aperture to f/4, which is the greatest aperture I could have in a Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4. I shot it in portrait because it would looks upstraight. I used 70mm in order to have a tighter and narrower composition.  Another photo that I would like to talk about is ZFC_4630.jpg. The setting that I used was 1/400s f/8 ISO-200. The reas...
Read more

Diane Arbus: "Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. 1962"

Image
Diane Arbus (1923-1972) was an American photographer, known for photographing "the fringes of the society" (Artnet, 2022). According to Artnet (2022), she was also known for her photographs of children, celebrities and the society, and she committed suicide in 1971, when she was at the height of her career. The image of "Child with a toy grenade in Central Park, NYC, 1962" brought a contrast between the boy, Colin Wood, and the children behind him. The photograph drew my attention when I was looking for a photograph of Arbus' collection "on freak" as I can feel how desperate and anger the boy was. Arbus photographed the boy who was staring at the camera through eye level, for me it created the feeling to the audience that we should immerse to her perspective. I believe that his anger was expressed through his facial expression and his hand gesture, and children at his age were supposed to be happy. And I think that he might face some difficulties at th...
Read more