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B-52 bombing run at Ft. Sill (Oklahoma)

Aunt Spiker

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For Spring Break my family took a trip to Letra - a recreational facility on Elmer Thomas Lake in Ft. Sill, Ok. With a twist of humor this could be seen as the story of how we thought we were going to die for about an hour because we disconnected from the Internet.

We were at the beach walking in the frigid water and having a blast when an explosion happened. Looking up - an airplane was flying overhead so our initial conclusion was that it broke the sound barrier. That was until our daughter saw smoke... and it was obvious that it wasn't a plane breaking the sound barrier - but a plane crash not too far off. At least, the explosion was so intense it felt like it was *just* over the next hill. So my husband snapped a picture:

DSCN0573.jpg

And as we were leaving the beach minutes later another happened. At this point we were wondering if someone made an egregious error while shooing artillery (Ft. Sill is always hot with artillery practice - day and night - which can rattle the windows).

DSCN0575.jpg

And later, a third event and only after this third event did I make a call to the park office to find out 'if this type of activity so close to Letra is normal, or a concern.' (Trust me - it was absolutely terrifying). Only then did we learn that everyone knew about it ahead of time and it was a unique event that hadn't occurred there in years - but still bone-rattling. B-52 Bombing Training Mission at Fort Sill - Story ... We just happened to be the last to know about it and found it in the most shocking way possible.

Hours earlier we had gone for a hike up a nearby hill - and later went to Mt. Scott before coming back to Letra to go to the beach for the afternoon.

After looking over pictures taken from Mt. Scott earlier in the day of routine Artillery firing that they do often, and finding where we were on the map, we figured that the B-52 dropped its load 1 - 2 miles from our location. Trust me... that's plenty close. I can't imagine what it's like to be in a place that gets such a payload more direct than that.

[in fact, part of me believes it was closer than the 2 mile artillery range, likely on this side of the creek. In the following photo you see the smoke and dust from the artillery? Never once have we had any of that blow toward the lake where we stay - or drift over the roadway. Yet all the smoke and dust from the explosions settled over the lake thus logically placing the drop zone quite a bit closer than the artillery range.]

Artillery from Mt. Scott:

DSCN0526.jpg

Ospreys - thread bonus 'just cause I managed to actually catch them in a photo while they were flying overhead.

DSCN0425.JPG
 
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You didn't hear the plane? A B-52 isn't exactly stealthy.

Anyway, cool pics.
 
You didn't hear the plane? A B-52 isn't exactly stealthy.

Anyway, cool pics.

Oklahoma is windy as hell. You cannot talk to someone if they're 20 feet away because of the wind. Hell, I couldn't even YELL at the kids when they were down the road and have them hear me.
 
B52's don't exactly make strafing runs...

They're also not dropping their payload from 80,000 feet. Most operations will be at no more than 35,000 feet and 8 P&W Tubofans make a LOT of noise even at that altitude.

 
For Spring Break my family took a trip to Letra - a recreational facility on Elmer Thomas Lake in Ft. Sill, Ok. With a twist of humor this could be seen as the story of how we thought we were going to die for about an hour because we disconnected from the Internet.

We were at the beach walking in the frigid water and having a blast when an explosion happened. Looking up - an airplane was flying overhead so our initial conclusion was that it broke the sound barrier. That was until our daughter saw smoke... and it was obvious that it wasn't a plane breaking the sound barrier - but a plane crash not too far off. At least, the explosion was so intense it felt like it was *just* over the next hill. So my husband snapped a picture:

View attachment 67199289

And as we were leaving the beach minutes later another happened. At this point we were wondering if someone made an egregious error while shooing artillery (Ft. Sill is always hot with artillery practice - day and night - which can rattle the windows).

View attachment 67199290

And later, a third event and only after this third event did I make a call to the park office to find out 'if this type of activity so close to Letra is normal, or a concern.' (Trust me - it was absolutely terrifying). Only then did we learn that everyone knew about it ahead of time and it was a unique event that hadn't occurred there in years - but still bone-rattling. B-52 Bombing Training Mission at Fort Sill - Story ... We just happened to be the last to know about it and found it in the most shocking way possible.

Hours earlier we had gone for a hike up a nearby hill - and later went to Mt. Scott before coming back to Letra to go to the beach for the afternoon.

After looking over pictures taken from Mt. Scott earlier in the day of routine Artillery firing that they do often, and finding where we were on the map, we figured that the B-52 dropped its load 1 - 2 miles from our location. Trust me... that's plenty close. I can't imagine what it's like to be in a place that gets such a payload more direct than that.

[in fact, part of me believes it was closer than the 2 mile artillery range, likely on this side of the creek. In the following photo you see the smoke and dust from the artillery? Never once have we had any of that blow toward the lake where we stay - or drift over the roadway. Yet all the smoke and dust from the explosions settled over the lake thus logically placing the drop zone quite a bit closer than the artillery range.]

Artillery from Mt. Scott:

View attachment 67199291

Ospreys - thread bonus 'just cause I managed to actually catch them in a photo while they were flying overhead.

View attachment 67199292

Probably doing high altitude drops if you didn't hear it. I've seen Buff's do the 110 R00lbs Mk-82 runs. It''s amazing.
 

You've been blessed to actually witness and experience the awesome power that is the B-52 Stratofortress.

The only times I was that lucky, I was about 5 kilometers away each time, and it still made the fillings in my teeth hurt. I have never been present when they dropped a MOAB, but I've watched videos and been trained on how to react if one is dropped near our position - which basically can be shorted to 1) quickly dig a hole, 2) get in the hole, 3) curl up in a fetal position while in the hole, and 4) prepare to BOHICA.
 
They're also not dropping their payload from 80,000 feet. Most operations will be at no more than 35,000 feet and 8 P&W Tubofans make a LOT of noise even at that altitude.



No - obviously not.

God, I remember as little kid, we were driving west on hwy 40 and were in the desert. We wound up through the passing of other cars, in an army transport line, we were somewhere in the middle - still passing (two lane hwy then) and on the hills to my right, explosions were going off: they were HUGE; several of them. This thread reminds me of that experience.
 
They're also not dropping their payload from 80,000 feet. Most operations will be at no more than 35,000 feet and 8 P&W Tubofans make a LOT of noise even at that altitude.



That's the ones I've seen live. Feels like ten guys are hitting your chest with ball bats... and your eyeballs continue to wiggle for a while afterwards.
 
That's the ones I've seen live. Feels like ten guys are hitting your chest with ball bats... and your eyeballs continue to wiggle for a while afterwards.

Yeah. Those 500 pounders do have a way of getting your attention.
 
That's the ones I've seen live. Feels like ten guys are hitting your chest with ball bats... and your eyeballs continue to wiggle for a while afterwards.

That sounds like having sex with a red headed woman.
 
Yeah. Those 500 pounders do have a way of getting your attention.

My skills at uploading pictures to the internet are pretty limited so would someone please upload a picture of a B-52? They are very intimidating. Ask any VC who heard or saw them during rolling thunder. As I understand we are now using them against ISIS.
 
My skills at uploading pictures to the internet are pretty limited so would someone please upload a picture of a B-52? They are very intimidating. Ask any VC who heard or saw them during rolling thunder. As I understand we are now using them against ISIS.

Here's one that's on display an the Pima Air & Space museum right here in Tucson

b52a.jpg

Back in the day we called them a BUF which stood for Big, Ugly....Flying thing...
 
Here's one that's on display an the Pima Air & Space museum right here in Tucson

View attachment 67199313

Back in the day we called them a BUF which stood for Big, Ugly....Flying thing...
Yep but the last word starts with an F. Seeing them fly overhead is pretty amazing.
 
Close, but more like having sex with your wife from behind, then whispering in her ear "this is how my girlfriend likes it," and then trying to hang on.

Stop talking about having sex with my wife. ;)
 
Before the terrorist fears Ft. Sill would invite civilians to come watch firepower demonstrations. Jets bombing, choppers using rockets, Time on Target artillery and then a blanket of mortars... pretty fun stuff. The west side of Ft.Sill has a bombing, ground attack range that from time to time the NG/Reserve air units use. We got to watch F-16s work and once a couple of A-10's took turns on a few targets, kinda miss those days.

It's been awhile since the AF 'attacked', it was on channel 7 the night before and then after. Think they said 18 750 pounders. I didn't go watch, but I guess it was impressive... :peace
 
You didn't hear the plane? A B-52 isn't exactly stealthy.

Anyway, cool pics.

Not stealthy, but also flying at 20,000 feet. People on the ground cannot hear them, at least according to legend from Vietnam. :mrgreen: But they could hear the bombs once they hit the ground, and there was a load of bombs starting to fall.

Cool pics of the Osprey! :cool:

Last year I spent some time with a young man who was the crew chief/gunner on one of those.
 
Want to test your pucker power? Try driving slowly through a canyon in southern Utah and have a B52 do LOW LEVEL runs right over your head....the canyon walls block the sound somewhat until it is right over your head....
I would not have believed that we would use such a big plane for low level flying....
 
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