"How to Fly a B-52" by Veronica Soto - City News Group, Inc.

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"How to Fly a B-52"

By Veronica Soto, Community Writer
June 25, 2014 at 10:35am. Views: 41

Last Saturday the March Field Air Museum held a summer lecture on "How to Fly a B-52" in the Yeager Family Library. The guest speaker, Lieutenant Colonel Richard "Dick" Heitman, Retired of the United States Air Force (USAF), has over 4,000 hours flying a B-52. When he's not in the air, you can find Heitman volunteering his time once a week at the Air Museum. During the event, Heitman shared his years of knowledge on the B-52s, which goes by the official name of "Stratofortress." August 5, 1954 was the first production of the B-52A, and the first initial operational assignment was June 29, 1955. To demonstrate its power, the three air crafts flew non-stop around the world from January 16-18 in 1957. The B-52 is a long range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force since the 1950s. The bomber carries up to 70,000 pounds of weapons. The B-52 marked its 50th anniversary of continuous service in 2005 and is scheduled to continue service into the 2040s. Superior performance at high subsonic speeds and relatively low operating costs have kept the B-52 in service, despite the advent of later aircraft. Heitman completed USAF pilot training in 1959 and flew B-47s for three years. He transitioned into B-52s in 1963 and spent the rest of his career flying C, D, E, F and H models. His total Air Force flying time is 7,000 hours with over 4430 hours in the B-52. Following his lecture, Heitman lead a walk around the museum's B-52 Stratofortress on the flightline. Six people would board at a time including the pilot, co-pilot, navigator, officer, and gunner. The crew was an important function to flying these air crafts. The B-52 has been used during the Cold War, Vietnam, and is still being used today, with new models being developed throughout the years, the newest being the B-52H. According to the sign sitting near the B-52 in the Air Museum, the Stratofortress is "considered the longest serving front-line military aircraft in aviation history."

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