autoevolution
 

This B-52G Bomber Will Not Be Serving 100 Years, is Gate Guard Outside Little League Park

With the possibility of only the C-47 Skytrain, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress has had a longevity that dwarfs any other airplane, military or civilian. It's possible that one day in the not so far off future, these century-old dinosaurs will still be in service. But not all of them.
Mohawk Valley B-52 29 photos
Photo: Benny Kirk/autoevolution
Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52Mohawk Valley B-52
Of the 744 airframes built since 1952, only 76, or just over ten percent, of B-52H variants are still in service with the United States Air Force. Much of what's left over is on display all over the world. Mostly in the U.S., of course, but also in places like South Korea, England, Vietnam (in pieces), and Australia. But in terms of nice presentation, we're sure one B-52G on display in the small town of Rome, New York, has to rank pretty high up there.

Say hello to the lovely Mohawk Valley. Safe to say, this B-52G's days of dropping bombs are long behind it. Today, it stands on display outside a little league baseball complex inside the Griffiss Business and Technology Park. Itself on the grounds of the old Griffiss Air Force base. It's a part of a lineage of subsonic strategic bombers that have served with three to four generations of American airmen. Of all the variants of the Stratofortress, the G-model was one of the most prolific.

The B-52G was one of the earliest attempts by Boeing and the U.S. Air Force to substantially extend the life of the Stratofortress airframe well past its initial estimated service life. The outright failure of supersonic strategic bomber projects like the North American XB-70 Valkyrie and Convair B-58 Hustler meant that, at least in the short term, the Stratofortress would need to carry the brunt of the load for American strategic bombers.

As it turned out, this supposedly short-term solution wound up lasting for decades. Upgrades present on the B-52G included new "wet" wings with storage for more fuel and the replacement of traditional wing ailerons with flush-mounted spoilers to control roll maneuvers. The tail section was also eight feet (2.4 m) shorter than on the previous B-52D, E, and F variants in service during the Vietnam War.

Mohawk Valley B\-52
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevolution
With eight Pratt & Whitney J57-P-43W turbojet engines cranking 7,500 lbs (33.36 kN) of thrust each on tap, the B-52G could haul a bomb load of 10,000 lbs (4,535.9 kg) a distance of 3550 nautical miles (6574.6 km, 4085.2 m) from its base to a target and then back again. It could also carry the dreaded W28 one-megaton thermonuclear bomb at altitudes in excess of 50,000 feet (15,240 m).

Though as the 20th century progressed, this high-altitude strategic bombing philosophy began to go out of fashion in favor of under-the-radar low to medium-altitude strike missions. Furthermore, the B-52G's defensive M61 Vulcan cannon was controlled from a position in the forward fuselage with the rest of the crew. Instead of directly behind the cannon as with previous models.

As for Mohawk Valley, it has a unique and illustrious story all its own. It's one deeply tied to the history of the Utica-Rome area to boot. Mohawk Valley first left the Boeing factory floor in Witchita, Kansas, in 1960. It flew bombing missions over North Vietnam via Anderson Air Force Base on the island of Guam. It continued to serve after the Vietnam War, as far afterward as Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s.

Outside of those conflicts, a number of remarkable pilots took the stick of Mohawk Valley over the years. People like Maj. William R Penzien, who landed the plane at Grifiss AFB for the first time. Crew chief Paul Frye also flew on the airplane in two separate calendar decades from the 1960s through the 70s.

Mohawk Valley B\-52
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevolution
Frye had seen a couple of B-52s lost to various accidents in his days flying. Including an incident where one skidded off the runway and was destroyed after a failed aborted takeoff. Happily, Mohawk Valley was just a tad luckier. The jet first touched down at Griffiss air force base on January 12th, 1960, beginning a half-century-long love affair between the plane and the base it so often frequented.

Over 31 years of service, Mohawk Valley racked up over 12,000 hours of flight time. In its time sitting gate guard over the local baseball complex, it's been periodically maintained by members of the area's local American Legion led by chapter member Henry P. Smith, a local to the town of Rome.

With so many missions, pilots, crew members, and ground personal passing the path of this remarkable airplane over the years, it makes all the sense in the world why it deserves a permanent and fitting home in the same town that it brought so much pride and well-deserved prestige. Sitting alongside the Stratofortress is a genuine AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), the likes of which B-52s like Mohawk Valley have been carrying into combat.

In conjunction with a stone-mounted plaque detailing Lt. Colonel Townsend E. Griffiss, the man who gave Grifiss AFB its name, you have a genuine U.S. Military artifact that people can marvel at as their children play a particularly boring game of little league. Hopefully, it won't get hit by too many wayward foul balls.

Mohawk Valley B\-52
Photo: Benny Kirk/ autoevolution
Check out more original content like this and so much more right here on autoevolution.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories