Bent Corner

I stumbled upon this photo while looking for a photo of something else. Isn’t it great? It was taken flying over Edwards Air Force Base on December 2, 2004. Click on the photo to see a much larger version. I grew up near Edwards Air Force base and I love the B-52.

(Photo: chamorrobible.org)

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I found this photo on flickr. It’s of the Arc Light memorial located at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. The photographer, flicker user harogi, writes:

This is a 3 Exposure hand held HDR of the B-52 Bomber Stratofortress at the Arc Light Memorial on Andersen Air Force Base Guam, USA. I just had to stop by here before leaving back to Hawaii. Oversaturated.

I know this memorial quite well. I was stationed on Andersen Air Force Base. I used to run a lot back then and I had a route that took me around this memorial. I also spent a couple of days scrapping rust off it when it was being refurbished. At one time it was in very bad shape. The wet, salty air isn’t very kind to a B-52. For that reason planes were always swapped out after 12 months with a B-52 from the states. Maine to be exact.

This old D model sat in the corrosive Guam air for decades.

I love this photo. Click on the above photo to go to the flickr page where it’s located. Also check out the photographer’s other similarly stunning photos.

To read about what Arc Light was, you can check out this Wikipedia article.

A FedEx MD-10 cargo jet equipped with a Northrop Grumman “Guardian” anti-missile system took off from Los Angeles International Airport on a commercial flight Tuesday. This marks the first time a civilian aircraft has been equipped with anti-missile technology.

I found this extremely interesting. I worked on this type of equipment in the Air Force. The B-52 is equipped with a system that is very similar to this one. It was the AN/ALQ-153 Tail Warning System and it was made by Westinghouse which is now owned by Northrop Grumman. It was an automated pulse Doppler radar system that would constantly scan the environment looking for fast moving objects approaching from below and behind. Just where a shoulder launched infrared missile would be approaching the aircraft.

If a missile was ever detected, the AN/ALQ-153 would sound an alarm and alert the aircrew as to which side of the aircraft the missile was approaching. It would also automatically dispense chaff and/or flares if that option was enabled by the EWO (Electronic Warfare Officier).

Unlike the military system, this civilian version will not dispense chaff or flares. It will emit a laser that is designed to disrupt the missile’s seeker head.

Link