Close Encounters
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This is the first article to be published here in the all-new, totally redesigned home of Aerospace Perceptions. As such, it seems appropriate to delve into a more personal reflection than the usual “just the facts” content.
All fans of aviation surely have indelible memories of exceptional encounters with aircraft – moments when the clarity of what you are witnessing is filtered through awe and excitement for direct passage to the realm of the unforgettable.
One of my most vivid such moments occurred the late-1960s in Destin, Florida, a town on the Gulf of Mexico that is also located directly across the Choctawhatchee Bay from Eglin Air Force Base. Vacationing with my parents, who no doubt had chosen our motel’s location more for Gulf access than aircraft watching, I was a 10- or 11-year-old kid in the motel pool – which was exciting enough in itself. But suddenly I felt… something. I looked over my shoulder and was stunned to see an increasingly descending SR-71 Blackbird, looming eerily toward me like the very hand of fate. Its shadow darkened the pool’s water as it passed by, and how I did not faint from excitement I do not know to this very day.
This SR-71A “Big Tail” was the only aircraft with this modification, the tenth SR-71 constructed. Today it is on display at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB, Florida. (Lockheed Courtesy Photo # C76-1097-4)
At that time, the SR-71 was the latest addition to the USAF aircraft arsenal. It was joining aircraft including the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which was already a fully mature member of the military flying family, having taken its place on flightlines over a decade earlier.
Which means that today, the B-52 can boast of nearly seven decades in active service.
Despite that imposing span of years, my encounters with the legendary Stratofortress have been few and far between. B-52s are not frequent visitors in the skies of the East Coast, so I have counted myself fortunate to have seen a couple of airshow flyovers and had opportunities for up-close walkarounds when a B-52 has starred as a static show attraction.
“Reaper’s Gambit” resting at Dover Air Force Base during the 2024 First State Airshow. Photo: Frank Moriarty / Aerospace Perceptions
Such B-52 static duty was exactly what played out at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware over the third weekend of May for the First State Airshow 2024. Thousands of show attendees, aware of the B-52’s legendary status, crowded around the massive 1960 B-52H aircraft “Reaper’s Gambit,” based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and an aircraft assigned to one of the oldest units of the USAF, the 11th Bomb Squadron. And I increasingly became aware of the fact that, when this B-52 took to the skies to return to its home base, it could well be my only chance to witness a Stratofortress roaring into the skies.
On Sunday afternoon, I spoke with one of the B-52 pilots and asked if he had any idea yet when they might be departing on Monday. He estimated it would be 9 or 9:30 am. I had my main telephoto lens and one of my Nikon cameras with me, and held it up saying I would try to be in the right place to photograph their takeoff. With a laugh, he replied, “We’ll be looking for you!”
Early Monday morning I was outside the base at Dover. In the far distance I could just barely see the huge tail structure of “Reaper’s Gambit,” so I knew I had a chance at getting my shots. After an hour wait the departures from the show weekend were kicked off by an F-16 heading home. In the next two hours I saw four F-15s, an F-22, two T-6 Texan 2s, a U28-A Draco (I would say there is a good chance this will be the only time I see one of these in flight), two F-35s, a KC-135, and Doc, the World War II-era B-29 Superfortress.
Quite a while before Doc took off there was a sudden cloud of dark smoke, and then the tail of “Reaper’s Gambit” began to move forward. I had a gambit of my own: every plane save that first F-16 had used Dover’s roughly east-west runway 1/19. My location gave me decent profile shots of those departures. But if an aircraft took off in a southern direction on runway 14/32, it would essentially be coming straight at me. Despite all the flights taking place on the other runway, I stubbornly held my ground.
Time passed slowly. It had already been 20 minutes since Doc had taken off. Where was my B-52?
Then, in the far distance in front of me, two masses of dark smoke rose up. I was in the right place.
Landing gear retraction begins as B-52H “Reaper’s Gambit” rises above the runway. Photo: Frank Moriarty / Aerospace Perceptions
Through the years of my life, I have seen countless replays of video and film footage of B-52s taking off. I can now state with conviction that those are shallow depictions that cannot begin to convey the visceral experience of feeling so much power, all harnessed to meet the objective of lifting this huge bomber into the skies. And yet it climbed, somehow appearing gawky and angular yet entirely graceful at the same time.
Eight Pratt & Whitney engines, narrow fuselage, large wings, massive flaps – key components of the beyond-time-tested B-52 design. Photo: Frank Moriarty / Aerospace Perceptions
Eight Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines mounted within four pods and pylons below the B-52H wings created a roar that could still be heard thundering away in the distance well after “Reaper’s Gambit” had faded from sight.
Simply put, it was a stunning happening. Thank goodness I had held fast to my runway location. And perhaps the pilot’s jest about looking for me had been more than a mere joke…
Banking to the south, “Reaper’s Gambit” turns toward the home of the 11th Bomb Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Photo: Frank Moriarty / Aerospace Perceptions
So, yes, it has been decades since an SR-71 over a Florida motel swimming pool blew my young mind. But it is nice to know that even all these years later, a close encounter with a B-52 returning to the skies it was designed to master quite effectively generated that very same excitement.
