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The B-52 Stratofortress on display in the SPH.
- Due to the engines being connected to the aircraft’s structural pylons via a M-1x1 structural panel, they’re cut off from the fuselage’s tanks and have to rely on the cylindrical Mk. 1 tanks. In other words, any fuel I put in the fuselage’s tanks is dead weight and my range is reduced.
- If you know a way to maintain the B-52 look while allowing the engines to use the fuselage tanks, I’d like to hear about it please. Thank you in advance if you do.
- I didn’t add any bombs - or anything to act as ordinance - to this one. I didn’t have BDArmory (anymore), and I wanted to see how well it would do without that extra weight.
If you want to modify it for a longer range and/or to carry weapons, that’s up to you.
The B-52 flying west at night. In hindsight, I should have waited until sunset to take off.
- For this test, since the real-life B-52 was a subsonic bomber, I decided to leave the afterburners OFF. I could go faster and fly higher if they were on, but it would probably come at the cost of range.
- Without Kerbnet, I couldn’t really see what was underneath me, which meant it would be hard to find a suitable landing spot when I was very low on fuel.
NOTES
The engines cannot use the fuel in the fuselage, which meant it would be dead weight. I then drained all the fuselage tanks except for the one in the rear so I can bring the CoM closer to the CoL. For the cruise test, I had to right-click on one of the Mk. I tanks to see how close they were to empty.
- Right now, there’s only 3,200 fuel units usable when ready. The other 750 units are the dead weight in the back.
Description
A heavy eight-engine bomber built to carry nuclear weapons for Cold War-era deterrence missions. However, since it entered service in 1955, it has only dropped conventional munitions in combat so far.
As of March 2023, the Stratofortress (aka the BUFF or Big Ugly Fat F***er/Fella) is still active due to its superior performance at high subsonic speeds and relatively low operating costs.
A stock aircraft called B-52 Stratofortress. Built with 92 of the finest parts, its root part is mk3Cockpit.Shuttle.
Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.12.4.
Real-life Counterpart Performance Stats
(B-52D Stratofortress)
Maximum Speed: 638 mph (285.2 m/s)
Service Ceiling: 49,400 feet (15.1 km)
Range: 8,338 miles unrefueled (13,419 km)
Source: Air Force Museum Website
Details
- Type: SPH
- Class: aircraft
- Part Count: 92
- Pure Stock
- KSP: 1.12.4
Photograph of Amelia Kerman, Jeb’s (late) mother, doing a pinup pose on the nose of a B-52 bomber.
- Picture taken by her boyfriend, Jebediah
Jeb
Kerman (Senior), after they snuck into a hangar for a daring date. Eventually, the pair would get married and have two kids, Vanessa and Jeb. Unfortunately, while Jeb (Junior) was only a baby, Amelia and Vanessa died in a plane crash caused entirely by Amelia’s utter disregard for flight safety. - Jeb Senior kept a framed poster-sized copy of this picture at his house in Baikerbanur, in a small room he turned into a memorial for his wife and daughter.
RECOMMENDED CRUISE
Altitude: 9.9 km (~32.5k ft; Class Alpha airspace)
Velocity: 220 m/s (~492 mph)
Flight time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Afterburners: OFF
EXPECTED RANGE
~1,880 km before immediate landing necessary
- I noticed on map view that the plane was halfway around the planet when I needed to land.
- Assuming it can still fly that far when loaded with ordinance, iIf it’s a two-way bombing mission, you’ll need to half that expected range if you want to land at that same airfield - with some fuel left to spare since you’ll be shedding weight after you blow up some Vietcong bases.
12 fuel units left per engine, leaving 96 usable fuel units left, and I need to land. I had to use the exhaust to see if I was over land or not, and I got lucky.
- When I turned on map view after landing, I noticed that I was halfway around the world.
Another flight test. This time, the bomb bay doors were open - but the plane is unarmed.
