Quote:
Originally Posted by Subnuts
Bought a copy of this awesome (although I'll never have any actual use for it) book at a used bookstore in Massachusetts today for $9.
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Never say never.
I wanted to try flying the old Virtavia/Alphasim B-52's in Flight Sim 2002, only flying them as accurately as possible.
That idea led me down many paths. Two books I found were a great resource when it came to decoding how the aircraft were actually operated:
Flying From The Black Hole by Robert O. Harder (available on Amazon). Mainly related to the B-52D models that flew Arclight missions, Harder also does a great job explaining some of the more basic nuts and bolts about who the crews were and what they all had to do.
When Penguins Flew And Water Burned by Jim Clonts (available at Lulu.com). Written during a later time period, Clonts flew in B-52G and H models during the post Cold War and Desert Storm period. While "Black Hole" gives a very good idea of why the crews had to be real crews, Clonts updates the story to the era when I was wearing my fish and we were all facing the "build down" period for the US military.
An eye opener and give-away is that both books were written by Navigator/Bombardiers and
not Pilots (although Clonts did get to fly the beast at least once). It takes the whole crew to fly a B-52 and you quickly understand why those crews need to be tight.
My look into that rabbit hole wound up taking several years of research and effort and it was well worth it.
