Aeroguide 28 - B-52 Stratofortress

Nicknamed the 'Big Ugly Fat Fella' (the more polite version!), or 'Buff' for short, Boeing's B-52 has for years epitomised American air power. When the first of the breed took to the skies above Seattle on 15 April 1952, no one dared imagine that the huge shiny bomber would be retained as a key ingredient in the nation's nuclear'triad' for nearly half a century. Today, nearly forty years down the road, only 270 of the original 744 airframes remain in front-line service, yet the 'Buff' continues to eclipse its successors numerically. What is all the more remarkable is that many of these so-called follow-on bombers have already been retired, relegated to the status of gate guardian or museum piece, or left to rot amidst the scrub and sand at the Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, 'boneyard'. The glamorous B/TB-58 Hustlers were cleaved by giant axes into so many chunks of scrap metal during the early 1970s; a solitary, unairworthy XB-70A Valkyrie is parked at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; and Strategic Air Command's fleet of sixty FB-111A 'Aardvarks' look set to follow a similar fate long before the thick black smoke of a Stratofortress 'cart start' becomes a sight of yesteryear.

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Airfix Model World 2011-11

NORTH AMERICAN internet kit seller Sprue Brothers is beating the failing US economy by relocating to bigger and better premises. Located in Liberty, Missouri, the new 15,000sq ft building provides more space than the previous location. The larger building has allowed construction of a multi-level floor plan which currently provides ample office and working space for the current staff of 12 as well as the entire inventory. New products lines are being negotiated at present, and should only serve to swell the mail order specialist's already outstanding reputation within the industry. Owner Gordon Kwan said: "We're finding increased interest from new and existing modelling businesses and yes, more brands are on the horizon...and this has meant that we simply had to move to grow. But in line with our policy to only promote items that are in stock, actual announcements on new items won't be made until we have definite release dates from the manufacturers."

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Convair B-36 Peacemaker - A Photo Chronicle

The United States Army Air Forces had become a separate military service from the Army on September 18, 1947. When B-36Bs started entering the SAC inventory in the fail of 1948, the newly independent U.S. Air Force had 59 groups. The USAF wanted to expand to 70 groups, but was thwarted by Fiscal Year 1949 budget restraints. President Harry S.Truman was determined to hold the FY 49 defense budget to $11 billion.The three military services squabbled with each other over who was to receive the lion's share of the money. The Air Force wanted more B-36s, but the Navy wanted a new supercarrier, the first of four, that would give them a strategic bombing capability. The Air Force's position was that strategic bombing should remain an Air Force responsibility, and that a Navy strategic bombing capability was redundant.

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