Nuclear Bombs - What was still around..

[HorseSoldier]

I don't know what all the discussion is about. If PCs find a crashed B-52 it is pretty much contractually required to look something like the shot from the "Monkey Sampan" sequence in (or not in, technically) Apocalypse Now.

(At 4:24 or so if you follow the YouTube link, for those who don't fancy the footage or Jethro Tull's "Broadsword" -- though it's one of the most T2K songs ever if you get past the anachronistic parts.)

[Cdnwolf]

I don't know what all the discussion is about. If PCs find a crashed B-52 it is pretty much contractually required to look something like the shot from the "Monkey Sampan" sequence in (or not in, technically) Apocalypse Now.

(At 4:24 or so if you follow the YouTube link, for those who don't fancy the footage or Jethro Tull's "Broadsword" -- though it's one of the most T2K songs ever if you get past the anachronistic parts.)

This scene...

[TrailerParkJawa]

What about a b-52 that broke up in flight for some reason That gives PCs the chance to simply find a bomb that plowed itself into a field.

On a side note, I once had a BUFF fly directly over me when I was in middle school. It was so low and really out of place as this was Not under a normal flight path. At the time Alameda NAS was still open so I think it was headed that way.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

What about a b-52 that broke up in flight for some reason That gives PCs the chance to simply find a bomb that plowed itself into a field.

On a side note, I once had a BUFF fly directly over me when I was in middle school. It was so low and really out of place as this was Not under a normal flight path. At the time Alameda NAS was still open so I think it was headed that way.

Problem: accidentally dropped nuclear weapons have a tendency to just disappear. Now, granted, that was in the water (and then, mud) off Tybee Island, but if the bomb hits anything harder the casing and associated mechanisms are going to (assuming the bomb isn't armed, and it isn't, because that's the premise of the scenario) split up and scatter. While a plutonium core (and any other fissionables) would be plenty scary, once the trigger and other parts are smashed and scattered, it's less a nuclear bomb and more of a dirty bomb precursor.

I think a good way to handle this might be: SAM goes off close enough to the bomber to kill or mortally injure the crew. Regardless, they're dead. Pilot says "shit, if I can just get her down I can treat myself". His last act is to belly flop the plane, perishes almost immediately after, plane skids, parts scatter, including the fuselage area holding the bomb bay. Characters find it, the end. Or, rather, beginning.

If they wanna get all CSI: Twilight2000 and look for the cockpit section, it's a hundred meters further along in the woods, with the badly dessicated bodies of the crew, all showing signs of trauma (puncture wounds through their flight suits as the missile warhead fragments did their stuff).

[HorseSoldier]

This scene...

Yeah, that one.

[Graebarde]

Sully Sullenberger is one of my heroes but this B52 crew didn't fare too badly themselves. That's a BUFF without any vertical stab, coming in for a landing. Probably doing a lot of minor engine adjustments for vertical stabilization...

Literally coming in on a wing and a prayer I would say.

[Panther Al]

Literally coming in on a wing and a prayer I would say.

Knowing the BUFF, that bird is probably still in service....

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Knowing the BUFF, that bird is probably still in service....

Close:

B-52H (61-023), configured at the time as a testbed to investigate structural failures, still flying after its vertical stabilizer sheared off in severe turbulence on 10 January 1964. The aircraft eventually landed safely and remained in service until 2008.

[Panther Al]

Close:

Damn.


I thought I was being funny!

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Finally (lest this go too far off topic), the B52 may stay in service past 2045:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-57413883-42/sixty-years-on-the-b-52-is-still-going-strong/part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&tag=nl.e703

[bobcat]

they'll be flying B52's at the final battle of the appocalypse. hell a bomber that badass deserves its own hanger in valhalla.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

they'll be flying B52's at the final battle of the appocalypse. hell a bomber that badass deserves its own hanger in valhalla.

But you know, there's a famous quote about the C130:

The last B52 crew to dispose of the last B52 at the AMARC will fly out of D-M on a C130!

[Tegyrius]

I've heard the same thing said about the B-2 and the B-52.

- C.