Watch This B-52 ‘Crabwalk’ Down The Runway In A Heavy Crosswind Like Only It Can

Updated Mar 22, 2022 4:18 PM EDT

If anything the slab-sided B-52 Stratofortress has in spades, it is personality. The big iconic bomber drags around its own weather system of sorts via the inky exhaust plumes of its TF33 turbofans, eight of which scream their way through the sky attached to the B-52’s huge wings. The wrinkly old airframes with centerline main gear and outrigger-like wheels look especially interesting when landing, but the B-52 turns into a really bizarre beast when the winds pick up at the airfield they are landing at.

The aircraft is uniquely predisposed to the effects of crosswinds and due to its extremely narrow wheelbase and huge wings, crabbing — flying cocked into the wind to balance the effects of wind in order to retain a straight ground track — is how the ‘BUFF’ safely recovers when the wind is howling across the airfield. And her pilots don’t ‘kick out the crab’ with cross control movements before touching down as to not overstress the landing gear like aviators of common aircraft do. Instead, the B-52 was built with the ability to set its swiveling landing gear to the heading direction of the runway. This capability allows the B-52 to land like no other aircraft, basically crabbing through touchdown and rollout during higher crosswind conditions. The video below, taken on March 10th, 2022, during the B-52’s current bomber deterrence rotation to RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom, is one of the greatest depictions of the maneuver we have ever seen.

@BrunelHeritage , who was kind enough to share the video with us, tells us the following about it:

“I made it to Whelford Road just in time to see the return of TRIBE41 (“The Warrior” 61-0039) and TRIBE42 (“Night Train” 61-0018) arriving back at Fairford after a morning sortie over France. TRIBE41 declared an in-flight emergency for a smoking, stuck landing gear upon arrival. It was quickly shut down and towed back to its parking stand. The video shows TRIBE42 coming in after and performing a crab landing in a stiff crosswind.”

I have talked about the BUFF’s unique landing characteristics and its swiveling landing gear in the past, but this little excerpt from a post from years ago does a good job of explaining it:

Because of the B-52’s massive side surface area and low-slung wing, crosswind landings are especially challenging. With this issue in mind, Boeing engineers built the B-52’s main tandem landing gear with a genius feature — they swivel. The details of this feature were kept secret for years after the Stratofortress’s introduction into service. The pilot simply dials in the runway’s heading via a rotary dial in the cockpit and the gear will remain properly aligned with a selected compass heading throughout the jet’s approach. This way the pilot can fly the approach crabbed into the wind, with its wings level, all the way down to touchdown and rollout. This capability is especially relevant as the B-52’s wingtips and outrigger landing gear are far from the fuselage’s centerline and hang nearly as low as the jet’s lower fuselage edge. Just a couple of degrees of roll to the left or to the right could result in a wing dipping multiple feet. As a result, using ailerons to sideslip or even de-crab the jet before touchdown could end in a wing-strike catastrophe. Thus B-52 pilots fly intensely crabbed crosswind approaches, sometimes looking out the cockpit’s side windows at the runway, all the way through touchdown and rollout.

Because of the B-52’s massive side surface area and low-slung wing, crosswind landings are especially challenging. With this issue in mind, Boeing engineers built the B-52’s main tandem landing gear with a genius feature — they swivel. The details of this feature were kept secret for years after the Stratofortress’s introduction into service.

The pilot simply dials in the runway’s heading via a rotary dial in the cockpit and the gear will remain properly aligned with a selected compass heading throughout the jet’s approach. This way the pilot can fly the approach crabbed into the wind, with its wings level, all the way down to touchdown and rollout. This capability is especially relevant as the B-52’s wingtips and outrigger landing gear are far from the fuselage’s centerline and hang nearly as low as the jet’s lower fuselage edge. Just a couple of degrees of roll to the left or to the right could result in a wing dipping multiple feet. As a result, using ailerons to sideslip or even de-crab the jet before touchdown could end in a wing-strike catastrophe. Thus B-52 pilots fly intensely crabbed crosswind approaches, sometimes looking out the cockpit’s side windows at the runway, all the way through touchdown and rollout.

A huge thanks to @BrunelHeritage once again for sharing the video with us. Make sure to check out all their content on Instagram here.

Also a hat tip to our friend @Saint1Mil for the heads up!

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2022年3月22日下午4:18

如果说B-52“同温层堡垒”轰炸机有什么最突出的特点，那就是它独特的个性。这架标志性的大型轰炸机凭借其TF33涡扇发动机喷出的浓烟，仿佛拥有某种独特的“天气系统”。八台TF33涡扇发动机安装在B-52巨大的机翼上，呼啸着划破夜空。机身老旧、主起落架位于机身中线、轮子呈外伸状，着陆时看起来格外引人注目。但当降落机场风力增强时，B-52就会变成一头真正奇特的野兽。

这架飞机对侧风的影响极其敏感。由于其极窄的轴距和巨大的机翼，当机场狂风呼啸时，B-52轰炸机（绰号“BUFF”）需要通过侧滑——即飞机迎风倾斜飞行以平衡风的影响，从而保持直线航迹——才能安全着陆。与普通飞机飞行员在着陆前通过交叉操纵来“甩尾”以避免起落架过度受力不同，B-52的飞行员在设计之初就具备将旋转起落架调整到跑道航向的能力。这种能力使得B-52能够以其他飞机无法比拟的方式着陆，在高侧风条件下，它基本上可以侧滑完成着陆和滑行。以下视频拍摄于2022年3月10日，当时B-52正在英国皇家空军费尔福德基地执行轰炸威慑任务，这段视频是迄今为止我们所见过的最精彩的侧滑着陆演示之一。

@BrunelHeritage 非常友好地与我们分享了这段视频，并向我们介绍了以下内容：

“我正好赶到惠尔福德路机场，目睹了TRIBE41（“勇士”61-0039）和TRIBE42（“夜行列车”61-0018）在完成清晨飞越法国的任务后返回费尔福德机场。TRIBE41抵达后，起落架冒烟卡住，宣布飞行中出现紧急情况。飞机迅速关闭发动机并被拖回停机位。视频显示，TRIBE42随后降落，并在强劲的侧风中进行了一次侧滑着陆。”

我之前曾谈到过BUFF独特的着陆特性及其可旋转的起落架，但几年前的一篇文章中的这段摘录很好地解释了这一点：

由于B-52轰炸机巨大的侧面面积和低矮的机翼，侧风着陆尤其具有挑战性。考虑到这个问题，波音公司的工程师为B-52的主起落架设计了一个巧妙的功能——可旋转。这项功能的细节在“同温层堡垒”轰炸机服役后被严格保密多年。飞行员只需通过驾驶舱内的旋转拨盘设定跑道方向，起落架就会在整个进近过程中始终与选定的罗盘方向保持正确对齐。这样，飞行员就可以以侧向迎风的姿态进行进近，保持机翼水平，直至着陆和滑跑。这项功能尤为重要，因为B-52的翼尖和侧起落架远离机身中心线，几乎与机身下缘齐平。即使只是向左或向右倾斜几度，也可能导致机翼下沉数英尺。因此，在着陆前使用副翼进行侧滑甚至调整飞机的横向姿态都可能导致机翼擦地灾难。所以，B-52飞行员在侧风进近时会采用非常大的横向姿态，有时甚至在着陆和滑行过程中都要透过驾驶舱的侧窗观察跑道。

由于B-52轰炸机巨大的侧面面积和低矮的机翼，侧风着陆尤其具有挑战性。考虑到这个问题，波音公司的工程师们为B-52的主起落架设计了一个巧妙的功能——它们可以旋转。这项功能的细节在“同温层堡垒”轰炸机服役后一直保密多年。

飞行员只需通过驾驶舱内的旋转拨盘设定跑道航向，起落架便会在飞机进近过程中始终与选定的罗盘航向保持正确对齐。这样，飞行员就可以以侧风斜飞的方式进行进近，保持机翼水平，直至着陆和滑行结束。这项功能尤为重要，因为B-52的翼尖和外伸起落架远离机身中心线，几乎与机身下缘齐平。飞机向左或向右滚转几度都可能导致机翼下沉数英尺。因此，在着陆前使用副翼进行侧滑甚至调整飞机侧倾角度都可能导致机翼触地灾难。所以，B-52飞行员在进行侧风斜飞进近时，有时会透过驾驶舱侧窗观察跑道，直至着陆和滑行结束。

再次非常感谢@BrunelHeritage与我们分享这段视频。请务必点击此处查看他们在Instagram上的所有内容。

还要感谢我们的朋友 @Saint1Mil 提供的消息！

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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