Who remembers the MITO launches from the Griff?

[Clipper]

I may have even posted this before, but it is an impressive thing to watch. Here is a video that a former Griffiss AFB firefighter posted to his face book page again today. The video makes a person proud to be an American when you see the virtual might of our Air Force as alert bombers and tankers take to the air. The B-52 Stratofortress is an amazing aircraft and has been around for over 60 years, and is expected to be in service until 2040.

The MITO (Minimal Interval Take Off) launches were an exercise in getting all the alert aircraft in the air in a very short time. It was practiced often during the height of the cold war.

While it was an efficient way to get our aircraft off the ground, it was also quite dangerous in that each aircraft after the first one, took off into the turbulence created by the aircraft ahead of them.

It was a stressful procedure to watch, and always made us nervous as we stood by in a crash truck or when I was riding the rescue truck.

A full fuel load for a B-52 is just short of 48,000 gallons of jet fuel, and for one to crash on take off would cause a major conflageration. At such a low altitude, survival would be only a remote possibility. To watch the video makes an American proud to know that we have such a powerful Air Force. It is an amazing feat to pilot such an enormous aircraft in such a precision maneuver as to take off into the wake of another aircraft and to bank away as soon as the aircraft leaves the ground. It leaves one in awe when you watch those lumbering beasts take to the sky in such short order.

[JGRobinson]

Thats a friggin trip. What a mass move out. No room for error their, once the whole lineup is formed and moving, no stopping, ever! I bet the Romans dont miss that drill, thats got to be a loud 10 minutes!

That makes our Anti-armor high speed convoy bugout look like childsplay!

The B52'sw always impressed me. How something that big with giant floppy wings could fly is a big mystery to me. I am glad they are ours!

[pops69]

B-52s usually took off with a minimal fuel load to avoid such an incident. Once they were airborne the KC-135s would transfer enough fuel for the mission. This practice was two fold, weight limitations and to avoid cooking one of the nukes to the point of containment failure if there was a fire. I worked on alert aircraft from '69 - '71 at Griffiss and by then the MITO launches were scraped in favor of a daily warmup and systems check. And if something didnt work, it was made to work real fast.

[Clipper]

The wingtips move upward about 3 or 4 feet when the aircraft takes off. It is amazing how such a bulky and cumbersome looking beast can even get airborne. As they accelerate, the small wheels on the wingtips will raise off the ground about 4 feet or so as the wings lift before the aircraft leaves the ground. The B52 is an extraordinary feat of engineering.

The other thing that always amazed me was the fact that the KC 135 tankers injected water into the jet engines on take off that cause an expansion and steam, giving them more thrust to aid in getting airborne. I am not an engineer, but I guess the principle is much the same as injecting fuel into the jetstream in a plane with afterburner capability.

The tankers AND the bombers are capable of taking off with huge loads. The KC 135 can carry 200,000 lbs of fuel when fully loaded. That is 100 tons of fuel, plus the weight of the airframe and any cargo.

[Ralph]

Thanks Clipper!!! I remember seeing one of those YEARS ago, brought just as many chills now as it did then.

[Clipper]

Pops69, the MITO's were scrapped for a while, and alert movements would include cartridge starts, and a fast taxi to the North end of the runway, simulating the launch itself. In the mid seventies, the MITO launch came back. The MITO was not something that was done very often, but when they DID launch, it was a real thrill to watch and a proud testament to our military strength. I DO remember that one time they did always actually launch was for the IG inspectors. It was thrilling, but scary if you were riding the rescue truck, and would be expected to attempt a rescue if something went awry and one of those aircraft crashed on take-off. Removing the roof hatches and entering a B-52 from a foam covered and slippery roof was not one of a firefighters favorite chores.

I had actually forgotten that they took off light and refueled in the air.

I CAN attest to the fuel load carried on a KC135. When tail number 522 exploded and burned on the ramp during a "green engine run" in the 70's, I was on the first crash truck on scene, and waded through the burning jet fuel with a handline to cut a path for potential rescue. Thank God the crew had exited over the opposite wing. The truck ran out of foam when we were only half way to the aircraft and we had to follow the hoseline back out of the fire with no protection. Our boots were gummy and melting by the time we were clear of the flames. www.windsweptpress.com/smokefire.pdf

[dgriffin]

And that's a well written story, Clip.

Clipper's list of stories is here:

www.windsweptpress.com/beaver.htm





Here are some more MITO clips:





Here's a Hollywood version:



I always get a kick out of Hollywood military movies. The actors are usually 20 years older than the kids who actually flew these things.
And although you can barely hear it, we didn't deserve to win wars with music that terrible!! Hahahaha!

[Clipper]

I remember the B-47s flying out of Griffiss when I was a young boy, and I remember seeing them over Phoenix when we lived in Arizona, but I am not sure if they flew out of Willams AFB in Chandler, or Luke AFB, West of Phoenix. Dad used to take me out to Luke AFB to watch the F-100's take off and land. They were ANOTHER awesome aircraft.