Civvy B-52 What If

[Rata]

Just came across this:

What if the B-52 was a passenger plane? - YouTube

[Don Boose]

Great fun! A later-day Vickers Vernon or Victoria?

Don

[Rata]

Indeed!

I've taken a bunch of screenshots with a view of a repaint of Bruno's 1/300.
The one thing that might defeat me is that full fuselage length cheatline.

[surfduke]

That is a really cool idea!

[Isaac]

Cute idea of converting a B-52 into an airliner, but it is as far fetched as using a balloon to carry passengers across the country to various international destinations.

Some facts:

The B-52 engines are so inefficient and smoky, that the plane would be banned or out of favor even back in the 1970's or 80's.

Airlines reduced engine numbers on passenger planes over the years. From four to three and now only two, So having eight engines for an airliner is a non starter. ( remember the British Brabazon ? )

The fuselage is very narrow and would not be able to carry many passengers regardless of the video shown ( notice that 4 across shows the window seats penetrating the sides ). Two decks make no sense and you will never be able to evacuate the imaginary 300-400 passengers during an emergency. This layout is more akin to the slave ships from Africa than a real airliner.

The landing gear is of a bicycle arrangement and is interrupting the fuselage in two locations.

There are two outrigger landing gear struts demanding a very wide runway which is not available in many airports. Thus the usefulness is extremely limited.

There is no room for cargo pallets at all.

No overhead bins.

The video neglects that the wing structure penetrates the fuselage and you can't put seats there. There are large structural frames in the fuselage as well, that interfere with available space. It also would cut the cabin in two.

The wrinkled fuselage skins would scare off passengers as looks affects what people want.


And....

trying to put 4 engines on this plane is a no go either since the vertical fin and rudder have no capability to counteract an engine out scenario ( Boeing nixed the re engine concept of 4 engines and decided to stay with 8 newer engines even though the plane has a landing gear capable of pre setting a crab angle ). Secondly the engine pylons would change the wing structure if 4 engines were insisted upon and Boeing said that is to much of a change.

Other than an interesting paint job, this is an artistic fun object.



but there I go again with technical facts

As an aside, I love What - If airplane concepts.


Isaac

[mhvink]

Always with the negative waves, Moriarity . . .

Mike

[Mike1158]

I thought the civvy version of the BUFF was the B 707.

[carlou55]

Maybe not in the right place, but if anyone is interested in What If B-52s, how about the ""Old Dog". It is from a book called Flight of the Old Dog. Might make for an interesting model for someone inclined to give it a try. This photo is the only reference I could find as to what it might have looked like.

[murphyaa]

Originally Posted by Isaac

Cute idea of converting a B-52 into an airliner, but it is as far fetched as using a balloon to carry passengers across the country to various international destinations.

Some facts:

The B-52 engines are so inefficient and smoky, that the plane would be banned or out of favor even back in the 1970's or 80's.

Airlines reduced engine numbers on passenger planes over the years. From four to three and now only two, So having eight engines for an airliner is a non starter. ( remember the British Brabazon ? )

The fuselage is very narrow and would not be able to carry many passengers regardless of the video shown ( notice that 4 across shows the window seats penetrating the sides ). Two decks make no sense and you will never be able to evacuate the imaginary 300-400 passengers during an emergency. This layout is more akin to the slave ships from Africa than a real airliner.

The landing gear is of a bicycle arrangement and is interrupting the fuselage in two locations.

There are two outrigger landing gear struts demanding a very wide runway which is not available in many airports. Thus the usefulness is extremely limited.

There is no room for cargo pallets at all.

No overhead bins.

The video neglects that the wing structure penetrates the fuselage and you can't put seats there. There are large structural frames in the fuselage as well, that interfere with available space. It also would cut the cabin in two.

The wrinkled fuselage skins would scare off passengers as looks affects what people want.


And....

trying to put 4 engines on this plane is a no go either since the vertical fin and rudder have no capability to counteract an engine out scenario ( Boeing nixed the re engine concept of 4 engines and decided to stay with 8 newer engines even though the plane has a landing gear capable of pre setting a crab angle ). Secondly the engine pylons would change the wing structure if 4 engines were insisted upon and Boeing said that is to much of a change.

Other than an interesting paint job, this is an artistic fun object.



but there I go again with technical facts

As an aside, I love What - If airplane concepts.


Isaac

I agree with all of this, and a lot of the discussion in the comments of the video is about the various aircraft that have been converted from bomber to passenger plane (Boeing 307 from B-17, Boeing 377 from B-29, Tupolev To-104 from Tu-14, Tu -114 from Tu-95, XC-99 from B-36.) Admittedly a passenger B-52 would look very different from the Bomber. But the thing preventing it is the trend towards fewer engines. I'm still waiting the announcement of a single engine passenger liner. Or even a glider version with no engines. Just have it towed by a powered jetliner, and move twice as many people. Hmm...

[Rata]

Originally Posted by murphyaa

Or even a glider version with no engines. Just have it towed by a powered jetliner, and move twice as many people. Hmm...

Powered passenger plane towing passenger glider. Ha!! You and your whacky theories Aaron. Will never happen I say.