BUFF B-52, Air Force, Snoring, and French.

[Bill Baskerville]

... overnight stays at Sheepscot (Percival House and campers) will not be allowed. ... Bob

Bob, For the record, when I left the Air Force I gave up dorm living for the remainder of my life.  Not that I have anything against snoring, and other bodily emissions... Ask any B-52 crew member or maintainer who was on Guam during the Viet Nam war. 

I have lodging arranged in Wiscasset.

[John Kokas]

Bill,

From one USAF vet to another, you know the B-52 earned it's nickname of BUFF for more than one reason !!! 

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

I've known the B 52 nickname for long but I've never known what does it mean.  Could you enlighten me please ?

[John Kokas]

Alain,

La traduction de BUFF n’est pas approprié pour ce forum public, s’il vous plaît PM moi. 

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Hey John just sent you an E mail. It's crazy, at once I'haven't been aware that you had replied  in French. Congrats you write it  very well. I've been thinking for long  that a few WW&F volunteers know French language. I've read that  there were quite a lot of French speakers in Maine more than in Louisiana, typical Quebec is  close.

[Bill Baskerville]

Alain, 

The official name of the B-52 is Stratofortress. The BUFF nick name was awarded by the men (at that time) who flew and maintained her in late 1966.  The best way to answer your question is to refer you to the following web site.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-b-52-bomber-got-nickname-buff-69796

This site gives both versions of the BUFF nick name.  The first was the name actually given by the troops.  The second was the public explanation.  It was derived from two characteristics of the B-52.  The first is visually obvious, with all the engine pods and fuel drop tanks hanging off of the wings.  This plus all the many antennas that you see if you are up close.  Also, if you see it up close on the ground or in the air, it has so much flex in the fuselage and wings that there are sag wrinkles in the skin when resting on the ground, and flex wrinkles in the skin when in flight.  The second reason is that the "D" models were given the "Big Belly" modification in the mid sixties.  This increased the conventional bomb load by 16,500 pounds for a total of 60,000 pounds.  The maximum conventional load was 84-500 pounders in the bomb bay and 24-750 pounders on the wing pylons for a total of 108 bombs.  One thousand pounders and 750's could also be carried in the bomb bay, but the gross load was less due to space.  All this is to support the "Fat" part of the nick name.  I have 8 mm movies of bomb drops that I took on several Arc Light missions over Viet Nam (and a few other un-named countries).

[John Kokas]

Alain,

My French is really not that good, I can still put my basic sentence structure together but still need help with accent(s) and verb tense.  So I have a little computer help.  But thank God I learned "Parisian" French as it still works as you can tell.  What I did learn in all my High School French classes is that it does you no good in Quebec since they speak/write a whole different type of French from what I learned.  We have the same problem in the States with trying to speak in French with someone from Louisiana and their type of "Cajun French" - it really doesn't work.   

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Thank you so much Bill for taking time to kindly answer my question. Your explanations and the link are very much interesting. I've always have a liking for B 52 and bombardiers at large. B17 is one of my favorite as well I. I've watched quite a lot of movies about B 52 it's a fascinating plane but I''ve actually never seen one  Conversely I've seen a B17 in a meeting in France. I was in the Air Force during my military service  and if I had not been a longlife railroad buff , dare I say it, I would have been into aviation.

[Bill Baskerville]

Bill,From one USAF vet to another, you know the B-52 earned it's nickname of BUFF for more than one reason !!! 

OK John,
Now that we  have our own Forum page, and you have seen my answer to Alain on the BUFF term, what is your answer?  Clearly I have a strong history with the B-52 and love B-52 trivia.

[Bill Baskerville]

Alain,
Here is a link to the B-52 Stratofortress Association, of which I am a member. 
https://stratofortress.org/
If you dig around you can find all kinds of information, for example:
https://stratofortress.org/history/
The first flight was in April of 1952.  The last models, the "H" model were built in 1962.  The Air Force is working on another electronics upgrade and new engines.  They are expected to be flying into the 2050's.  The famous quote that seems to be true is "the last B-52 pilot has not yet been born."  I am now hearing that the quote has been changed to the father of the last B-52 pilot has not yet been born.
BTW, I have flown on B, C and D models.

[John Kokas]

Bill & Alain,

Bill your references are spot on, but there is another that i learned during my time I was stationed at Mather AFB, CA and the B-52 unit was the 320th Bomb Group with (G) models.  Apparently, with the G and the later H models the internal changes made for electronics and other instrumentation had a negative effect on the aircraft ventilation system which was especially obvious during hot weather.  The smell which was compared to the flatus produced after eating a dead carcass or a baby diaper that has sat in the sun for a couple of days were fitting having experienced a small dose of it when a 320th buddy of mine gave me a tour on a weekend off.  Their definition of BUFF - Big Ugly Fat Fart ........

Luckily for me, I graduated flight school in the upper tier so I got my choice of aircraft - the glorious F-4 Phantom.  During my career I got to fly the D, E, and G models of the Phantom.  The G model being the most hazardous of missions and saved for those of us who were considered a wee bit crazy by our peers.  Thus closes another topic of historic trivia and as they say in French.  C'est Fini !!

[Bill Baskerville]

Thanks John, Haven't heard that one.  Of course I never flew on G or H models.  When our D's were modified with the Big Belly mod, they also received extensive ECM (Electronic Counter Measures for Alain) upgrades.  This took the F models out of the Viet Nam Arc Light realm until the big Linebacker II push in December of 72 when the F's and G's came back into use.  The lack of ECM upgrades on those models really came to light with the loss rate over Hanoi and Haiphong.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Thank you so much Bill and John for your explanations and memorises about that mesmerazing aircraft that can be displaced by any other one. It's kind of like  B 747 the airliner I most like with A 340; Jumbo  has been around in decades and will be still  in the air for many years  as a cargo but I think it wont outlive the buff. if jumbo's big it's not fat like A 380. B 747 is elegant above all the last version 747-800. I flew on a 747-400  between Honk Hong and Auckland  and return and a A 340 between Paris and Honk Kong and return. Cherished memories. BTW Bill I can log on to the both sites you gave me because there are using a security service to protect themselves from attacks an ECM of sorts I guess. W'll talk soon about French and maybe snoring I experienced in AMTP dormitory.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

 About tne meaning of FOAMER ; I checked up in my Larousse English- French  dictionnary and I found that buff means also enthusiast. a wine buff un amateur de vin or an history buff un mordu d'histoire. In French we have other words that mean enthusiast like mordu ,fana , dingue, accro, fondu etc like in English  I know buff of course but freak, fiend  and addict as well. But  on fb I often read the word foamer mostly when I was following Big Boy during its trips outwest and through the Midwest in 2019. I think it means enthusiast  but I've never found this word in any dictionnary so far. It would be great if you could tell what it exactly means and if it's related to the word foam that means mousse in French. Faire de la mousse or se faire mousser can be translated  like to sell oneself or to praise oneself.

[John Kokas]

The term Foamer is used for those people who are obsessive about trains, steam locomotives especially.  The foaming is an observation from a person who had many dogs and observed that when they got very excited that they would foam at the mouth.  There have been occasions where I have been at events where I swear people have rushed up wild-eyed trying to view the train and literally foaming at the sides of their mouths.

The other term you will hear is "squirrel".  That is a railfan but also works in the railroad industry full-time.  They aren't anywhere a bad as foamers since if they were caught violating a railroad rule or caught on video doing so would probably result in their termination from work.