Quote:
Originally Posted by pavulon
Did the B-52 characteristic nose down aoa change with altitude and/or load or was it driven by wing flap employment?
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by svandamme
nope, B-52 takes off rear wheels first.
it doesn't rotate like most planes.
 |
The B-52 employs eight degrees of positive incidence on the wing specifically to aid in takeoff. Its main landing gear trucks have a very unique arrangement, with the aft sets so far back as to preclude the aircraft from rotating for takeoff in the traditional sense. They have no traditional "nose gear", and all four "mains" are steerable. The positive incidence is needed to overcome the extreme aft placement of the rear set of mains. They are so far back that the aircraft simply cannot rotate on them in the traditional sense, so the engineers had to add that eight degrees of positive incidence just so the darn thing can get off the ground. While the trailing main gear trucks do sometimes break ground first, they typically take off "level", with the forward and aft sets breaking ground at about the same time. Sometimes they kinda sorta "rotate", but they really can't do it very much. The wing itself wants to fly level, of course, resulting in its characteristic nose down attitude in flight.
My dad started his career working on B-52's. He absolutely loved that airplane. Just for something to do on a Saturday, we would sometimes drive all the way across the state from Seattle to Spokane, home of Fairchild AFB, just to spend a day watching them take off and land. Pretty cool stuff for us little kids.