Team Edwards volunteers pull together to give historic bomber a lift Published Aug. 17, 2011 By Diane Betzler Staff writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- When Tony Moore received the green light to organize and execute lifting the 185,000-pound NB-52B off the ground and set it on steel stands, he faced one of the most challenging problems of his Air Force career. The aircraft, Ship 008, is one of two bombers that became motherships for launching flight research vehicles and has been on display at Edwards' North Gate since 2007. Officials knew the weight of the heavy bomber needed to be lifted off its wheels and landing gear before causing permanent damage to the old workhorse. "If it wasn't for an old B-52 guy who pointed out that the aircraft had fuselage jack points, I'd still be trying to figure out a safe way to lift it," said Moore, Air Force Flight Test Center Museum specialist. The old bomber, the eighth one to come off the assembly line, is considered to be one of NASA's proudest national resources and was one of only two bombers to become a launch aircraft for the X-15 programs. The only other B-52 used for launching flight research vehicles was Ship 003. "Both were pulled out of service and modified for the X-15 program," said George Welsh, AFFTC Museum curator. With 106 X-15 flights to its credit, NASA recorded the history of not only the X-15, but numerous other test vehicles along the fuselage on the right-hand side of the ship. "Its history runs from nose to tail," Moore pointed out. It starts with a caricature of the B-52 getting ready to throw an X-15 into the air and ends with the words "T-tha...T-tha...T-That's all Folks!" placed next to the history showing the final X-43 launch. "The hypersonic X-43 was the last launch this ship made," Moore said. The depictions in cartoon drawings or tongue-in-cheek verbiage shows the great sense of humor and the amount of pride the maintenance crew had for an old aircraft that started out as a bomber but ended up dropping flight research vehicles instead, he said. "The guys that kept this flying loved this aircraft, they were a great group," he said. Love for the old relic obviously lives on, which was evident when a team of some 30 volunteers led by David Howell, 912th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, gathered Aug. 6 to pitch in and do whatever was needed to lift the ship and set it on permanent stands. Volunteers came from the 412th Maintenance Squadron, the 418th and the 419th Aircraft Maintenance Units, 95th Civil Engineering Division and the AFFTC Museum. "It was a huge effort," Moore said. People don't realize the scope of the effort to get the aircraft lifted and set back down on specially made stands. "Their labor was greatly appreciated," said Col. Gregory Schwab, 95th Air Base Wing commander. Schwab, along with Col. Robert Weaver, 412th Maintenance Group commander, presented the crew with Air Base Wing coins when they were done. In its day, B-52, Ship 008, flew at about 630 mph to a height of about 20,000 feet to launch the X-15, which is considered America's first spaceship. Moore says Ship 008 is probably the most historic B-52 of the entire fleet and flew the lion's share of the drops. Moore, like many others, credits the X programs for paving the way for the shuttle program. "The X-15 had to be air-launched and would have never flown if it wasn't for this aircraft," he said. With Ship 008 in place at Edwards' North Gate, the need for volunteers is still strong, however. "We plan to clean the aircraft and re-stencil it," said Welsh. They hope to bring the old ship back to its original glory, he said. Welsh also plans to install four signs at the display site. "One will give the history of the aircraft; one will explain the graphics; one to describe the attachment mounting harness that carried the X-15 and one sign will list other locations around the base where people can visit different aircraft." Is all the work and effort put into preserving NB-52B worth it? Johnny Armstrong, chief engineer of the flight test center's Hypersonic Combined Test Force, believes it is. Armstrong was the flight test engineer for the X-programs and visiting the aircraft perched on its steel stands brings back a lot of memories for him. "As I drive past the Edwards North Gate and see [Ship 008] sitting there dormant, I recall all the excitement it provided me in the control room for the X-15 and X-24 programs," Armstrong said. Armstrong was the flight planner who trained the X-plane pilot in the simulator. "I had a personal attachment to the thoughts of the test pilot hanging on the wing as the aircraft proceeded up range and knew what he was going to do after hitting the launch switch." Like Moore, Armstrong holds a deep regard for the crew of Ship 008. "The pilots, launch panel operator and the maintenance crew, all had my deep respect," he said. Armstrong says now that ships 008 and 003 are no longer working, the capability to support future research projects that need their unique capabilities is gone. "A standard B-52 can carry only 25,000 pounds on the wing, whereas [Ship 008] could carry the X-15 with external tanks weighing 54,000 pounds. The other unique capability was the large tank in the bomb bay that contained liquid oxygen propellant for the rocket engine of the X-15 and X-24. There are programs now being planned that could use that kind of capability," Armstrong said. Welsh hopes to someday get a replica X-15 and have it mounted in the harness under the wing to give a clear picture of what that was like. Ship 003, the first of the X-15 motherships, was known as "The High and Mighty One" and is preserved at Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Ariz.