Barksdale Air Force Base, La. --
Airmen from Air Force Global Strike Command, 307th Bomb Wing and 2nd Bomb Wing came together Feb.17 at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. to successfully complete the first bag lift on a B-52 in more than 30 years.
Bag lifts are normally done on aircraft with inoperable landing gear due to crashes or other mishaps. During the exercise, large inflatable bladders are strategically placed under the wings of the jet and slowly filled with air until it is literally lifted up into a position in which it can be safely moved.
“While such exercises frequently attempted on other aircraft in the Air Force inventory, B-52’s are rarely used,” said Senior Master Sgt. Thomas Schultz, AFGSC crash disabled aircraft recovery functional manager.
Two years ago, an accidental fire rendered one of the B-52’s on base inoperable but the unfortunate event had a silver lining, it made the jet the perfect vehicle for practicing the bag lift.
“The jet is slated for disposal in the near future, so we wanted to put it to use one last time,” said Schultz. “The last information on a B-52 bag lift I could find was at Loring AFB back in 1984, so we didn’t want to miss this opportunity.”
The length of time between lifts on a B-52 created some training challenges when preparing for the exercise.
“You can table top this kind of exercise to death, but when it has not happened in such a long time, you don’t know what to expect until you put it into practice,” said 1st Lt. Nicholas Linville, 2nd MXS maintenance flight commander.