The most insane photos of a US bomber ever taken

These Photos Never Get Old

Several photos taken by sailors of the USS Ranger carrier strike group in 1990 show us a rare look at how nap-of-the-earth bomber operations allow large planes to penetrate enemy airspace.

According to the story that goes along these photos, sailors aboard the USS Ranger (which happens to be the first carrier U-2 spy planes operated off of) were sailing through the Persian Gulf when they got a call from Guam-based B-52s that were flying 5 miles out.

They asked permission to do a carrier flyby with their bombers. 

These B-52s were flying so low that their eight massive TF-33 turbofan engines were spitting up trails of water behind them as the sailors scrambled to take photos, but most of them couldn’t get there in time.

So, the B-52 crew radioed in, asked to do it again and the answer was an enthusiastic yes. The majority of the photos that were taken were during that second pass. 

In one particular image, for instance, the underside of the bomber may just be as low as 20 to 30 ft. up.

It’s also worth noting that B-52 pilots trained hard for low-altitude flights. Most of them would fly in enemy airspace at extremely low altitudes, usually between 1 and 200 ft at most using terrain-following radar. 

In these rare glimpses, we see many B-52s skimming the wave tops of the Persian Gulf may certainly look crazy, but for the highly trained crew onboard that bomber, it probably felt like just another day!