Free Vietnam II: A War Novel Episode 3 (V2) by C.R. Ryder

The radar and radio are go no go items so we can’t leave without them being fixed.  The crew chiefs are scrambling to get them working and my crew just works around them.
    Engine start and taxi take about an hour.  The whole time the crew chief and the comm nav guys are tearing boxes out trying to get our electronics working right.  We start the engines without a hitch and because timing is so critical we have to start taxiing.  The maintenance crew rides along with us.
    The entire mission was based on timing.  We had to take off on time to meet up with the tanker on time and to make our bombing run on time.  There was no slop built into the attack plan so a delay would require the planners to recoordinate every aspect of the mission.
    The airplane is extremely noisy when the engines are running.  We have to communicate through the headsets in our helmets.  We run the pretakeoff checklist while we taxi.  Meanwhile the maintenance guys are still crawling all around us fiddling with the systems.  It’s Guam so it’s hot as hell in the cockpit.  There’s air conditioning, but it’s only for the equipment to keep it cool and humidity free.  I get better air from the radio than I get from the vents.
    The hardest part of flying the B-52 was actually taxiing it on the ground.  There was no steering tiller like in the C-130 or KC-135.  The rudder pedals controlled the trucks.  This made taxiing the plane the equivalent of steering a tractor trailer with only your feet. 
    We reach the hold short line with the rest of the formation.  Number one is going to take off in one minute.
    The SOF, supervisor of flying, drives by in his truck and makes sure we look ready to go.  He is checking for any open compartments, dangling antennas or anything else out of the ordinary.
    “King 35, you are good to go.”
    “Maintenance, AC.  How we doing?”
    If they can’t tell me that the plane is ready to go then I’m going to have to pull off and let the rest of the formation continue.
    “We’ve just finished.”
    Ryal helps the three maintainers escape down the belly hatch while I hold up the line.  Number one is just taking off as the maintainers escape the taxiway for the grass.  I hoped someone was coming to pick them up.  It was a long walk back to the maintenance shack.
    As soon as they get out I accelerate and catch up with the rest of the formation.  By the time the Gunner is getting strapped in it’s our turn to take off.
    B-52 engines are water injected.  It doesn’t sound logical to pour water onto a fire, but the water cools the air going into the engines.  The denser air allows the engine to burn more fuel giving the aircraft more thrust.  BUFFs were sometime called water wagons or steam jets among the crews.  The process produced dense, black smoke.  When we took off 15 seconds after the bomber in front of us we could not see a thing rocketing down the runway.  We listened to the radio to see if the guy ahead of us aborted and we watched the clock to make sure we were on time and accelerating properly.  If anything went wrong we aborted the takeoff.
    At least until we reached S1, the point of no return.
    "Set dry thrust," I ordered as we took the runway.
    "Cleared for water," the Copilot says.  He comes on the throttles and gives them small adjustments.
    "Four good pumps,” I said checking the water injection.  Then I glance at the airspeed.  "70 knots now"
    "Nav timing,” the navigator says confirming he’s started his watch.
    "Expiration of S1 timing now,” the navigator says a few seconds later.
    "Committed," I said confirming our airspeed past S1.
    Once we were committed or past S1 speed we could no longer safely abort the takeoff, meaning there was not enough runway left for us to stop, and we were going no matter what.
    We’re heavy today.  I watch the runway remaining markers pass on our left and see that we’re going to run out of runway before we are in the air.  I firewall