Talk:97th Air Mobility Wing

Latest comment: 10 years ago by Lineagegeek in topic Chrome Dome loads during Cuban missile crisis

Chrome Dome loads during Cuban missile crisis edit

The loads described are not credible.

One bomber carrying a combination of nuclear and conventional weapons. What possible target would there be for such a combination? Moreover, it is quite unlikely that the 97th would have crews trained to deliver conventional weapons or maintainers trained to load them in 1962 or would have a sufficient stockpile of such weapons to be able to arm and disarm two aircraft daily.
One bomber carrying Quails and Hound Dogs. The Quail was a decoy missile used as a penetration aid, but the Hound Dog was a standoff missile. Why the need for a penetration aid if air defenses were not to be penetrated? In addition, this load wastes the perfectly capable forward bomb bay, which would be empty with such a load, since only the aft bomb bay of the B-52 was set up to accept a clip in rack of Quails.

I also note this section of the article is unsourced --Lineagegeek (talk) 16:28, 29 April 2014 (UTC)Reply