Vickers letter: Airplanes
I liked the Dec. 7, page 12A story on the B-52. The B-52 and all of the modern airliners go back to the B-47. Boeing designed and built the B-47, B-52, 707, KC-135 and a long line of airliners that followed the 707. Lockheed’s Skunk Works produced the SR-71 Blackbird, one of the greatest airplanes ever built and other outstanding airplanes. It was stated in the article that “... attempts to build a better intercontinental bomber ... have consistently failed.” The $283 million B-1B Lancer (Rockwell) and $2 billion B-2 Spirit (Northrop) were mentioned.
It seems to me that the talent, expertise and creativity exist in this country’s aircraft industry to build a suitable replacement for the B-52. One problem in building a fighter is the effort to build one fighter for all the branches. It’ll be an airplane that nobody wants (F-111 and F-35). But this will be a bomber for the Air Force only. If the Air Force knows what it wants, the industry should be able to build it.
George Vickers, Payette
This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 10:55 PM with the headline "Vickers letter: Airplanes."