U.S. Ghost Fleet of B-52s Cannot Fly but They Still Count for Something

Just east of Tucson, out where urban planning begins to disappear in thick swirls of red dust, sit 228 hulking warplanes in what may be the world’s largest fleet of long-range bombers.

The armada of blunt-nosed, sweep-wing B-52s count as part of America’s active Strategic Air Command. In fact, it is SAC’s largest single component, nearly one-third of its worldwide forces.

But none of these planes can fly. Nor will they ever.

They are America’s ghost fleet, unusable in war and peace but kept from the junk dealers by a quirk in the SALT II arms control treaty.

‘Very Much Part of SAC’

“Very few military people talk about (these planes) and the public certainly doesn’t know they exist,” said Harvard’s Jim Shear, an arms control officer in the Jimmy Carter Administration, which drafted the U.S.-Soviet pact. “But they are still very much a part of SAC and very much a part of our strategic thinking.”

United Press International unearthed the fleet after asking the Pentagon about discrepancies in numbers between the planes listed at SAC bases worldwide--370, including the new B-1Bs--and the planes listed in arms control documents--598, a difference of 228.

Indeed, a spokesman for the Air Force was unaware that the bombers--parked among thousands of junked planes at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, or “the boneyard”--were part of SAC.

“There’s nothing (at the base) but broken and cannibalized planes,” Capt. Mike Laughlin, spokesman for the Air Force in Washington, said. “I’d be greatly surprised if there were any SAC planes out there. (Davis-Monthan) is where planes go to die.”

Offers Correction

But a day later, Laughlin corrected himself, referring inquiries to SAC headquarters in Omaha, Neb.

“We see nothing wrong with counting these planes among our overall deterrent force,” said SAC spokesman Capt. Jeff Mielke. “They are fully in accordance with SALT II.”

Indeed, the arms control agreement permits both the Soviets and the United States to consider their “retired bombers” as active, Shear said.

“It’s largely because of mistrust,” he said. “Back in 1977 or 1978, before the (SALT) treaty was signed, the two sides put forth their agreed data bases (of strategic weapons).

“The Soviets had these Bison bombers, which were not listed in active service. But there were no visible markings that they could not fly. We simply could not verify that from air surveillance. We figured it would be safer to control overall numbers of both active and retired bombers.

“We ended up deciding to count our old mothballed bombers as well as theirs.” But the Soviet ghost fleet is considerably smaller than its U.S. counterpart, believed to number fewer than 100 aircraft. “We keep the exact number classified,” said Bernard Halloran, spokesman for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency of the State Department.

Initially, negotiations that would have allowed for verifiable disposal of retired heavy bombers were to follow SALT. “But those talks never got off the ground,” Shear said, “so we’re stuck with this funny arrangement.”

B-52s are the workhorse of SAC. The latest models were delivered in 1962. They travel at nearly the speed of sound and are capable of flying 12,000 miles without refueling. They carry both nuclear-tipped missiles and bombs.

The planes maintained at the Arizona base, euphemistically called the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, are not nearly so capable.

“We have a lot of strange configurations (dating) back more than 40 years,” said Sgt. Ron Woods, spokesman for the air base. Many of the planes predate Elvis, Edsels and the Big Bopper. “They are more museum-quality planes than actual bombers.” Because of the dry climate, he said, “we’re like a big museum out here.”

Appear Formidable

Although many craft are stripped of engines, wheels and other equipment, from the air they appear whole, and formidable.

“The whole idea is to make them look dangerous,” Wood said.

But they will probably never fly again.

“At least not without some extensive refurbishment,” said Capt. Dave Thurston, a SAC spokesman.

One concern is that the Soviets might regard U.S. strategic forces as greater than they actually are, thus complicating future arms reduction agreements.

“Who are we trying to kid?” said retired Air Force Col. Sam Gardner, now with the Center for Defense Information in Washington.

“We ought to fix them up or we ought to junk them. The Soviets probably already know these planes are unusable.

“What good are a bunch of planes that can’t fly, that cost taxpayer money to maintain and don’t fool the other side?”