Agreed the engines are different but the point was that a small country can
maintain 35 "obsolete" aircraft and produce all the necessessary engine
parts. The US B-52 fleet by comparison is massive so, one would assume that
would be a more economically viable solution.

Actually, that's why they're looking at putting new engines on the BUFF,
machining new parts is becoming increasingly more expensive every year. A few
years ago an "emergency contract" had to be awarded to a company to produce
constant speed drive shafts for our generators. We had used up the ones in the
boneyard and the B-52 CSD on the TF-33 differs slightly from the C-141 and E-3
TF-33. The company that had produced the CSD for the BUFF TF-33 was out of
buisness years earlier. The results were that a *very* expensive contract was
awarded to produce the new CSD shafts.

Every year the B-52 runs into similiar problems and every year the contracts
get greater in number and more expensive.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"