Cub Driver wrote:
(BackToNormal) wrote:

isn't a B52 also capable of flying non stop from
US to anywhere in world and return courtesy of midair refuelling

Sure. So could a Piper Cub. (There was a sport in the 1930s whereby a
Cub driver would stay aloft for a week or two, picking up 5-gallon
fuel cans from a car below. In calm winds, a Cub could fly around the
world at the equator in two weeks. The major problem would be spotting
the cars

An Irishman named MacPail, a veteran of the bailing wire days of
aviation and Capt. John Donaldson, a WW1 pilot, remained
aloft for 13 days and 13 nights in 1930 via a primitive method of
air-to-air refueling. During their record-setting endurance flight,
the two men had to crawl outside the cabin in-flight to service
their single, 200 hp Lycoming radial engine out front.

Imagine changing plugs and lubricating the rocker arms at 2000 ft.
AGL while laying on your stomach out in the breeze with the prop
spinning a mere six inches away from your head!

Back in 1998, a Brit named Brian Milton flew a trike (a Pegasus
Quantum 912 exactly like mine) around the world in 80 flying days.
Although he landed to refuel numerous times during his epic journey,
it was still an amazing aeronautical achievement considering that
he flew nothing more than a tiny, open-air microlight at an average
speed of 57 mph for total distance of 23,130 statute miles.

He flew from Europe to Cyprus, outwitted a ****ed off Syrian MiG-21
around Damascus, continued on from Mandalay to Hong Kong,
crossed Siberia to Nome, then Alaska to San Francisco, San Francisco
to New York, New York over the Greenland Icecap and finally back to
London.

Incredible...gets my vote for the "Biggest Brass Balls of All" award!

What's really remarkable is the Burt Rutan aircraft that can fly
nonstop around the world without refueling. The latest iteration is
the one he's building for Richard Branson, which will have only the
one pilot.

And more importantly, only one engine (a fuel-efficient jet as
opposed to two recips that the original Voyager used) that
allegedly consumes less fuel per mile than a SUV does.