B-52 Stratofortress Damaged After Engine Fire
The B-52H’s engine fire comes as the fleet is preparing to be re-engined, an upgrade that will allow the type to serve for decades more.
A U.S. Air Force B-52H bomber made an emergency landing at Minot Air Force Base North Dakota recently due to a fire in one of its eight TF33 engines. The fire was successfully extinguished on the ground and none of the crew members onboard were injured in the mishap.
Officials at Minot confirmed to The War Zone that the incident occurred and that the mishap is now under investigation.
The full statement we received from the base's public affairs office is as follows:
A United States B-52H Stratofortress bomber from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota performed an emergency landing at approximately 12:52 a.m. February 23, 2024, at Minot AFB, North Dakota due to a single engine fire.
None of the crewmembers were injured and the Minot AFB Fire Dept. arrived on scene and extinguished the aircraft fire.
“First and foremost, the 5th Bomb Wing is incredibly thankful that all our Airmen made it home safely”, said Colonel Daniel Hoadley, 5th Bomb Wing commander. “I would like to recognize our outstanding base fire fighters for their expeditious response.”
The incident is currently under investigation.
The full extent of the damage to the aircraft is unknown. A picture posted on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page that is purportedly from last week's mishap shows extensive damage to one of the B-52's four engine pods. The cowling covering one of the two engines in the pod appears to have either been removed or to have burned away. Unknown fluid is seen pouring from the damaged engine onto a cart below. Fire-fighting foam is readily visible on the ground and crash trucks and other emergency vehicles are seen in the background.
"Minot AFB B-52 fire yesterday. A CSD (Constant speed drive that runs the generator) caught fire on landing and burned through that engine and part of the wing," a separate post on the Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page reads, but this remains unconfirmed.
This first time Minot has been at the center of a B-52H engine mishap. In 2017, a TF33 literally fell off one of these bombers while it was flying some 25 miles from the base. Thankfully the engine landed in a sparely populated area after falling thousands of feet and no one was injured on the ground or on the aircraft, which made it back to Minot safely.
Also in 2017, a photographer managed to take a picture of a B-52 bomber from Barksdale Air Force Base spewing sparks from one of its engines for unknown reasons. That bomber was heading out from the NATO Days air show in Ostrava in the Czech Republic. It was also noted later that the picture showed the plane's skin buckling, a normal occurrence on the B-52 and certain other aircraft types.
Though the cause of this recent mishap is currently undeclared, it does come as the Air Force is pushing to replace the TF33 engines on its entire fleet of 76 B-52Hs with new Rolls-Royce F130s. This is part of a multi-billion-dollar upgrade project that also includes new radars and other improvements. The TF33 has been out of production entirely since 1985 and is only used on a steadily dwindling number of aircraft worldwide. The F130 re-engine effort is expected to reduce maintenance demands and costs, as well as improve B-52's overall performance and fuel economy, as you can read more about here.
The Air Force currently hopes to complete the qualification of the new engine arrangement later this year, according to a recent report from Defense News. After that, the goal is to begin modifying two initial B-52s with the new engines starting in 2026, followed by ground and then flight testing between 2028 and 2031. The service wants to then have all 76 of its B-52Hs upgraded with their new engines by 2035. When fully upgraded, the bombers are expected to be redesignated as B-52Js and to serve through 2050.
As for the B-52 that made the emergency landing at Minot last week, thankfully the fire was extinguished and the crew was unharmed. This will put one of the USAF's B-52s out of action for some time and comes at a time when they are in high demand around the globe.
We will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com
