1980
According to South East Air Review (SEAR) May 1980 a B-52D made a touch and go approach at RAF Fairford 24th April 1980. No serial number was mentioned but possibly one of the three B-52D’s of the 22nd BW March AFB which arrived at RAF Marham on the 23rd April – serials 50071, 50080 & 60694.
BUSY BREWER – 10 June 1980 to 16 June 1980 – Flying high altitude operational training missions over Europe and supporting the Allied Air Forces Central Europe exercise ‘Cloudy Chorus’.
B-52D 7th BW Carswell AFB, Tx : 55-0073, 56-0600, 56-0658
These three aircraft arrived as “Nancy 31-33” direct from Carswell AFB under the mission title Busy Brewer/Cloudy Chorus to take part in the NATO exercise Cloudy Chorus. It would appear that only one sortie was flown, on 12th June by 56-0600 and 55-0073 (“Okra 41/42” respectively), before all three B-52Ds returned home to Carswell as “Inapt 51-53” (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2006 Autumn)
CLOUDY CHORUS was a NATO/AFCENT air defence readiness/effectiveness exercise involving NATO fighters operating from their home bases. It was supported by tankers from the 11th SG ETTF at Fairford and by the B-52s which among other aircraft acted as adversaries.
In the September 1980 issue of South East Air Review (SEAR) they quoted ‘Another B-52D deployment is due around mid September’. In the November 1980 edition of SEAR it was noted that the B-52D’s instead went to Brize Norton in September (96th BW: 50677, 60676 & 60659) as after the Fairford deployment in June it was found that the B-52’s weight was too much for the ancient tarmac there.
1981
BUSY BREWER 82A – 20th Oct 1981 to 13th Nov 1981
B-52D 7th BW Carswell AFB : 55-0069, 55-0070, 56-0690
Busy Brewer 82A involved a three-week deployment to Fairford in order to take part in the UK air defence exercise Priory, NATO exercises NATI NADS, Cloudy Chorus and Red Eye, US-Spanish bilateral exercise Crisex and to participate in the NATO Joint Maritime Course JMC 81-3. The aircraft
arrived from Carswell AFB as “Meuse 71-73” and local missions were flown from 22nd October onwards using the call-sign prefix “Meuse” throughout. On at least two occasions during the deployment pairs of aircraft terminated their missions at nearby RAF Brize Norton for a night-stop, returning to Fairford the next day. This is known to have occurred on 29th October (“Meuse 71/72′) and 9th November (55-0069 & 56-0690 “Meuse 71/72′). The return flight home to Carswell was again conducted using the call-signs “Meuse 71-73” (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2006 Winter)
1982
BUSY BREWER 82D – 7 Sep 1982 to 11 Oct 1982
B-52G 19th BW Robbins AFB : 58-0172, 58-0192, 58-0197 / 42nd BW Loring AFB : 58-0207, 58-0236
Busy Brewer 82D was the name given to the contributions by both units to this detachment even though they were present for different lengths of time. The 19thBW aircraft arrived from Robins AFB as “Robe 21-23” on 7th September and returned home using the same call-signs on 11th October. The 42ndBW aircraft were present for a shorter period, arriving from Loring AFB as “Robe 70/71” on 9th September and returning there using the same call-signs on 23rd September. They were deployed for NATO exercises Cold Fire, Display Determination, Northern Wedding, Bold Guard, NATINADS and Damsel Fair. Local sorties commenced on 9th September and the call-sign prefix “Robe” was used for the majority of missions. The 19thBW machines were actually flown home to Robins AFB from RAF Brize Norton on 11th October, having transferred there a few days earlier (two as “Robe 21/22” on the 6th, one as “Robe 22” on the 8th, the latter having been accompanied on its mission that day by “Robe 21” launched from Brize Norton). Could it be that this was done in order to allow Fairford’s American population to celebrate Columbus Day in peace and quiet, undisturbed by noisy jets in the circuit? (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2006 Winter)
Aircraft Illustrated Dec 1982 – ‘Fairford played host to five B-52G Stratofortresses for most of September while they took part in exercise ‘Northern Wedding’. Three aircraft 58-0172, 58-0192 and 58-0197 from the 19th BW Robins AFB, Ga arrived on 7 September and two days later 58-0207 and 58-0236 from the 42nd BW flew in from Loring AFB, Me.’
This article on the deployment was published in the on-base magazine ‘Falcon Facts’
1983
According to BARG B-52D 60689 (ex-7thBW) departed Fairford on the 8th October for the Imperial War Museum collection at Duxford
1984
BUSY BREWER 84A – 24 Apr 1984 to 18 May 1984 (RAF Upper Heyford – only listed here as I have the patch below)
BUSY BREWER 84C – 13 Sep 1984 to 12 Oct 1984
B-52G 2nd BW Barksdale AFB : 57-6520, 58-0253, 59-2599
The final UK deployment of the year was Busy Brewer 84C, the aircraft arriving as “Afco 21-23” to take part in NATO exercises Cold Fire, Display Determination, EWEX and Damsel Fair. 57-6520 arrived on 14th September, a day later than the other pair (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2006 Winter)
1985
BUSY BREWER 85A – 24 May 1985 to 20 June 1985
B-52G 2nd BW Barksdale AFB : 57-6489, 57-6506, 57-6512, 57-6519, 58-0210, 59-2586, 59-2599 (at the time it was the largest number of B-52’s ever seen on the ground at one time in the UK)
Busy Brewer 85A brought these seven aircraft in to Fairford as “Huck 21-27” tor NATO exercises Central Enterprise, NATINADS, EWEX and Locked Gate. They returned home using the same radio call-signs (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2006 Winter)
BUSY BREWER 85B – 6 Sep 1985 to 11 Oct 1985
B-52G 42nd BW Loring AFB : 57-6468, 57-6476, 58-0258, 59-2565, 59-2598 / 320th BW Mather AFB : 57-6469, 58-0226
Deployed under Busy Brewer 85B, all seven B-52Gs arrived from Loring AFB as “Jaget 81-87” to take part in NATO exercises Ocean Safari, Cold Fire, Damsel Fair, Outigue and Display Determination. Three aircraft (57-6468, 57-6469 & 58-0226, “Jaget 31-33′) were detached to Sidi Slimane, Morocco between 19th September and 23rd September under the mission title Busy Brewer Bombex. This was the first use of a Moroccan base during a Busy Brewer deployment and in fact was probably the first occasion that SAC aircraft had been to the country since 1963 when the command withdrew its bombers and tankers from Ben Guerir, Nouasseur and Sidi Slimane. Two of the 42ndBW B-52G’s (as “Jaget 11/12′) and the two 320thBW machines (as “Jaget 31/32′) departed Fairford on 4th October bound for their respective home bases while the other three 42ndBW aircraft (58-0258, 59-2565 & 59-2598, as “Jaget 11-13′) returned home on 11th October (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2006 Winter)
The 69th patch was worn by B-52 aircrews. Support personnel were 42nd Bomb Wing. The brighter 42nd BMW patch was for flight suits and the darker version was for fatigues or BDU’s. The 69th Bomb Squadron was under the 42nd Bomb Wing Command.
57-6476 September / October 1985 (Thanks to Darren Currie)
1986
BUSY BREWER 86B – 29 Aug 1986 to 6 Oct 1986
B-52G 2nd BW Barksdale AFB : 58-0216, 58-0240, 59-2569
Arrived from Barksdale AFB using the call sign Quack 20/21/22 (Air – Journal of West London Aviation Group September 1986)
Busy Brewer 86B brought these three 2ndBW aircraft to Fairford for NATO exercises Northern Wedding, Cold Fire and Display Determination. They returned home to Barksdale as “Caddo 21-23” (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2006 Winter)
Aircraft Illustrated December 1986 Report
1987
BUSY BREWER 87A – 1 May 1987 to 8 June 1987
B-52G 42nd BW Loring AFB: 58-0172, 58-0241, 59-2578, 58-0202, 58-0240, 57-6510
Six aircraft took part in Busy Brewer 87A, deployed for NATO exercises Dragon Hammer, Open Gate, Central Enterprise and Giant Squid, although only three of them were present at any one time. B-52Gs 58-0172, 58-0241 and 59-2578 arrived on 1st May (According to AIR journal May 1987 they arrived using call sign ‘Egret 11-13) then returned home on 20th May as “Nitro 21-23”, on which date they were replaced by 57-6510, 58-0202 and 58-0240 which arrived as “Nitro 31-33”. 58-0202 was dispatched to RAF Upper Heyford on 5th June for static display at the air show Sky Pageant 87 held there the following day. It returned home to Loring on the 8th directly from Upper Heyford. The unusual mid-exercise aircraft swap was caused by the need to extend this detachment to cater for exercise Central Enterprise. A separate deployment, Busy Brewer 87B, had originally been scheduled to cover that period but was cancelled when exercises Poopdeck and EWEX, in which the aircraft would also have participated, were themselves cancelled (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2006 Winter)
According to AIR journal July 1987 57-6510, 58-0202 and 58-0240 departed for Loring AFB on the 8th June using call signs Broka 21-23.
BUSY BREWER 87C – 1 Sep to 5 Oct 1987
B-52G 42nd BW Loring AFB : 58-0172, 58-0224, 59-2596 / 2nd BW Barksdale AFB : 57-6506, 58-0216, 58-0218, 59-2588
These aircraft were deployed under Busy Brewer 87C for NATO exercises Ocean Safari, Cold Fire and Display Determination. The three 42ndBW machines arrived from Loring AFB on 1st September as “Bally 31-33” and the four 2ndBW aircraft followed from Barksdale AFB on 2nd September as “Baud 41/42/45/46”. Local missions were flown from 4th September onwards, the call-sign prefix “Meuse” being used throughout. On 4th September 58-0218 was flown out to RAF Upper Heyford (as “Meuse 01′) and 58-0216 went to Kleine Brogel, Belgium (as “Meuse 02′), the latter aircraft for static display at the Belgian Air Force air show held there on 6th September. The B-52G at Upper Heyford flew a mission on 6th September as “Display 26” to take part in the flying display at Kleine Brogel. Both B-52G’s returned to Fairford on 7th September, 58-0216 as “Meuse 09” and 58-0218 as “Meuse 08”. Two of the 2ndBW aircraft departed for home on 2nd October (57-6506 & 58-0216 as “Doom 11/14′) while the other pair left on 5th October as “Blues 15/16” along with the 42ndBW machines which returned to Loring as “Alima 22-24” (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2006 Winter)
1988
Beginning in 1988 , BUSY BREWER referred to the NATO-support mission tasking, while the deployments themselves became BUSY WARRIOR and the exercise name became MIGHTY WARRIOR.
BUSY BREWER – 29 Apr to 16 May
B-52G 42nd BW Loring AFB : 58-0224, 58-0226, 58-0232, 58-0240, 58-0241, 58-0251, 59-2596 (source BARG)
BUSY BREWER – 3 June to 13 June
B-52G 2nd BW Barksdale AFB: 58-0212, 59- 2569, 59-2588, 59-2595 These were joined by 57-6476 on the 6th June (following attendance at the Mildenhall and Upper Heyford air shows) (source BARG)
MIGHTY WARRIOR (88-1?) – 1 Aug to 10 Aug
B-52G 42nd BW : 58-0186, 58-0224, 58-0225, 58-0226, 58-0241, 58-0251, 59-2573 (source BARG)
According to ‘Air The Journal of West London Aviation Group’ Oct 1988 – ‘The 7 42ndBW B-52G’s arrived on 29.7 to take part in Exercise “Mighty Warrior”. Unusual for this exercise was the amount of aircraft flying double missions in any one day. It was common for an aircraft to depart at 0830, recover at 1220, be refuelled and leave again around 1550 to arrive back around 1730. This has happened on previous deployments but not on this scale. Their missions were over an island off the Dutch / Belgian coast, where two live bombs were dropped on each mission. B-52G 80225 did no flying on any mission. On it’s way from Loring to Fairford, the heating elements in the windscreen failed causing the outer screen to crack and literally blow off the wipers. Another windscreen was ordered from the States, but was “lost” in transit. The Crew Chief of 80225 interestingly stated that this particular aircraft is the only B-52 in the world never to have suffered a bomb “hang-up”. The aircraft also, unusually, used a different call-sign each day during the exercise, some of them being “Cara”, “Genie”, “Emil” and “Noun”.
In Falcon Facts Sep 2 1988 ‘Mighty Warrior which was sponsored by 8th Air Force Aug. 1-10’
BUSY BREWER 88C – 30 Aug 1988 to 19 Sep 1988
B-52G 42nd BW Loring AFB : 58-0195, 58-0226, 58-0235 / 320th BW Mather AFB : 58-0213, 58-0255
According to ‘Air The Journal of West London Aviation Group’ October 1988 – ‘As expected, a further 5 B-52G’s turned up on 2.9 for “Busy Brewer III”, consisting of 80195 and 80226 (again!) both 42ndBW plus 80213, 80235 and 80225 all 320thBW’. ‘The 5 “Busy Brewer” B-52G’s were much less active than the “Mighty Warrior” a/c, with no more than one flight per a/c per day. The 320th BW a/c returned to Mather on 16.9, while the other two returned home to Loring on 19.9.’
These aircraft were deployed under Busy Brewer/Cold Fire for NATO exercises, including Teamwork and Cold Fire. 58-0195 arrived as “Moose 14” on 30th August from Kleine Brogel, Belgium, while the other four followed together from Loring AFB on 2nd September as “Moose 50-53”. Local sorties were flown from 6th September onwards, the call-sign prefix “Sonar” being used throughout. 58-0195 returned home on 16th September (as “Sonar 33′) along with the two 320thBW machines (“Sonar 34/35′), flying a Cold Fire mission into Europe first before making the Atlantic crossing to Loring AFB. The other two remained here until 19th September when they departed for home as “Sonar 38/39”. The homeward altitude reservation for the latter pair was entitled Busy Brewer/ Harpoon (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2007 Spring)
1989
BUSY WARRIOR – 18 Apr 1989 to 21 Apr 1989
B-52G 42nd BW Loring AFB : 58-0241, 59-2595
Deployed as “Moose 10/11” under Busy Warrior, no flying was conducted between arrival and departure as their sortie planned for the 20th was cancelled due to a Spanish ATC strike. However, a mission for exercise Blue Harrier was flown during their transit from Fairford to Moron on 21st April as “Scow 01/02”. 59-2595 (as “Moose 92′) diverted into Fairford again briefly on 5th May (it had an engine problem and was also unable to refuel) but continued homewards to Loring AFB later the same day (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2007 Spring)
MIGHTY WARRIOR – 7 Sep 1989 to 25 Sep 1989
B-52G 42nd BW Loring AFB : 58-0232, 58-0240 / 2nd BW Barksdale AFB: 58-0189, 58-0216, 58-0233, 59-2565, 59-2570
Deployed under Mighty Warrior for NATO exercises which included Cold Fire and Sharp Spear, all seven B-52G’s arrived at Fairford on 7th September as “Joey 10/15” (42ndBW) and “Jambo 10-14” (2ndBW). The two Loring-based aircraft were redeployed to RAF St Mawgan on 11th September while the 2ndBW machines remained at Fairford. Local sorties were flown from 11th September onwards, the callsign prefix “Curly” being used throughout. 59-2570 departed to RAF Leuchars on 21st September for static display while the other 2ndBW machines returned home from Fairford on 25th September as “Jambo 10-13” (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2007 Spring)
The two 42nd BW machines redeployed to St Mawgan. Arriving from Fairford as “Crab 10/15”, these Mighty Warrior aircraft were temporarily detached to St Mawgan for NATO exercise Sharp Spear, this being the first use of the airfield as a base from which to launch B-52 missions. Local sorties were flown from 12th September onwards, the call-sign prefix “Crab” being used throughout until their departure home to Loring on 21st September as “Moose 20/25” (Air-Britain Aeromilitaria 2007 Spring)
59-2570 departed on the 21st September for the Leuchars airshow, departing for Barksdale on the 25th September.
