The Weasel WSO sent the HARM into battle “in the blind” in the hopes that a threat would materialize and be neutralized. It was acknowledged by the WSO. Both aircraft were in the wrong place at the wrong moment, which is how it happened. A HARM was searching the sky for a threat when the gunner turned on his radar, and it discovered B-52 “In HARM’s Way” radar
The deactivation of the B-52 tail gun was caused by a friendly fire event that occurred during Operation Desert Storm (ODS) in addition to a cost-saving measure.
A tail gunner on a BUFF mission thought an Iraqi plane was approaching, which led to the incident. Actually, the aircraft was an Air Force F-4G Wild Weasel. The AN/ASG-15 on the B-52G was mistaken for an enemy air defense system by the Phantom jet’s crew. The BUFF was damaged by an AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) fired by the Weasel crew. The bomber made it back to base, earning the moniker “In HARM’s Way” as a result.
But that night, things took a different turn, as a veteran B-52 gunner who wishes to remain anonymously revealed, “I know the Gunner involved and was there when they landed in Jeddah that night. After an investigation, it was determined that the Gunner was operating his radar as ordered. It operated in the same frequency spectrum as a particular threat that the HARM looked for. So we would turn it on for a minute or two, scan it, and turn it back to standby. The Weasel WSO launched the HARM “in the blind” hoping a threat would come up and it would take it out. The WSO admitted to this. It was a case of both aircraft being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the Gunner turned his radar on, there was a HARM in the air looking for a threat and it found that radar. It CLEANLY sawed off everything aft of the vertical and horizontal stabilizers. The crew is lucky they survived. The pilot of the B-52 received the Silver Star for saving the aircraft and his crew.”
He further clarified that the deactivation of the BUFF tail gun had nothing to do with this occurrence. “We (Gunners) were done away with for two reasons 1) Budget. It was very expensive to maintain the Fire Control System. It was the ONLY system on the jet that had never been updated. It still used vacuum tubes! If a part broke and couldn’t be located, it had to be made. This was very expensive. And 2) Missile technology had become advanced enough to shoot aircraft down from beyond visual range. The guns were obsolete unless a fighter was dumb enough to try and get close enough to use its guns on the BUFF. Those are the facts.”
General George L. Butler, who was in charge of Strategic Air Command (SAC) at the time, announced the removal of the gunner position and the deactivation of the B-52’s guns on September 16, 1991.
Since then, a generation has passed since the BUFF had a tail gunner, and the days of a fighter having to be cautious when attempting to get behind a B-52 are long gone.
Photo by U.S. Air Force