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B-52 crash in 1972 - unusual cause....

Wed Feb 13, 2013 3:40 am

At the SAC base in Puerto Rico, a B-52G which was flying around the circut was seen to suddenly nosed over and went into into the Atlantic Ocean.

In an unusual cause... the blame was found to be either the pilot or copilot's raft had popped and somehow pushed the control column forward and thus made the B-52 crash ....

Re: B-52 crash in 1972 - unusual cause....

Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:23 am

According to this website, the crash occurred 5 July 1967:

http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/airc ... rtress.htm

Re: B-52 crash in 1972 - unusual cause....

Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:59 am

The long leg pocket on the left thigh of a US flight suit is designed to carry a knife with a combination U-hook parachute shroud cutter and standard switchblade. I have always heard that the shroud cutter was intended to be left open for immediate use (hence the heavy nylon reinforcement sewn/hidden at the bottom of the pocket to protect the wearer's leg) but I never knew of anyone who did. I was also told that the switchblade portion was designed for one handed use (duh) to include situations such as an inadvertent LPU inflation.

I've seen the knife also just as a shroud cutter without the blade. The one I was issued is the MC-1:

http://www.lifesupportintl.com/products ... 6-292.html

I understand that there is now a newer version and production, although when I proposed that our unit begin stocking these again for our newer members, I got the shoulder shrug and they eventually bought Benchmade knives. I would have preferred in keeping with tradition, oh well. Here is the new production:

http://www.colonialknifecorp.com/Auto_K ... knife.html

After all that typing, I see they did a nice historical summary here:
http://www.colonialknifecorp.com/Milita ... story.html

Ken

Re: B-52 crash in 1972 - unusual cause....

Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:03 am

Oddly enough, I'm looking at my bright orange CAMILLUS shroud cutter knife right here on my computer desk, I use it as a letter opener. The blade extension spring needs rebending occasionally as it will extend but not lock the blade. An on line check shows the knife is still available from CAMMILUS.

Re: B-52 crash in 1972 - unusual cause....

Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:44 am

The Inspector wrote:An on line check shows the knife is still available from CAMMILUS.

Would you please post the link you found. The Camillus home page I see doesn't show the MC-1 and also explains that the original Camillus Company closed in 2007. Apparently the Camillus of today is a subsidiary of "Acme United Corp".

Re: B-52 crash in 1972 - unusual cause....

Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:40 am

Ken wrote:
The Inspector wrote:An on line check shows the knife is still available from CAMMILUS.

Would you please post the link you found. The Camillus home page I see doesn't show the MC-1 and also explains that the original Camillus Company closed in 2007. Apparently the Camillus of today is a subsidiary of "Acme United Corp".

I just went into GOOGLE under CAMILLUS knives and started hitting links and came up with the history and it was still available when I checked about 2 years ago-beyond that IDK, I was mostly curious about it's background.

Re: B-52 crash in 1972 - unusual cause....

Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:04 am

Ironic that this post just appeared as the oid Camillus knife factory burnt down yesterday
Had closed a few years ago
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