B-52 Stratofortress Utapao Thailand

On the ramp beyond the concertina wire is an eight-engined USAF B-52 Stratofortress bomber on the ramp at Utapao Airfield in southern Thailand, on Gulf of Siam with Cambodia to the east. This was a major facility from which staging operations took place for our C-130s as well bombing raids by the B-52s (nicknamed BUFFs as in Big Ugly Fat F****ers). These B-52s were joined by other bombers from as far away as Guam to raid targets including North Vietnam. Aerial refueling was required for many of these missions … the tail of a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker can be seen in right of photo. After this photo was taken, navigator Joe and myself decided to walk around the barbed wire and have a closer look at the B-52 … big mistake as we were quickly surrounded by a dozen security police. Size of B-52 evident in contrast to maintenance person barely visible standing on top of plane.