You accept checks, right? Don't try to cash it til.... well.... you'll see.

I wouldn't have sold it to him either. Everyone knows they come in pairs, you know, like a good set of speakers.

Why would anyone want to buy a B-52 when they could afford a B-1, instead?

I'm sorry but thats not really news to me, it sounds more like high school gossip lol. I could have walked up to them too with some cool suit and glasses and said the same thing. How is this news if all that happened was talk. No names were dropped so pooey, but for the fact that this did happen i am jealous cuz i want to bomb some of my friends with toilet paper. ultimate teepee wars. think about 10k of toilet paper could fit in those things.

@xstangx: From 30,000 feet, your Costco-sized bombing run would probably send bales of TP through your friend's roof and into his living room. What's the terminal velocity of TP pallets?

@ HFC:
A B-1? Way underpowered. Cannot get to altitude fully loaded. Also has a problem of crashing if it happens to suck in a bird into the intake of a motor.

For $500 million, one could buy the fleet of F-14s that were just retired.

Do Moscow airshows have open bar?

its russia, of course there's an open bar.

also, is it russian's largest newspaper? If so, which russian?

and F-14 Fleet... <3

I CAN HAS B-52 RPLANE?

A B-52 would make one hella cool riding mower.

wow, what do you say after you give a 500 million dollar price, trying to be ridiculous, and then have your offer accepted? i mean sure it wasn't his to sell, but seriously...

I'll take your B-52 and raise you one A380.

there are no F-14's for sale. I know someone in the Navy. They destroyed them to prevent them from being sold to enemy countries. So sad. BTW, Iran still actively uses F-14s. Those bastards.

@jerrt:
You tell him to come back in an hour with cash and a way to refuel the SOB, round up everyone you can find that speaks English and can keep a secret, and jack him the f' up when he comes back. Drop him (and any non-bribable bodyguards) out of a bomb bay somewhere over the Atlantic. Resign my commission and retire to Barbados. That's what you say.

in soviet russia, B-52 buys you!

@JChristopher: I wish you could buy and F-14. That plane was awesome but unfortunately they are all being smashed to bits for fear that Iran might get their hands on them for spare parts. Iran already has a bunch of F-14s but they are getting old and they don't have parts to fix them.

In russian voice: "I will make payment in check for $1 billion and an associate will pick up plane for me, da? I owe him money, and you pay him difference when he arrives, yes?"

If I owned my own Buff the first thing I would do is put decent engines on it...the second would be put a decent bathroom in it....no one likes to poop in a bucket.

I'd think they'd consider defecting for $500 million.

@Commentmaster

Too bad about smashing up the F-14s. Does not suprise me though. I thought Iran's F-14s have been grounded for a long time. I would think they have corroded away by now. Possibly not in the Desert.

Maybe the US Government should slip them parts that have been sabotaged.

I wanna c him fly 2 work.. the whole 3 blocks...

500,000,000 Gizmodo dollars = 16,666,666 U.S. dollars
www.gizmodo.com

Affordable. A few bottles of Stoli should have sealed that deal.

@jarobi: LOL

Why didnt the B-52 flight crew take the money, give the Russian guy the plane, and take off to a nice non-extradition country, where one could afford a nice sized harem?

@JCHRISTOPHER
THE US GOVT. can probably afford to send the Iranians an entire fleet of real F-14's in top notch serviciable condition and profit off of building F22's or whatever is current to shoot down the F-14's.

@Promethh:

Terminal Velocity Calculation
For a spherical object falling through air, the terminal velocity for the case of quadratic drag can be calculated from

Hailstone calculation
Other examples

function vcal(){fh=document.forms[0];def();rr=fh.r.value;dd=fh.d.value;mm=4*dd*Math.PI*Math.pow(rr,3)/3;fh.m.value=mm;fh.mg.value=mm*1000;aa=Math.PI*rr*rr;vv=Math.sqrt(2*mm*9.8/(.5*1.29*aa));fh.v.value=vv;fh.vm.value=vv*2.2369;fh.vk.value=vv*3.6}

function du(dd){fh=document.forms[0];fh.d.value=dd;fh.dg.value=dd/1000;vcal()}

function ru(rv){fh=document.forms[0];fh.r.value=rv;fh.rc.value=rv*100;vcal()}

function def(){fh=document.forms[0];if (fh.r.value==0)fh.r.value=.001;if (fh.d.value==0)fh.d.value=1000}

For a sphere of radius r = cm
and density ρ = gm/cm3 ,
the mass is m = gm,
and the terminal velocity is
vterminal = mi/hr.

@HFC -Who would want a Bone anyway? It's an overgrown law dart. I worked on the BUFF for 6 years, and I tell ya, it's one amazing machine.

Fighter crews make movies...

Bomber Crews make HISTORY ;)

@B52HVet: im with you on that...the BUFF is a great machine. yeah its got its issues...nothing a few new engines, a new cockpit, RVSM capability, a decent bathroom, a data link, a decent radar with some air to air capability (finding the tanker is hard sometimes, especially in bad weather), some new jammers, and a targeting pod couldnt fix....though we are getting the targeting pod so thats something at least. of course those are all issues the bone has too...and at least the BUFF can get above FL300, and there is deffinalty something to be said for being able to take extra pilots so you can take a nap, cause everyone loves a good nap.

500 million dollars? The Air Force only paid about 15 million apiece for them and that was years ago, when they were still ordering them.

In post-post-Soviet Russia, B-52 Bomber stands in line to buy you!

BY HFC AT 08/27/07 10:42 AM

Why would anyone want to buy a B-52 when they could afford a B-1, instead?

Why not a B-52? Your talking about a bomber that has massive range, and can still kick your ass after 50 plus years. Which is why they're not going to replace them till 2020. I mean hell flying a bomber directly to wherever without refueling sends a very powerful message. If only military might were enough. Then America would win every war, but war is about more than might.

Que sean exhibidos en un air show no significa que estén en venta!!! Además hay que incitar a las autoridades para que investiguen cuáles eran las razones que llevaban a este hombre a querer comprar este artefacto!

That these articles are exhibited in air show does not mean that they are for sale! In addition it is necessary to urge the authorities so that they investigate which were the reasons for which this man wanted to buy this bomb!!!