Interesting but useless information

[Cliff_Chambliss]

Just how big is the Civil Air Patrol in the overall scheme of things?  Cruising several websites I started looking at the size of various air forces around the globe.  Almost 100 nations have an air force of some type although the majority would be closer to a police department air wing than an aair force.  More than a few operate only non-combat aircraft such as Cessna 206's, and 182's, a few Aero Commanders, but still call themselves an Air Force.

With 550 Aircraft the Civil Air Patrol is the 7th largest uniformed Air Force on the planet.

[a2capt]

LOL, I swear I read that more than once as "uninformed"  ..

..and I've heard in passing that a B-52 loaded with nukes is perhaps the 3rd or 4th "nuclear" entity on it's own, even with it's arsenal subtracted from the host country's inventory. Not sure exactly how true that is, never really bothered to look. But with all the proliferation going on who knows for how much longer those would be that big of a deterrent.

[davidsinn]

LOL, I swear I read that more than once as "uninformed"  ..

..and I've heard in passing that a B-52 loaded with nukes is perhaps the 3rd or 4th "nuclear" entity on it's own, even with it's arsenal subtracted from the host country's inventory. Not sure exactly how true that is, never really bothered to look. But with all the proliferation going on who knows for how much longer those would be that big of a deterrent.

It'd have to be sixth or lower because you have US, Russia, France and UK as the top nuclear powers and then each of those countries have boomers which make the warload of a BUFF look like a popgun.

[Stonewall]

Just how big is the Civil Air Patrol in the overall scheme of things?  Cruising several websites I started looking at the size of various air forces around the globe.  Almost 100 nations have an air force of some type although the majority would be closer to a police department air wing than an aair force.  More than a few operate only non-combat aircraft such as Cessna 206's, and 182's, a few Aero Commanders, but still call themselves an Air Force.

With 550 Aircraft the Civil Air Patrol is the 7th largest uniformed Air Force on the planet.

I like this stat.  Almost good recruiting "gee wiz" kind of stuff.

[Nuke52]

LOL, I swear I read that more than once as "uninformed"  ..

..and I've heard in passing that a B-52 loaded with nukes is perhaps the 3rd or 4th "nuclear" entity on it's own, even with it's arsenal subtracted from the host country's inventory. Not sure exactly how true that is, never really bothered to look. But with all the proliferation going on who knows for how much longer those would be that big of a deterrent.

Unfortunately, a BUFF would be a little farther down that list, but I like the way you think...

[Nuke52]

It'd have to be sixth or lower because you have US, Russia, France and UK as the top nuclear powers and then each of those countries have boomers which make the warload of a BUFF look like a popgun.

Your point about world rankings is accurate, but I'd hardly call 20 nuclear weapons a "popgun"...

[davidsinn]

It'd have to be sixth or lower because you have US, Russia, France and UK as the top nuclear powers and then each of those countries have boomers which make the warload of a BUFF look like a popgun.

Your point about world rankings is accurate, but I'd hardly call 20 nuclear weapons a "popgun"...

It's an analogy. A trident missile has eight warheads and an Ohio class boat carries 24 of them. That's a lot of boom compared to a single bomber.

[RiverAux]

I think CAP may have used to use some similar statistic in its advertising.  I know I've heard similar things for a long time.

[SarDragon]

The "Silver Bullet" load on a typical aircraft carrier exceeded the warhead quantity on a boomer. It was impressive seeing them all on the hangar deck, prior to an offload.

[Nuke52]

It'd have to be sixth or lower because you have US, Russia, France and UK as the top nuclear powers and then each of those countries have boomers which make the warload of a BUFF look like a popgun.

Your point about world rankings is accurate, but I'd hardly call 20 nuclear weapons a "popgun"...

It's an analogy. A trident missile has eight warheads and an Ohio class boat carries 24 of them. That's a lot of boom compared to a single bomber.

Ohhh, an analogy...  Now I get it--thanks for explaining that.    

I guess that's why an adversary wouldn't be impressed by a 20-nuke popgun...