I feel a lot like Thomas Edison: I know a lot of ways that won't start the engines.  Unlike Edison, I don't know a single way that will start them.

Ctrl-E from the Cold Dark flight does NOT work.

F2 until cutoff, Ctrl-Shift F4, F1, Ctrl-E does NOT work.

F2 to cutoff, F1 at 20%, F3 doesn't work either.

E1,2,3,4 doesn't do anything...

None of the manual methods shown in various videos work although they seem quite logical.

None of the methods suggested in this thread or any linked threads work.  FWIW, one link to a video (early in this thread) is broken.

The closest method is to HOLD Ctrl-Shift F4 until the engines spool up gets them fired but releasing the buttons just shuts them down.  BTW, it would have been helpful to know that HOLDING Ctrl-Shift-F4 was important.

I have reinstalled B52 Driver (over the top of the previous incantation) with no change - Version 1.0, BTW.  I have FX SP2 so I didn't uninstall/reinstall the simulator.

But the reason this B52 is destined to be a hangar queen: even in the  Cleared For Takeoff flight, where one might assume the engines were running, only 2 engines were started and THEY shut down.

Somewhere in this process there is something missing.