The old but still capable B-52 Stratofortress in action takeoff, landing with chute, takeoff/cockpit view, dropping bombs, and aerial refueling. Barksdale
April 15, 2002, will mark the golden anniversary of the B-52 Stratofortress. Fifty years earlier, at Boeing Field, Seattle, the YB-52, serial No. 49-0231, took off for the first time. No one–not even pilots A.M. “Tex” Johnston and Guy M. Townsend–could have imagined that the gigantic eight-engine bomber would serve so well, so long, and B-52 bomber stronghold closed in 1993. The base was home to the 379th Heavy Bombardment Wing, which moved from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida to Wurtsmith in 1961.
It was 60 years ago today, on April 15, 1952, that a B-52 prototype built by Boeing took off on its maiden flight. The 1950s-vintage B-52s are no longer in the U.S. Air Force inventory, but the 90
The B-52B, registration number 52-0008 (NASA tail number 008), rolled out of Boeing’s Seattle plant as an RB-52B, and first flew on June 11, 1955. The aircraft was the 10th B-52 to come off the Boeing assembly line and was a U.S. Air Force test aircraft before it was assigned to support the X-15 research aircraft program at Dryden…Learn more
The B-52 has been the preeminent American heavy bomber of the last 54 years. The massive aircraft served throughout the heightened periods of the Cold War as a nuclear deterrent, as a dedicated bomber and reconnaissance platform in the Vietnam War and as a carpet-bombing nightmare for the Iraqi Army in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The B-52 has set many records in its 50-plus years of service. On Jan. 18, 1957, three B-52Bs completed the world’s first non-stop round-the-world flight by jet aircraft, lasting 45 hours and 19 minutes with only three aerial refuelings en route. It was also a B-52 that made the first airborne hydrogen bomb drop over Bikini Atoll on May 21, 1956.
A US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress, B-1 Lancer, and B-2 Spirit over Guam during an integrated bomber operation, August 17, 2016. The B-52 was also the last bomber in which tail gunners scored

The BUFF requires approximately 3,500 gallons of fuel per flight hour and for every sortie, it can use up to 20,000 gallons. In addition to the 70,000 pounds of payload, the B-52 can carry 312,000 lbs of fuel. 7. On January 24, 1961; a B-52 almost nuked the entire Goldsboro, North Carolina.

The U.S. Air Force plans to buy at least 100 of the aircraft, which as noted will replace the Lancer and Spirit bombers; while the B-21 Raider will operate alongside the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress Most airliners today have more efficient engine that do not smoke. The B-52 still uses older generation engines. All these older generation engines were designed when fuel was cheap. They were far less fuel efficient and the black smoke you see is mostly un-burned fuel. Just Google smoky jet engines at takeoff and you will see what I mean. The B-52 is the most combat-capable bomber in the U.S. inventory. Due to its high mission-capable rate, large payload, long-range, persistence and ability to employ both nuclear and conventional precision standoff weapons, the B-52 continues to be a critical contributor to the U.S. National Security Strategy,” according to a statement by Boeing. The B-52 was the first U.S. long-range, swept-wing heavy bomber. It first took flight back in April 1952 and entered service in February 1955 as an intercontinental, high-altitude bomber, but its B-52, U.S. long-range heavy bomber, designed by the Boeing Company in 1948, first flown in 1952, and first delivered for military service in 1955. Though originally intended to be an atomic-bomb carrier capable of reaching the Soviet Union , it has proved adaptable to a number of missions, and dozens of B-52s remained in service in the early 1oOoqRn.
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    • how old is the b 52 bomber