US is Testing Brand New B-52s to Fly for a Full Century

I have a Vietnamese friend from Hanoi who’s father was conscripted into the NVA as an 18 year old. He was on the receiving end of the B52 on many occasions and says it was the most terrifying aspect of the war he fought against the US and South Vietnam.

The B52 was set aside, as the frontline strategic bomber for the US, after the development of ICBMs. Reliable, and powerful, these missiles were capable of delivering nuclear warheads to anywhere in the Soviet Union within minutes, not hours. It wasn't the fall of the Soviet Union that made the B-52 unneeded for a nuclear delivery system. It was ICBMs and satellites, that offered better intel gathering over the globe. But the B-52 was still a heavy bomber with long range. And it has served in every theater of war, the US has been engaged in, since Vietnam.

My father was a major who flew a B-52G out of Loring AFB in Maine. I remember riding my bike down to the runway when the alert klaxon sounded off and watch the planes takeoff one after the other. It was a big day in our house when my dad came home with Major pins because they were going to fly with nukes. He went on to captain C-130 Spectres in Vietnam for 18 months but the B-52 is still his favorite. He’s 90 now and failing but still talks about his plane which sits on a pylon outside the entrance at Offut AFB.

I remember as a 12 year old boy standing near a perimeter fence at Wright-Patterson AFB watching as a B-52 accelerated towards me lofting into the sky directly overhead. Watching as the landing gear rotated and tucked into their wells in the belly of that smoke belching thunderous beast I was in total awe. This was back in the day when SAC (Strategic Air Command) still existed. That moment cemented the growing love and fascination with military aviation in the heart of a preteen boy. That was 60 years ago and look. The B-52 is still with us. Much like her Air Force stablemates the KC-135 or the Lockheed C-130 Hercules both long serving aircraft in their own right. You just can’t improve on perfection. All three aircraft serving perfectly their designed roles and with airframes that are easily upgraded. Long may the B-52 continue to serve.

My Father was in the Marine Corps working on the Hawk Missile system at White Sand Missile Range in New Mexico when the Cuban Missile crisis erupted. We lived at Fort Bliss in El Paso. Biggs Air Force base was a SAC base with B-52's stationed there. During thee crisis we had B-52's flying in our back door and out our front door 24 hours a day.. Needless to say, as as 10 year at the time, it was very exciting watching them fly through the house.

The B-52 is so old that it has become a meme to the point of some Star Trek fan drawing a B-52 with warp nacelles. As a joke obviously but still.

Upgrade the best bomber ever developed. It's proven itself since 1952.

As a pilot, my mantra was. . . If you’re going to have more than one engine, go for as many as you can. . . because. . . that second engine will always get you to the scene of the crash.

This would be better without the noise in the background (music).

I was of the belief that the B52 delivered one hell of a lot of conventional weapons (bombs) over Vietnam in the 60’s and 70’s - so much for the accuracy of this video given that it states that the B52 was not modified for this role until the 80’s.

I have no idea why they would keep modernizing a 70 year old airframe when there’s not many of em left. The build itself is a proven platform and has excellent place in the fleet. There are plenty of letters left in the alphabet (I think they left off at B52H models?) The plans are still available, build more (they’re cheap in today’s economy) and modernize with hi-tech components, engines and defense systems. Maybe beef up the airframe a bit. The B52 series will live on.

I love the sound of the B-52 in the morning!

I’m in awe of this weapon. I can see the B52 being in service past the 100 year mark, which just boggles the mind.

That was really interesting on the B-52 bomber. One of my former Commanders was a navigator of B-52's for a while in Vietnam. He always talked about the rotating wheels as a modern marvel in and of itself. He was also the Navigator for a C-130 which became Air Force One for a short duration when Nixon was President.

B52D & G's, Master Crew Chief, Beale and March AFB

Don't fix what works fine. For its purpose a B-52 replacement would be the same thing with a different name. Glad to hear entirely new ones will be made.

I stood in awe in 1969 when 16 B-52s roared overhead in the pattern at Fairchild AFB. The ground shook

Used to work for Boeing. Boeing learned a lot from the B-47, the B-52’s predecessor.

I was a jet engine mechanic on the B52 at Castle Air Force Base from 1982 to 1992 it was quite a plane to work on.

When I was a kid growing up in Orlando, Florida in the late 60s and early 70s, we would watch those bad boys scramble during training alerts. There were always three B-52s combat loaded with nukes (although the Air Force would neither confirm nor deny their presence) and three KC-135 Stratotankers on alert 24/7 at McCoy Air Force Base. When they scrambled, they would come screaming over my elementary school 15 seconds apart! It was awesome!