B-52 Stratofortress

The B-52 Stratofortress is the longest serving strategic aircraft in the United States Air Force. Since the mid-1950s, B-52 crews stood ready to deliver nuclear warheads from bases in the United States, and until the late 1960s aircraft equipped with live nuclear weapons were maintained on airborne alert. With the advent of surface-to-air missiles in the 1960s, the B-52 successfully shifted from high to low level weapon delivery. During the war in Vietnam, it took on a different mission as a high level tactical bomber using conventional iron bombs, a role it repeated decades later in Iraq and Afghanistan. Built in several production versions, the B-52 has remained in service long enough to outlive the Strategic Air Command itself, and it is still flying with expectations that it will continue well into the 21st Century.

New Mexico · United States