The B-52 Stratofortress was one of the most durable aircraft in history. Conceived in the late 1940s and designed and built by Boeing Aircraft in the 1950s, B-52s maintained continuous alert with nuclear devices and carried conventional weapons into battle. Over the years, the bombers were equipped with weapons of ever-increasing technology such as the Hound Dog and Quail missiles, the short range attack missile, and the air launched cruise missile.