B-52 Stratofortress

The B-52 is the longest serving strategic aircraft in the United States Air Forces. Since the mid-1950s B-52 crews stood ready to deliver nuclear warheads, flying from bases in the United States. 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. The war in Vietnam brought a different mission: high level tactical bombing with old-fashion conventional 'iron' bombs. A mission it would repeat decades later, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Built in several production versions, the B-52s has been in service long enough to have outlived the Strategic Air Command itself. Today, it is still flying, and will do so well into the 21st Century. One saying that is popular with today's aircrews is "The last B-52 pilot hasn't been born."

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