B-52 Stratofortress on the Tarmac at Night

B-52A Stratofortress Nose

B-52 Stratofortress Wingtip Fuel Tank

B-52 Stratofortress Flight Line at Castle AFB

Loading Capsule in B-52 Stratofortress Belly

B-52C Stratofortress in Flight

B-52B Stratofortress in Flight

B-52 Stratofortress Flight Line

B-52 Stratofortress in Flight with a B-17 Flying Fortress

B-52C Stratofortress Tails on the Flight Line

B-52A Stratofortress Bomber Rollout

B-52C Stratofortress Jet Bomber Above Clouds

B-52G Stratofortress Rollout

B-52 Stratofortress Cockpit Simulator, Castle AFB

B-52 Stratofortress Outside Hangar

B-52 Stratofortress Cockpit Simulator, Castle AFB

B-52H Stratofortress Flight Line

B-52A Stratofortress at Boeing Flight Center

Silhouetted Figures by B-52 Stratofortress

B-52B Stratofortress Nose

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502-11B Air Cart Beside B-52A Stratofortress

The B-52 had a rocky beginning. The original XB-52 design in 1946, was for a straight-wing, six-engine, propeller-powered heavy bomber. On Oct. 21, 1948 the Air Force's chief of bomber development told Boeing to scrap the propellers and come up with an all-jet bomber. The next weekend, in a Dayton hotel room, the Boeing team designed a new eight-engine jet bomber, still called the B-52, made a scale model out of balsa wood and prepared a 33-page report. This effort impressed the Air Force's Air Material Command, and the design was approved. As the war worsened in Korea, the Air Force, in 1951, designated the B-52 the country's next intercontinental bomber and approved an initial production order for 13 B-52s. The first B-52A flew Aug. 5, 1954.

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Unique identifier BI221897

Boeing ID k2915

Type Image

Size 5100px × 4050px 59MB

License type RM

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