B-52 Stratofortresses at Plant II

B-52 Stratofortress Flight Line

B-52 Stratofortresss on Boeing Field at Night

B-52 Stratofortresses on Flight Apron

B-52 Stratofortress Flight Line

YB-52 Stratofortress Prototype Landing

B-52A Stratofortress Bomber Rollout

Plant II Boeing B-52 Stratofortress Factory, 1955

B-52 Stratofortress Flight Line at Night

B-52 Stratofortress Flight Line and Hangar

XB-52 Stratofortress at the Boeing Flight Test Hangar

B-52 Stratofortress in Front of Flight Test Hangar

XB-52 Stratofortress at the Boeing Flight Test Hangar

YB-52 Stratofortress Prototype on Runway

B-52 Stratofortress in Boeing Flight Test Hangar

B-52A Stratofortress at Boeing Flight Center

RB-52B Stratofortress Takeoff

KC-97 and XB-52 Stratofortress in Boeing Flight Test Hangar

B-52A, KC-97, B-47, B-29, B-17 and XB-52 at a Boeing Field Open House Event, circa 1955

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B-52 Stratofortresses at Plant II

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 BI221907

Boeing ID k3373

Type Image

Size 4050px × 5100px 59MB

License type RM

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