Why the B-52 Bomber is Such a Legendary Plane

When you hear the word B-52, most people either think of one of two things, either the 1980s pop group or the legendary U.S. Air Force bomber that seemingly just won't go away. While often people call it the big ugly fat fella or buff due to its looks, what may surprise most people to learn is that in this third decade of the 21st century, the B-52 fleet still plays an extremely critical role within the United States Air Force, and with nearly a 70-year flying history, it doesn't appear that the U.S. Air Force will be retiring this plane any time soon. The bomber, which is also known as the Strato Fortress, was originally designed by the Boeing Company in 1948 and took its very first flight way back in 1952. The aircraft has a wingspan of 185 feet and a length of 160 feet and is powered by eight Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines, each providing approximately 17,000 pounds of thrust. It was originally designed as a strategic bomber capable of delivering 35 tons of nuclear weapons deep into Soviet territory. Later, however, it would be extremely useful for dropping conventional weapons in other armed conflicts that the United States was involved in, including the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s, the conflict in Yugoslavia, and most recently the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It even took part in the longest bombing mission in history at the time when a B-52 departed from its home base in Barksdale, Louisiana and flew all the way to Baghdad and back over the span of 35 hours during the Persian Gulf War, of course with several aerial refuelings included, but nonetheless impressive. But how has this aircraft remained relevant and useful for so long and why does it continue to be relied upon so heavily today? After all, the Pentagon's current plan intends to keep the B-52 flying and in service all the way through at least 2050, and many speculate it could last until 2060, which would make it the first ever jet to stay in continuous operation for over 100 years. The first factor to consider is the B-52's relevancy. You have to remember that the B-52 was conceived in the immediate aftermath of a successful strategic bombing campaign against Japan during WWII. At the time, Air Force planners desired a long-range strike aircraft that wouldn't require forward operating bases. You see, during WWII, the United States had to rely heavily on a B-52 predecessor, the B-29. This was an impressive aircraft, however its range was just not quite as long, meaning that it required forward bases in the western Pacific, such as in Guam and the Mariana Islands, in order to reach Japan. The Air Force knew that with a new bomber with longer range, these closer bases would not be necessary, and the vast distances of the Pacific would not be an issue. As a result, the design of the B-52 evolved from its early-stage designs into a swept-wing aircraft that could easily fly many thousands of miles without ever having to refuel. After many upgrades over the last several decades, the range of the aircraft is now stated to be 8,800 miles, and to give some perspective, this means that a B-52 could depart from one of its home bases in Barksdale, Louisiana and travel all the way to Sydney, Australia on just one tank of fuel, fully loaded with 70,000 pounds of bombs on board. Now, going back to the Cold War, in a scenario the B-52 was actually involved in, the B-52 would fly fully loaded with nuclear weapons as an act of nuclear deterrence against the Soviet Union, oftentimes flying long, long routes over the Arctic and ready to strike if called upon. More recently, the bomber has proven its conventional capabilities by delivering close air support to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, using a variety of precision-guided munitions, and even further still, the aircraft has proven its surveillance capabilities, having the ability to be outfitted with advanced electronic sensors that have been used to survey large swaths of the open ocean and covering thousands of square miles with its long range. The point here being that the aircraft is extremely adaptable, and this is just one reason why no matter what the situation, the aircraft can be repurposed time and time again. What allows for this is the simplicity of the aircraft, unlike other US Air Force bombers. Other US bombers, like the B-1 Lancer, which is a supersonic bomber, is primarily designed to fly at high speeds and likewise the B-2 Spirit, which was completely optimized for stealth, meaning that overall these platforms are much less adaptable and designed primarily to avoid radar detection. Now, leading on from that last point, the one thing that nobody will ever accuse the B-52 of being is stealthy. In fact, its design even predated the invention of advanced stealth technology. However, the bomber over the years still had extremely advanced electronic countermeasures and various other aids designed to protect itself from dangerous other threats. In fact, it even had a turret at the back end of the aircraft prior to the early 1990s where a tail gunner could sit, and the aircraft even has two confirmed kills when it shot down two MiG-21s during the Vietnam War. And if we look towards the future, the Air Force plans to keep the B-52s relevant by equipping the bombers with what is known as a long-range standoff weapon, or an LRSO. These air-launched cruise missiles can have an incredibly long range of up to 1500 miles, meaning that old and relatively slow B-52s by today's standards can still attack the enemy while remaining at a safe distance away. Now, of course, you might think that an old aircraft, especially a nearly 70-year-old aircraft, would have all sorts of maintenance issues. However, another benefit to the B-52 is its staggeringly high mission capability rate, or basically, the rate at which a jet is prepared for combat. Typically, the Air Force will aim for somewhere between 70 and 80% for most of its aircraft, and the B-52 more than meets this clocking in at an average rate of 80.5%, well above its other bomber peers as the B-1 averages 53.7% and the B-2 averages an abysmal 30.3%. Obviously, newer and more complicated planes, although bringing an abundance of features and technology, are simply just more difficult to maintain. Now, we shouldn't overlook the cost of the aircraft either, but simply put, you get a lot in return for the B-52. Obviously, the aircraft is no longer produced, but of the 744 B-52s originally built, in today's dollars, they would have each cost roughly 84 million dollars. Compare this to today's other modern bombers like the B-1, of which 100 were produced, and has an average cost of 423 million dollars, or the B-2, of which 21 were built, which cost a whopping 1.1 billion dollars per aircraft, and you can certainly see that the old bomber is economical. In fact, for each B-1 Lancer you can build, you could have built 5 B-52s, and for each B-2 Spirit you could have built 13 B-52s. And this is also not to mention that it is also cheap to fly, or at least relatively speaking that is. On average, it costs $72,000 per flight hour for maintenance and other operating costs, which is slightly more than the B-1, which averages $63,000 per hour, but is way less than the B-2, which costs a whopping $135,000 for every hour the aircraft is in flight. And the B-52 is likely to become even more and more affordable, as new upgrades are planned in the very near future. One important upgrade the Air Force is currently working on is replacing the nearly 60-year-old engines with newer, more modern engines that are more fuel efficient and will provide greater range. In fact, the Air Force believes that it can gain 30% in fuel efficiency, resulting in 40% more range with a new set of modern engines. And this is just one of a whole host of upgrades that the Air Force is looking at as it seeks to prolong the useful life of the aircraft even as peer bombers like the B-1 and B-2 are scheduled to be retired in 2036 and 2032, paving the way for a newer and more modern heavy bomber, the B-21 Raider, which is expected to come online sometime in the mid-2020s. In any case, the B-52 is a remarkable aircraft that has truly stayed the test of time. From an idea and initial designs that stem from right after World War II to all the way to present day, the B-52 truly is a legendary plane. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to subscribe to this channel for more videos like this one, and be sure to comment below on what other legendary topics you would like to see discussed. And as always, thank you so much for watching.