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B-52
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B-52
Watch B-52H Stratofortress bomber flying over the Mojave Desert, California
B-52 bombing during the Vietnam War KC-135 Stratotanker; B-52 Stratofortress U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress dropping bombs during a training exercise B-52 Stratofortress
X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft launching from beneath the wing of a U.S. Air Force B-52.
X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft dropping away from beneath the wing of a U.S. Air Force B-52. B-52
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B-52
B-52 summary
Quizzes
NASA's Reduced Gravity Program provides the unique weightless or zero-G environment of space flight for testing and training of human and hardware reactions. NASA used the turbojet KC-135A to run these parabolic flights from 1963 to 2004.
Man-Made Birds in the Sky
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B-52: References & Edit History

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Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: Boeing - B-52. Jul 23, 2026
Top Questions added. Jun 16, 2026
Add new Web site: Imperial War Museum - Why the B-52 is outliving newer bombers. Nov 25, 2025
Article restructured. Jun 23, 2025
Add new Web site: Air University - Air and Space Power Journal - Special Feature: The B-52 Stratofortress (PDF). Jan 17, 2025
Add new Web site: Air and Space Forces Magazine - Fifty Years of the B-52. Sep 17, 2024
Add new Web site: Air Force Global Strike Command AFSTRAT-AIR - B-52 Stratofortress. Apr 19, 2024
Add new Web site: NASA - B-52 Heavy-lift Airborne Launch Aircraft. Dec 04, 2023
Add new Web site: United States Air Force - B-52H Stratofortress. Jul 07, 2023
Add new Web site: Arms Control Association - The B-52 Bomber: The Iconic U.S. Instrument of Nuclear Combat and Coercion. Mar 30, 2023
Add new Web site: Military.com - B-52 Stratofortress. Jan 05, 2023
Add new Web site: HistoryNet - The B-52 is So Old It's Nicknamed Stratosaurus. Aug 26, 2022
Add new Web site: B-52 Stratofortress Association - Basic Specifications of the B-52H. Oct 31, 2018
Add new Web site: Boeing - B-52. Oct 31, 2018
Add new Web site: Aerospaceweb.org - B-52 Stratofortress. Apr 07, 2018
Added mention of the B-52's role in the nuclear triad. Oct 20, 2017
Updated to mention the use of B-52s in the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Jan 26, 2017
Added image of an X-51A Waverider experimental hypersonic vehicle carried under the wing of a B-52 Stratofortress bomber. Feb 03, 2012
Added image of B-52 being refueled. Apr 01, 2010
Media added. Jan 06, 2009
Media added. Sep 12, 2008
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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