How the Air Force Plans to Keep the Legendary B-52 Bomber Flying for 100 Years

How the Air Force Plans to Keep the Legendary B-52 Bomber Flying for 100 Years

That the B-52 Stratofortress is still in service for the U.S. Air Force is something of a minor miracle.

Designed by Boeing, the 160-foot-long strategic bombers weren’t much to look at when the first operational prototype took flight in 1952, earning the new class of bomber the unofficial nickname “BUFF” — short for “Big Ugly Fat Fuckers.”

But for decades, the B-52 has remained the backbone of America’s global military presence, from relentlessly trolling the nuclear-armed Soviet Union and bombarding enemy forces during the Vietnam War to providing close air support in modern conflicts from Serbia and Yugoslavia to Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the Air Force, B-52s delivered 40% of all the weapons dropped by coalition forces during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.