Somewhere recently I read that the B-52 Bomber will be in service at least until 2040. That would be mean this plane, or at least its current model, would be helping to to defend this country for nearly a century. One hundred years for an airplane. This is more than remarkable, it is nearly unimaginable. Yet here it is.
For those that don’t know the B-52 or its venerable history, this is a long range sub-sonic bomber that was developed shortly after the Second World War. It made its first flight in 1952 and was officially put into service in 1955. This was the essential post-Nazi/Cold War Bomber. Among others who perceived its need was Air Force General Curtis LeMay. LeMay was brilliant on certain levels and nutty in others. To short hand LeMay, one only need to watch Stanley Kubrick’s “Doctor Strangelove.” The George C. Scott character, General Buck Turgidson, which was a satire of the real General LeMay
Nevertheless, LeMay and other Strategic Air Command (SAC) strategists saw the urgent need for a high altitude, long range bomber that could carry a hefty 5 tons of nuclear weapons in its bomb bay. The purpose of this long range bomber was two fold. First it was to service as a deterrent to any foreseeable Russian aggression. And secondly, if there was any such aggression, the B-52 would retaliate for that aggression by assuring destruction of the Russian homeland.
The Russians or no one else in this world took the threat of the B-52 all too lightly. SAC made it clear that a given amount of B-52’s were always in the air and should the enemy decided to get frisky, the B-52’s were given what was called “the go code.” They were on their way and beyond a certain part, no one could call them back. That point was called the “Fail Safe” point. Novels were written about it dramatizing the what if scenarios. But, by far, the best rendition was the darkly hysterical “Dr. Strangelove.”
The B-52 has gone through a number of incarnations. The first production models back when were the B-52 B’s and were slated for nuclear weapons only. Later, different models of the B-52’s were equipped with conventional bombs. B-52’s flew combat missions during the Vietnam War, resulting in approximately thirty of the planes being shot down, mostly from Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs). The last models to be put in service were the B-52 Hs,
During Operation Desert Storm the B-52’s were again brought into service. Their ability to carpet bomb is devastating. The sound is incomprehensible and the ground shakes for miles around. It feels like the world is coming to an end. Their missions during Desert Storm resulted in hundreds of Iraqi soldiers quitting their bunkers to surrender to the advancing Allied Troops. When asked, the Iraqis confessed that it was far too nerve wracking and they couldn’t take it anymore.
Over the years the B-52’s have been modified and upgraded. The Air Force has installed new electronics systems, jamming systems, and has modernized their effectiveness by fitting them with anywhere from ten to a eighteen cruise missiles per plane. This give the B-52’s the ability to stand off out of harm’s way and still be a lethal platform in the time of crisis.
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But more than that, the B-52 represents more than its purpose. It is an icon, for sure, but a symbolic emblem of security during an era when mutually assured nuclear annihilation was always a distinct possibility. While pundits warn about the wanton destruction at the hands of terrorists and rogue nations, we with so little sense of history are prone to forget how any mistake had the potential for a nuclear holocaust. As one who once studied just what devastation 50 and 100 megaton bombs would wreak upon this planet, the results fortunately for all of us have remained as conjecture.
The B-52 did its job back then in the Cold War Era. It warned our enemies not to mess with us. It reminded our enemies of the destruction we would cause them, regardless of whether they struck us first. This single plane, perhaps more than any other weapon, until the age of the ICBM, made it clear that we would never waiver in our determination to survive. And no one dared to test that premise.
The B-52 also represents a time in America that when we built something we built it to last. This was the plane where we as kids went to bed knowing it was in our skies and its pilots were protecting us. There was a sense of security in an insecure world. Whether it was all real or not, it’s tough to say. But most of us believe it, and that was often enough.
Sure, technology changes and the weapons change along with it. There are new needs to face new threats and the wars we may have to fight. There are changes everywhere. But here in the B-52, we found a plane that offered endurance and could be modified to at least help meet those needs and continue to assist in defending this nation. In the years when most of us are pondering our retirement, this is a plane that can still bring hell to our enemies. It’s silhouette over their skies is something no enemy ever wants to see.
It is a plane, whether we meant to or not, that was built to last 100 years. A century. In this day and age that is hard to believe. But like others have said, when the last B-1 flies its last mission, it’s pilots will probably be picked up and flown home in a B-52. That’s amazing.
