| The Stratofortress is an everlasting image of global power. It is one of the most durable aircraft ever designed. B-52s can drop
bombs or be an airborne missile launching platform. The H model, with its myriad upgrades and retrofits, is the Cadillac of B-52s. With in-flight refueling, the plane has striking power
anywhere on the globe. B-52 production ended in 1962 with a total of 744 planes. Few could have forseen that the last of these huge machines would still be on active duty a half a centruy
after the first, or that the "BUFF", an acronym for Big Ugly Fat F-----, would outlast the Strategic Air Command itself. |