The B-52 set many records in its 25-plus years of service. On Jan. 18, 1957, three B-52Bs completed the world's first non-stop round-the-world flight by jet aircraft, lasting 45 hours and 19 minutes with only three aerial refuelings en route. It was also a B-52 that made the first airborne hydrogen bomb drop over Bikini Atoll on May 21, 1956. In June 1965, B-52s entered combat when they began flying missions in Southeast Asia. By Aug. 1973, they had flown 126,615 combat sorties with 17 B-52s lost to enemy action.

Specifications

• Span: 185 ft.
• Length: 156 ft. 6 in.
• Height: 48 ft. 4 in.
• Weight: 450,000 lbs. max.
• Armament: Four .50-cal. machine guns in tail plus bombs--nuclear or 43,000 lbs. of conventional
• Engine: Eight Pratt & Whitney J57s of 12,100 lbs. thrust ea. with water-alcohol injection
• Cost: $7,000,000