[15] On 5 June 1946, Boeing's Model 462, a straight-wing aircraft powered by six Wright T35 turboprops with a gross weight of 360,000 pounds (160,000 kg) and a combat radius of 3,110 miles (2,700 nmi; 5,010 km), was declared the winner.

[19] Subsequently, in November 1946, the Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development, General Curtis LeMay, expressed the desire for a cruising speed of 400 miles per hour (350 kn; 640 km/h), to which Boeing responded with a 300,000-pound (140,000 kg) aircraft.

[23] It was becoming obvious to the USAAF that, even with the updated performance, the XB-52 would be obsolete by the time it entered production and would offer little improvement over the Convair B-36 Peacemaker; as a result, the entire project was postponed for six months.

[26] The outright cancellation of the Boeing contract on 11 December 1947 was staved off by a plea from its president William McPherson Allen to the Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington.

Although he agreed that turbojet propulsion was the future, General Howard A. Craig, Deputy Chief of Staff for Materiel, was not very enthusiastic about a jet-powered B-52 since he felt that the jet engine had not yet progressed sufficiently to permit skipping an intermediate turboprop stage.

The new design (464-49) built upon the basic layout of the B-47 Stratojet with 35-degree swept wings, eight engines paired in four underwing pods, and bicycle landing gear with wingtip outrigger wheels.

[43] Despite talk of another revision of specifications or even a full design competition among aircraft manufacturers, General LeMay, now in charge of Strategic Air Command, insisted that performance should not be compromised due to delays in engine development.

[47] The last major design change—also at General LeMay's insistence—was a switch from the B-47 style tandem seating to a more conventional side-by-side cockpit, which increased the effectiveness of the copilot and reduced crew fatigue.

[81] The 1760 IWBU allows precision-guided missiles or bombs to be deployed from inside the weapons bay; the previous aircraft carried these munitions externally on the wing hardpoints.

[91] Structural fatigue was accelerated by at least a factor of eight in a low-altitude flight profile over that of high-altitude flying, requiring costly repairs to extend service life.

The stabilizer is adjustable through 13 degrees of movement (nine up, four down) and is crucial to operations during takeoff and landing due to large pitch changes induced by flap application.

These "feeler ailerons" were used to provide feedback forces to the pilot's control yoke and to fine-tune the roll axes during delicate maneuvers such as aerial refueling.

[110] After testing of both the USAF-backed Boeing AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile and the Navy-backed General Dynamics AGM-109 Tomahawk, the AGM-86B was selected for operation by the B-52 (and ultimately by the B-1 Lancer).

[112] In 1990, the stealthy AGM-129 ACM cruise missile entered service; although intended to replace the AGM-86, the high cost and the Cold War's end led to only 450 being produced; unlike the AGM-86, no conventional, non-nuclear version was built.

First flying in December 1954, B-52B, AF Serial Number 52-8711, entered operational service with 93rd Heavy Bombardment Wing (93rd BW) at Castle Air Force Base, California, on 29 June 1955.

[138] Ramps and taxiways deteriorated under the aircraft's weight, the fuel system was prone to leaks and icing,[139] and bombing and fire control computers were unreliable.

SAC noted the flight time could have been reduced by 5 to 6 hours had the four inflight refuelings been done by fast jet-powered tanker aircraft rather than propeller-driven Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighters.

[144] In a demonstration of the B-52's global reach, from 16 to 18 January 1957, three B-52Bs made a non-stop flight around the world during Operation Power Flite, during which 24,325 miles (21,138 nmi; 39,147 km) was covered in 45 hours 19 minutes (536.8 mph or 863.9 km/h) with several in-flight refuelings by KC-97s.

[146] On 14 December 1960, a B-52G set a world distance record by flying unrefueled for 10,078.84 miles (8,758.27 nmi; 16,220.32 km); the flight lasted 19 hours 44 minutes (510.75 mph or 821.97 km/h).

Bombers loitered at high altitudes near the borders of the Soviet Union to provide rapid first strike or retaliation capability in case of nuclear war.

[151] These airborne patrols formed one component of the US's nuclear deterrent, which would act to prevent the breakout of a large-scale war between the US and the Soviet Union under the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction.

Several projects beyond the B-52, the Convair B-58 Hustler and North American XB-70 Valkyrie, had either been aborted or proved disappointing in light of changing requirements, which left the older B-52 as the main bomber as opposed to the planned successive aircraft models.

The first combat mission, Operation Arc Light, was flown by B-52Fs on 18 June 1965, when 30 bombers of the 9th and 441st Bombardment Squadrons struck a communist stronghold near the Bến Cát District in South Vietnam.

On 18 December 1972 tail gunner Staff Sergeant Samuel O. Turner's B-52 had just completed a bomb run for Operation Linebacker II and was turning away when a Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) MiG-21 approached.

Technical Sergeant Clarence W. Chute, a tail gunner aboard another Stratofortress, watched the MiG catch fire and fall away;[179] this was not confirmed by the VPAF.

[202] Shortly following this incident, General George Lee Butler announced that the gunner position on B-52 crews would be eliminated, and the gun turrets permanently deactivated, commencing on 1 October 1991.

[205] On 24 March 1999, when Operation Allied Force began, B-52 bombers bombarded Serb targets throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including during the Battle of Kosare.

[213][214][215] Recent expansion and modernization of the People's Liberation Army Navy of China has caused the USAF to re-implement strategies for finding and attacking ships.

This weapon provides the ability to lay minefields over wide areas, in a single pass, with extreme accuracy, at a range of over 40 miles (35 nmi; 64 km).

[241] In late October 2022, ABC News reported that the USAF intended to deploy six B-52s at RAAF Tindal in Australia in the near future, which would include building facilities to handle the aircraft.