Well new atleast back then.....
I've always like the lines of the X and YB-52s, alway pegged my as a sharp looking design. And I learned Gen. Lemay was extremely insistant that it be changed.
Final disposition:
Quote:
The two prototypes continued an extensive series of flight tests in support of the Stratofortress program. Both the XB-52 and the YB-52 ended their days at the Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio. In 1957, the XB-52 was sent to the Wright Air Development Center at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. It later flew as a six-engined aircraft, with four J57s inboard and two J75s outboard. After logging 783 flying hours, the YB-52 was donated to the USAF Museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio on January 27, 1958. Unfortunately, both aircraft were scrapped in the mid-1960s. They were victims of Lady Bird Johnson's national beautification program, which sought to remove eyesores such as surplus military hardware from the landscape.
What a shame.
Boeing test pilot A. M. "Tex" Johnston
If they only back then had the smallest of hints as to the legacy the Stratofortress would leave behind when all is said and done.
Shay
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Semper Fortis
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