Now the centrepiece of the magnificent collection of aircraft within the American Air Museum at IWM Duxford, Boeing B-52D Stratofortress 56-0689 has been based at the Cambridgeshire airfield since October 8, 1983. Not only is it the biggest aircraft on display, it is also the largest and heaviest machine ever to have landed at Duxford. Arriving with just over 14,000 flying hours on the clock', the M11 motorway was closed for several minutes as the B-52 made its final approach. The giant jet made a perfect touchdown and was brought safely to a halt before the end of the runway with the help of a brake parachute. The only complete Stratofortress on display anywhere in the UK, 56-0689 was built at Boeing's Wichita plant in Kansas, and delivered to the USAF's 28th Bomb Wing (BW) on October 11, 1957. After receiving several modifications, it flew around 200 sorties during the Vietnam War, initially based at Guam from June 1968. It became a pool aircraft used by several units, and from January 1969 was flying missions from Thailand. It had several tenures both in the US and Southeast Asia, before flying operationally for the last time with the 7th BW at Carswell, Texas. A crew from the squadron then flew the B-52 to Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, prior to delivery to Duxford. The machine spent much of its time on external display, before undergoing intensive conservation work and finallv taking up residence in the American Air Museum in September 1996. The building had been specifically designed to accommodate the leviathan's 185ft (56.4m) wingspan.
No comments:
Post a Comment