B-52 Stratofortress: The Complete History of the World's Longest Serving and Best Known Bomber

In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Donald Quarles looked up at the immense Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and described it as “the most formidable expression of air power in the history of military aviation.”
 
Much the same could still be said today.
 
No other combat aircraft has remained in first-line service as long as the B-52. The Stratofortress first took off with the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command in the Cold War 1950s, ready to deliver nuclear strikes at any time and a…