End of an Era: NASA NASA Retires B-52 Mothership After Nearly 50 Years

The last of its kind flying, NASA's B-52B number 008 has been retired. The plane which recently made history with thedrop of the X-43B hypersonic aircraft. It also was used in over 100 X-15 drops. All told over 1000 launches of various experimental craft were performed by 008. It is slated to be replaced by a B-52H which will be easier to maintain.

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE -- No one knew that when NASA began flying the first B-52B bomber in June of 1955, that the old lady would still be providing research material into the next century.

With more than 1,000 flights to it's credit, the B-52B mothership of the Dryden Flight Research Center will taxi for the last time after an historical career in aviation development.

A converted bomber, the B-52B soared over the pacific just 32 days ago in the final flight of the X-43A scramjet project.

It's a plane that has seen nearly 70 pilots and co-pilots take the controls over the course of five decades.

"I was priveledged to fly her several times," said former pilot Ed Schneider, "the 008 was a grand lady and fun to fly."

The marking '008' on the tail signified, that NASA's B-52B was the 8th production model to roll off the assembly line.

End of an Era

Guess there is not too much of a need for it anymore as we have researched many things that we wanted to that requires being air launched...
It must have been nearing the end of its structural life anyway; why do a costly overhaul when you don�t really need him?

I doubt it was getting near the end of its structural life, although it was the oldest flying B-52 it was also the youngest in the sense that it had the fewest flying hours of any operational B-52. It was probably more of a commonality issue with spares as they now have two of the same type I believe. At least 008 is t be preserved, which is nice.

Originally posted by waynos
It was probably more of a commonality issue with spares as they now have two of the same type I believe. At least 008 is t be preserved, which is nice.

The article mentions that they often had to take part from museums and storage boneyards to keep it in flying shape. The article did not say, i wonder if it had upgraded engines?