US Air Force/Master Sgt. Ted Daigle
A B-52H Stratofortress called Wise Guy has started flying from Tinker Air Force Base after Programmed Depot Maintenance, as it prepares to return to active service.
The bomber was retired in 2008 after more than 17,000 flight hours, but after a B-52 crashed in 2016, Wise Guy was selected to return and bring the fleet back to 76 aircraft. Wise Guy , the B-52H Stratofortress bomber tail number 60-034, is preparing to return to service with the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota.
The aircraft was filmed flying from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, where the aircraft had arrived on April 1, 2020, to undergo programmed depot maintenance at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex. The PDM is the final part of a three-phase process to regenerate the aircraft and make it able to return back to active service as a conventional weapons-only long range heavy bomber.
Advertisement Air Force photograph by Staff Sgt. Danielle Quilla
A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, in support of the U.S. Strategic Command’s Bomber Task Force deployment is parked on the flightline Sept. 26, 2018. The B-2 is a multi-role bomber with a wingspan of 172 feet capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions.
Three B-2 Spirits and approximately 200 Airmen completed their first deployment to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, in support of the U.S. Strategic Command’s Bomber Task Force deployment, Aug. 15-Sept. 27, 2018.
Though bombers regularly rotate throughout the Indo-Pacific, this marked the first deployment of B-2s to JBPH-H.
B-52H ‘Wise Guy’ was filmed taking flight at Tinker Air Force Base last week
It s being prepared to return to action with the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, after a 12-year hiatus from active service
Wise Guy is only the second B-52H bomber ever to be regenerated from the famed aircraft cemetery ‘Boneyard’ at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, in Arizona
The bomber was retired in 2008 after logging more than 17,000 flight hours
The aircraft was intended to remain in the cemetery to be cannibalized for parts
However, it was selected for restoration after the 2016 crash of a B-52 in Guam
The B-1B Lancer Isn t Going Anywhere
“The B-1B community has a proven history of lethality from the Cold War to the war on terrorism, and now we are proving ourselves once again at the tactical and strategic levels with the next phase of global operations.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The B-1B program is old, but has avoided retirement for one simple reason - it can still carry out its mission, and there doesn t seem to be anything wrong with it.
Today there are sixty-two B-1B Lancer bombers in service, and while the aircraft are expected to be replaced by the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider beginning in 2025, there have been continuing efforts to update and upgrade the aging warbird.
B-52 Wise Guy landing at Tinker AFB after a test (Image credit: screenshot from the YT video by REDHOME AVIATION).
B-52H Stratofortress “Wise Guy” has started flying from Tinker Air Force Base after Programmed Depot Maintenance, prepares to return to active service.
“Wise Guy”, the B-52H Stratofortress bomber tail number 60-034, is preparing to return to service with the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. The aircraft was filmed flying from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, where the aircraft had arrived on Apr. 1, 2020, to undergo programmed depot maintenance at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex. The PDM is the final part of a three-phase process to regenerate the aircraft and make it able to return back to active service as a conventional weapons-only long range heavy bomber.