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B-52 bomber will take off on a long-endurance flight from Barksdale AFB, La., on Sunday, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the first B-52 flight, according to Air Force Global Strike Command officials. The flight is one of the activities that the command has planned in 2012—which it has dubbed the “Year of the B-52“—in order “to honor the heritage and recognize the accomplishments of the B-52 and the people past, present, and future, who have developed it, acquired it, operated it, maintained it, and secured it,” said retired Brig. Gen. Peyton Cole, former commander of Barksdale’s 2nd Bomb Wing, reports the Shreveport Times. It was on April 15, 1952, that the YB-52, one of the two B-52 prototypes, took to the skies from Boeing’s plant in Seattle. The flight lasted some two hours and 50 minutes, according to the company. The second B-52 prototype, the XB-52, flew for the first time on Oct. 2, 1952. (Includes Barksdale report by SSgt. Brian Stives and Megan Meyer)
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
