"Air Force Resurrects B-52 Bomber From Boneyard for..." Topic

…First Time.

"The U.S. Air Force for the first time refurbished and returned to duty a B-52 bomber that was held in long-term storage at a facility in Arizona.

The B-52 Stratofortress, called "Ghost Rider," is a strategic long-range bomber that had been held at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona since its decommission in 2008.

The dry desert climate helps preserve thousands of aircraft stored at the base's Boneyard, part of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. While some of the aircraft are used for spare parts, the Ghost Rider was the first B-52 to be returned to duty from the Boneyard…"
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Amicalement
Armand

That must have been one helluva cockpit fire.

When I was an AFROTC cadet we toured the Boneyard. It was the week the Air Force was introducing the A-7. There were Navy A-7s already there. (Thus giving away my age) Great memories.

On a serious note, spare parts was always an obvious use, but the storage for the "just in case" was only a promise. Good to see it happening.

And across the road is Pima Air Museum, with their B36 and Migs.

Actually the militaro-industrial complex notwithstanding, one does not need $100 USD million new planes to drop JDAMs on people devoid of credible ADA from 10 km high and away.

Good to see.

In the current environment, I wish they'd put them all back into service, since others have cheated on their agreements.

That would send a strong message to our enemies, and these could be used against ISIS, AQ, and others, now.

@Mako: The real problem is the lack of spares we'd have then.

Though I'd be all in favor of Dale Brown's B52M Megafortress upgrades to the entire fleet. And/or the B1 upgrades, for that matter (V-tail and even better stealth for the engines)

That must have been one helluva cockpit fire.

To warrant scrapping a bird?

I'd almost expect that they cannibalized all the parts off the burned B52 to return the old bird to duty.