Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress, 52-0003 / 16493, Pima Air & Space Museum
This picture is © Martin Laycock and may not be used or published without permission.
Registration: 52-0003
Construction Number: 16493
Code Number: O-20003 / 0003
Model Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress
Operator: Pima Air & Space Museum
Airport: Tucson - Pima Air and Space Museum, USA - Arizona
Photographer: Martin Laycock
Date Taken: 13/05/1993
Date Submitted: 10/07/2009
This aeroplane has a special place in aviation history. Named 'The High and Mighty One', she was used as a carrier aircraft for the experimental North American X-15 project. To mount the X-15 a pylon was fitted under the right wing between the fuselage and the inboard engines with a 6ft x 8 ft (1.8m x 2.4m) section removed from the right wing flap to fit the X-15's tail. She made her first flight with the X-15 on 19 March 1959, with the first launch occurring on 8 June 1959. She carried the X-15 on 93 of the program's 199 flights. She is the oldest B-52 in existence and was the last of only three 'A' models built, all served only as test aircraft. She was retired to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center (MASDC) at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona on the 19 October 1969. Even in storage though, her LOX (Liquid Oxygen) systems were kept pressurized just in case she needed to be returned to flight status. I was lucky enough to be able to photograph her replacement, NB-52B 52-0008 (known as 'Balls 8'), at Edwards AFB just a few days before. In this photograph, notice the wrinkled skin on the forward fuselage, a common feature on B-52s caused by the skin stretching due to torsion during flight. 52-0003 is displayed at Pima courtesy of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
Picture ID:1182130