Resurrected US bomber lands at Fairford after its return to service
AB-52 Stratofortress bomber that spent a decade in the desert waiting to be used for parts for other planes has been brought back into service and has landed at RAF Fairford.
It was one of four of the huge American planes to arrive at the Gloucestershire airfield for deployment with a bomber task force.
According to the US Air Forces in Europe website, the task force carries out routine operations across Europe “underscoring Nato’s commitment to deter aggression towards the alliance”.
The four bombers belong to the 5th Bomb Wing, from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. Two of them took part in joint drills with Swedish and Norwegian forces over Scandinavia before arriving in Britain.
The aircraft were met in flight by four KC-135 Stratotanker refuelling planes from RAF Mildenhall as they made their journey to Gloucestershire.
During the training exercises over Scandinavia, two of the planes dropped three live GBU-31 bombs onto targets on the ground.
Major General Carl-johan Edstrom, commander of the Swedish Air Force, said: “Exercises such as this contain several elements: from coordination, connection and escort in Swedish airspace until effective fire can be fired against enemy targets in Sweden.
“The exercise will be proof that the entire chain is working. The war in Ukraine has clearly shown how important it is to have the ability for longrange combat.
“The capability we have now practised increases our defence capability considerably.”
One of the bombers that arrived at RAF Fairford, nicknamed ‘Wise Guy,’ was brought back to active service only recently, according to The Aviationist website. It was retired in 2016 and was expected to be stripped for parts and never fly again.
However, the plan soon changed when another bomber crashed in Guam and the US fleet needed to be restored. ‘Wise Guy’ was resurrected from ‘The Boneyard,’ in Tucson, Arizona, and returned to service last year after spending 10 years in the desert.
The Aviationist reported in March last year that “only two US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers have been restored out of the ‘Boneyard,’ at the 309th AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group) at Davis-monthan AFB, Arizona, to be returned to front-line service: ‘Ghost Rider,’ tail number 61-0007, and ‘Wise Guy,’ tail number 60-0034.
“Both had been retired and put on long-term storage, where they were supposed to remain to be cannibalized of parts needed by other B-52HS.
“However, plans changed and both were resurrected. After being mothballed for seven years in the desert, ‘Ghost Rider’ returned to service in 2015 with the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB, North Dakota. The second, ‘Wise Guy,’ spent 10 years in the desert before being resurrected late 2020.”