U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet: BOEING B-52G


Boeing B-52G in flight. (U.S. Air Force photo)

The B-52G was a designed to reduce the overall aircraft weight in an effort to improve performance. The most obvious change was the redesigned tail. About eight feet of the vertical stabilizer was removed and the chord (width) was increased. The wing was extensively modified also. The seal-sealing bladder-type fuel cells were removed and the wing itself was sealed for fuel (wet wing). The tail gunner’s position was moved from the tail turret to a remote firing station in the forward crew compartment.

Boeing (Wichita) built all 193 B-52Gs with the first aircraft rolling out of the production plant in the summer of 1958. The G model was capable of carrying two AGM-28 "Hound Dog" missiles like the F model, but it was also equipped to carry the GAM-87 "Skybolt" and later the Air Launched Cruise Missile and the Short Range Attack Missile.

The B-52G was used extensively in the 1991 during Operation Desert Storm before being phased out of operational service in 1994.

Type Number built/converted Remarks
B-52G 193 Improved F model

TECHNICAL NOTES:

Armament: Four .50-cal. M-3 machine guns in the tail barbette and more than 50,000 lbs. of bombs/missiles
Engines: Eight Pratt & Whitney J57-P-43WB turbojets of 11,200 lbs. thrust each dry; 13,750 lbs. thrust each wet (water injection)
Maximum speed: 634 mph/551 knots at 20,800 ft. at combat weight of 302,600 lbs.

Cruising speed: 526 mph
Range: 7,300 miles maximum — 3,600 mile combat radius (without in-flight refueling)
Service ceiling: 47,000 ft. at combat weight of 302,600 lbs.
Span: 185 ft. 0 in.
Length: 160 ft. 11 in.

Height: 40 ft. 8 in.
Weight: 488,000 lbs. (maximum takeoff weight)
Crew: Six (pilot, copilot, electronic warfare officer, navigator, radar navigator/bombardier, tail gunner) 
Serial numbers: 57-6468 to 57-6520; 58-0158 to 58-0258; 59-2564 to 59-2602