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NASA's Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress Mothership was retired in a ceremony at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base on Friday December 17, 2004. The NB-52B has been a fixture at Edwards AFB for forty-nine years. It first launched a North American X-15 rocket plane on January 23, 1960. Its final mission was the launch of the third X-43A Hyper-X, which demonstrated that an air-breathing engine can propel a vehicle at Mach-10 on the afternoon of November 16, 2004.
NASA's Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress Mothership was the oldest Stratofortress still flying, yet it had accumulated the fewest flying hours, just 2,443 hours since it first flew in June 1955.
The NB-52B launched the three X-15 hypersonic rocket planes and the Northrop HL-10, Northrop M2-F2/F3, Martin Marietta X-24A and Martin Marietta X-24B lifting bodies. It simulated the steep, power off approach to landing used by the Space Shuttles. It assisted in the collection of data about wake turbulence from large aircraft. It served as an air-to-air gunnery target. It launched 3/8-scale F-15 Remotely Piloted Research Vehicles (RPRV), a Ryan Firebee II drone, Ryan Firebee based Drones for Aeroelastic Structures Testing (DAST), and the Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology (HiMAT) RPRVs. It dropped the 48,000-pound Space Shuttle Reusable Booster Drop Test Vehicle (SRB/DTV) and it released a simulated F-111 crew module from its bomb bay to evaluate new parachute recovery systems. It was the first airplane to launch a satellite into orbit on the Orbital Sciences Pegasus booster. It tested the drag chute used to decelerate space shuttle orbiters. It tested pollution reducing fuel additives with a pair of jet engines mounted under its bomb bay. It launched the X-38 Space Station Crew Return Vehicles and the X-43A Hyper-X Supersonic Combustion Ramjet.
NB-52B pilot and former Space Shuttle pilot Gordon Fullerton chatted with Richard Wheeler under the nose of the NB-52B before the ceremony.
Master of Ceremonies Ed Schneider, a former pilot of the NB-52B, instructed all of the members of the audience that worked on the NB-52B and the programs that it supported to stand up.
Fitzhugh Fulton addressed the crowd, describing the early days of NB-52B operations, launching the rocket propelled X-15. Fulton piloted the NB-52B when it first launched an X-15 almost 45 years ago.
Gordon Fullerton shared anecdotes about the more recent operations of the NB-52B. Fullerton piloted the last mission of the NB-52B on November 16.
James Young, chief historian of the Air Force Flight Test Center, elaborated on the history of the airplane that has seen and participated in more history than any other airplane.
Brigadier General Curtiss M. Bedke, Commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center, also spoke to the assembled crowd.
Ed Schneider, Michael Petersen (Director of the Dryden Flight Research Center), General Curtiss Bedke, Fitzhugh Fulton, Gordon Fullerton, and James Young rose to their feet for the official transfer of the NB-52B from NASA back to the Air Force.
Gordon Fullerton showed off a digital clock that saw a lot of use on NB-52B launch missions.
The crowd milled around the NB-52B after the ceremony.
Fullerton climbed into the cockpit of the NB-52B to show visitors its antique instrumentation.
The NB-52B will be placed on permanent display just outside the North Gate of the base, where it will be accessible to the public.
Boeing NB-52B
Stratofortress Mothership.
You can buy 8"x10" or 11"x14" prints of my photo of NASA Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress, 52-0008 with X-43A Hyper-X Stack at Edwads Air Force Base on November 16, 2004.
Customize your framed print of NASA Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress, 52-0008 with X-43A Hyper-X Stack at the LockettBooks Store at Lulu.com.
Books about
Lifting Bodies, Edwards Air Force Base, and the X-43 available
from 
The X-Planes: X-1 to X-45: 3rd Edition
by Jay Miller
Flying Without Wings : Nasa Lifting
Bodies and the Birth of the Space Shuttle by Milton O. Thompson
Test Colors: The Aircraft of Muroc Army Airfield
and Edwards Air Force Base by Rene Francillon
X-Planes at Edwards (Enthusiast Color
Series) by
Steve Pace
Edwards Air Force Base : Open House at the USAF
Flight Test Center 1957-1966 : A Photo Chronicle of
Aircraft Displayed (Schiffer Military History) by Robert D. Archer
Angle of Attack : Harrison Storms and the Race to
the Moon by Mike Gray. The biography of Harrison Storms, who
was instrumental in the development and operation of the X-15.
At the Edge of Space : The X-15 Flight Program
by Milton O. Thompson. The story of test flying the X-15 from the
point of view of the pilot.
Send a message to Brian.
Go to home page of the Goleta Air and Space Museum.