56-0689

56-0689 was built by Boeing at Wichita, Kansas, as a B-52D-40-BW, construction number 464060. It served with the 28th Bomb Wing and later the 7th Bomb Wing, finishing its career with the 7th at Carswell AFB, Texas.

In autumn 1983 the USAF released it to the Imperial War Museum. It left Carswell on 4 October 1983 and flew to RAF Brize Norton. On 8 October it made the short hop to Duxford, a mission commanded by Lt Col Walter B. Carpeaux of the 7th Bomb Wing. Lt Col James Nerger flew the landing. The M11 motorway beside the airfield was closed to traffic during the approach. IWM describes the touchdown as the shortest runway landing a B-52 has made.

For more than a decade the bomber stood outside on the airfield. Its size then shaped the design of the American Air Museum: the building had to clear a 61m wingspan and a tail 16m high. The B-52 was moved inside before the museum opened in 1997.

It now shares the hall with B-29A 44-61748 and SR-71A 61-7962. It is one of the largest and heaviest aircraft ever to land at Duxford.

The largest aircraft in the American Air Museum, seen from floor level. It cannot be boarded.