Will the B52 be the first combat aircraft to be operational for 100 years?

I expect you will see the CH-47 Chinook flying right along with the B-52, not as old, launched in 1962

For something that has lasted for so long, I wouldn't be surprised if it extends beyond 100 years. Built well.

When the B-1 and B-2 are relegated to the Boneyard, a B-52 will do the fly-by salute.

I wouldn't be surprised. One hell of an airframe!

It's amazing to think of 100 years. The problem is why we could not advance beyond this? We go from Kitty Hawk to the Moon in less than 70 years. Mars seems so daunting now. If we had advanced the technology would we not have been there already? I mean what if a Rolls Royce jet engineer from the late 30's saw the engines in the B52? He would know that engine and its function because little has changed.
Neat to have B52's around. Not so neat that we could not advance to replace them.

Being a Former H model Crew Chief I'm going to have to say yes, great airframe!

Now this is a subject that could be debated or spoken about for as many decades as that wonderful aircraft has been around for. I crewed them from 1986-1990 and missed the H model for many years after that, while working on C-130Hs & LC-130Hs for the next 21 years.

When I worked them, they had already surpassed the "expected" service life from when originally put into operation. At that time, they were worried about having to boneyard them due to center wing cracks that were not repairable. Engineers had inspected them, and some were expected to get another 20 years of service.

We had 8 engines that people thought were pretty loud. On the other side or the ramp were KC-135s that I thought were much louder when they turned on the water injection.

There was talk that they were testing other engine packages at Edwards AFB to increase fuel economy and efficiency. I'm surprised they never implemented any engine upgrades over the years.

We used to joke about how they would surpass the B-1 back then. It seemed that the other long range bombers got more ground (grounded fleet) time than the time it took to refuel a B-52.

SAC Alert was fun too. Those shifts were good for a single guy. Not sure how they would have been if I had my family back then.

Fond memories and some not so fond memories crewing them. One of my favorite was a 21 day TDY to Anderson AFB, Guam in 1989. Lots of fun with that trip. One of my least favorite was the winter of 1988-1989. Bottom dropped out of the thermometer after I launched my bird Friday mornig. Crew ended up spending the weekend in Michigan at Wurthsmith or KI Sawyer AFB. I was told on Sunday that the crew was returning to base and that I needed to catch my airplane and get my crew ready. They said it was -76f and -120f with wind chill that day. Never saw that before! Closest to that was Thule AB, Greenland, and the South Pole Station (-51f). There were four of us that went in that evening-one in the line truck, I marshaled it in nose first, then when parked two got out to assist in pinning bomb bay doors and the ejection seats. We went back the next day to hook up a Uke and a stick to turn it around and put it on a bomber spot rather than the tanker spot we were given for the night, as well as do the post flight. One of my co workers got frost bite on the bridge of his nose with that oval opening on his face mask. As you can imagine were all cold that day.

Enough reminiscing tonight. The airframe will be around as long as it can survive the rigorous low level flights it performs, if still doing so, and the cost to operate per hour/man hours to repair aren't too much for certain powers that be as it sure has proven it can handle the test of time.

The way it's looking, could be.