The jet was painted to pay homage to the days when earlier B-52 variants served as test motherships for X-15 rocket planes.
Oklahoma aviation photographer Rob Stephens recently captured some great images of a B-52H Stratofortress with the tail number 61-0028 as it was leaving Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma bound for Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. But this was not your ordinary ‘BUFF.’
Instead of the typical gray paint scheme, the jet, nicknamed “Wolfpack,” sported DayGlo orange highlights on its forward fuselage, towards its wingtips, on its engine nacelles, and its vertical stabilizer. This striking paint scheme was done as a nod to the days when B-52A and B variants served as motherships for the North American X-15 experimental hypersonic rocket plane that the U.S. Air Force and NASA used for research purposes during the 1960s, among other mothership testing, Stephens told us.
The B-52 “arrived at Tinker in early 2024 for Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center,” said Stephens, whose Redhome Aviation page features some stunning aircraft photos, including of the retro-painted Stratofortress.
Tinker is where the 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group paint shop removed the old paint “before the 565th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron performed detailed inspections and repairs to the 1960s-era bomber,” Stephens explained.
After the PDM was completed, the B-52 “was flown on Aug. 26 by the 10th Flight Test Squadron, 413th Test Group, Air Force Reserve Command on a functional check flight lacking most of her paint,” according to the photographer.
PDM involves a major overhaul and opportunities for important upgrades and modifications.
As of 2021, each one of the service’s 76 B-52s was typically scheduled to undergo the months-long PDM process every four years. This scheduling is, of course, staggered to keep a certain number of bombers on active duty at any one time.
Early indications of Wolfpack’s new paint scheme “was her DayGlo orange rudder on her test flight, before the 76th AMXG repainted the aircraft in the standard gray with the DayGlo orange highlights” you see in the photo.
The airframe was first flown with the new paint on Sept. 30 as “Lobo49” and “returned to the 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Barksdale, where she will receive her ‘OT’ and ‘49 TES’ tail markings, as well as an arrow on the tail and ‘U.S Air Force’ on her forward fuselage,” Stephens added.
The aircraft was painted to replicate NB-52A 52-0003, he said. That aircraft, along with NB-52B 52-0008, completed the X-15 missions starting in 1959.
As we noted in our deep dive into the history of the Stratofortress, the first of three B-52A variants flew in August 1954 and were used exclusively for tests. The most famous of the test BUFFs was also a former B-52A, the NB-52A being permanently converted as a mothership for the X-15. It continued in this unique role until 1969.”
Stephens told us that the paint scheme on the BUFF “most closely resembles that of 52-0003 from 1959 with the X-15 mounted on the reinforced right pylon.”
As it sits now, this B-52 with the boldest of heritage schemes will serve as the 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron’s jet, doing very important work that will help allow the B-52 to remain relevant for decades to come, which is seen as critical to the service’s future bomber roadmap. You can learn all about the B-52’s future upgrades in our feature video below:
We’ve reached out to both Tinker AFB and Barksdale AFB to find out more details about this aircraft. However, the next time you see a B-52 wearing DayGlo orange highlights, now you will know why.
