Linebacker in the Buf(f)

A 99th Bomb Wing Boeing B-52D enroute to Hanoi during Operation Linebacker II in December 1972.

For eleven days in December 1972, Boeing B-52s penetrated the strongest air defense network ever encountered in the history of aerial warfare to bomb military targets in Hanoi and Haiphong, North Vietnam. Code named Linebacker II, this operation brought the North Vietnamese to the bargaining table to end the Vietnam War. The crews who flew the B-52s in Southeast Asia called the aircraft "BUF".

B-52D 55-0094 is seen at sun-down, eastbound from U Tapao, Thailand to its target in Hanoi.

The artist flew a combat mission in 094 to the Mu Gia Pass in North Vietnam in November 1968. 094 stands today, retired to static display at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas.