Wow, look wh0 turns 60 on Sunday. Yup, April 15 marks the 60th anniversary of the first flight of the nation’s ubiquitous B-52 Stratofortress bomber.

On April 15, 1952 legendary Boeing test pilot Alvin “Tex” Johnson brought the XB-52 (shown above) prototype aloft for the first time, six years after the company was awarded the contract to develop the plane by the ARMY Air Force and two years before it entered service with the newly independent Air Force. Think about this, 60 years before the B-52’s first flight, airplanes didn’t exist. Remember, the Air Force’s newest B-52 just turned 50.

(The Air Force fact sheet on the aircraft incorrectly lists its initial operational capability date as 1952. The B-52 entered limited service in 1954.)

Read up on the history of the B-52’s development. It took nearly ten years of fits, starts and redesigns to get the revolutionary and long-lasting jet bomber into service. It may give you some perspective whenever you get frustrated with how long it’s taking to field the current crop of next-generation weapons like the new long-range bomber.

Here’s what Air Force Global Strike Command, the 21st Century successor to the legendary Strategic Air Command, has to say about the incredible milestone that its BUFFs have reached.