Why Does The B-52 Need 8 Engines?

Summary The B-52's eight engines are a legacy of old, underpowered designs from the 1950s. The eight-engine design is being maintained due to cost-saving and ease of maintaining existing structure. Rolls-Royce F130 engines replacing the TR-33, maintaining eight engines, will extend B-52 service life.

Today, all commercial passenger airliners have only two engines (the B-747 and Airbus A380 are out of production), so why does the B-52 Stratofortress not have four, not six, but eight engines? While there are many examples of six-engine aircraft (including those from WW2 times) , there are few examples of military aircraft with eight jet engines. With the B-52Hs about to be upgraded to the B-52J, the B-52 will continue to be the backbone of the US strategic bomber fleet and will continue to be the only example of a US Air Force eight-engined jet aircraft for many years to come. Why the B-52 has eight engines Part of the reason the B-52 has so many engines is that it is a very old design.

The B-52 was designed in the late 1940s and first flown in 1952. Back then, jet engines were still in a comparatively early stage of development and were underpowered and unreliable. Eight jet engines were needed to enable the aircraft to be the intercontinental high-altitude strategic bomber the Air Force required.

Original Pratt & Whitney J57 engine Max thrust: 8,700 lbf (original status thrust) Number built: over 21,000 First run: 1950 First flown: 1953 Notable applications: Boeing 707, B-52 .