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The first B-52A (serial number 52-001) rolled out of the Boeing hangar on 18 March 1954, making its first flight operationally on 5 August. The B-52As the USAF received were not delivered with defensive guns or avionics, so they did not see operational service with a combat unit. The J57 engines installed on the A-models included water injection, a method of increasing thrust for takeoff. The J57 engines could produce 10,000 lbs of thrust, and added 1,000 more with water injection. The concept is dumping a lot of water into the engine to increase thrust. As you can imagine, it may have worked, but added complexity to a very complicated engine, increasing maintenance and any malfunction of the water injection system could cause the engine to be put out. While an engine being extinguished doesn’t sound bad, recall the engines were paired in pods. If an outboard engine were to flame out, and took its twin with it on an outboard position on the wing, it could lead to a massive directional control problem. As one pilot noted, “It’s a problem that’s serious. It gets your attention.”
1,000-gallon wingtip fuel tanks were not installed on the As, unlike later variants. The three A-models built served only flight testing and research purposes.
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Lake, J. (2004). B-52 Stratofortress Units in Operation Desert Storm. Osprey: University Park, IL.
Remak, J. (2016). Boeing B-52 Stratofortress: Warrior Queen of the USAF. Fonthill: Croyden, United Kingdom.