It was no small task to keep Davis-Monthan's huge fleet of B-47 bombers in the air. What it took for one plane in 1959: Row 1: Bomber's three-man flight crew. Rom 2: Crew chief and two assistants. Row 3: Maintenance supervisors, support personnel and quality control inspectors. Remaining rows: Field maintenance techs, personnel from the Armament and Electronics Squadron and Aviation Depot Squadron personnel.

 Tucson Citizen photos

In 1953, the Strategic Air Command brought the jet age to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson with dozens of Boeing B-47 Stratojet bombers as part of U.S. efforts to counter the Soviet threat of invasion. The planes could carry conventional and nuclear payloads 3,000 miles before refueling. Nearly 1,100 personnel at D-M kept the planes in the air. The Air Force began retiring the B-47 in the mid-1960s.

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