I was involved in getting one of those B-52's to the Davis-Monthan boneyard from Castle AFB California in 1974. During a phase inspection a crack was discovered in the wing root area of the fuselage that ran 10 feet down the side of the airplane. Boeing said "Scrap it- - - -it can't be fixed!" They had to call for a volunteer crew to make one last flight since the aircraft was technically "unsafe to fly". There's no telling how long the crack had been there, as all the planes at Castle were used for training rookie BUF pilots, and they got stressed pretty much during less than smooth landings.
