How many B-52s were built?

Short answer

742 production aircraft were built, from the B-52A to the B-52H, plus the two original XB-52 prototypes, for a total of 744. Production closed in 1962 with the B-52H, and the last bomber, a B-52H, was delivered that October. The first 90 came out of Seattle.

Published: November 5, 2026 · Updated: November 5, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

A B-52 Stratofortress flies near the North Pole

The tally

B-52 Stratofortress production ended in 1962 with the B-52H, with 742 aircraft built, plus the two original prototypes. Counting those two XB-52s, used exclusively for testing and validation, together with all operational variants from the B-52A to the B-52H, the total comes to 744 aircraft. The last bomber, a B-52H, was delivered in October 1962, closing out the line.

Two factories: Seattle and Wichita

The prototypes and all B-52A, B, and C models — 90 aircraft — were built in Seattle. When B-47 production came to an end, the Wichita plant joined the program to build the B-52D: Seattle produced 101 examples of that model and Wichita 69. Both plants continued building the B-52E, with 42 units from Seattle and 58 from Wichita, and the B-52F, with 44 and 45 respectively.

The 1957 move

For the B-52G, Boeing decided in 1957 to transfer all production to Wichita. The move freed up Seattle for other work, in particular commercial airliner manufacturing. The early batches and prototypes had been assembled in Seattle, where the company's engineering expertise was deeply rooted, and as volumes grew, responsibility increasingly shifted to Wichita, which became the main hub for large-scale manufacturing of the later variants.