Longest range combat mission

Two US Air Force Barksdale B-52Hs,­ the first of that model to fly in combat, ­struck Iraqi targets with 13 conventional air-launched cruise missiles on 2 September 1996, as part of Operation Desert Strike. The 34-hour, 22,530-km (14,000-mile) round trip from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, was the longest distance ever flown for a combat mission. The planes' high cruising speed meant that the feat took an hour less to complete than the similar mission carried out by B-52Gs during Operation Desert Storm five years previously.