IN THE EAST SEA OF CHINA – “Go back,” warned the Chinese air traffic controller. “Now you are approaching Chinese airspace. Turn around immediately or you will be intercepted “.
The crew of the B-52, which is 100 miles off the coast of China, rejected the warning that it was growing through the radio and the 60-year-old plane remained on its course.
It was a bomber presence mission, a shooting flight designed to demonstrate the long range of the U.S. military and defend the right of international passage in the disputed airspace.
It was also a window into the Pentagon’s plan to rely on aircraft from the early days of the Cold War to prepare for the wars of the future.
The February mission began early in the morning at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, when the crew put on oxygen masks and “poop suits”, inflated outerwear to prevent the cold in case the plane was forced to fall into the ocean.