[rmnwski]

I always wondered why the B-52 didn’t get replaced by converted airliners (787 has quite similar dimensions I believe). Would be much cheaper to run and could do practically the same thing, no?

[aerostable_slug]

There was thought given to using 747s as cruise missile carrier aircraft.

Each 747 CMCA would have carried dozens of AGM-86 nuclear-armed cruise missiles on rotary launchers that shuffled around the plane's cargo bay on rails (the missiles would be ejected one at a time from a small door near the rear of the fuselage).

[mrguyorama]

Which was an interesting idea, but it eventually evolved into a much much better one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_Dragon_(missile_system)

[runjake]

They look the same to a layman, but they are very different airframes, with a different wing sweep and different load capabilities, among many, many other differences.

[rmnwski]

of course the b-52 is a completely different airframe. Just wondering what the reasons are you wouldn't be able to convert airliners to be used in that role. It's been done for fire bombing!

[retrocryptid]

not really.