Launched in 1960, Operation Chrome Dome was Strategic Air Command's unprecedented nuclear deterrence operation, a hugely elaborate and costly response to the Soviet Union's nuclear missile capability. In this book, expert Cold War aviation historian Peter E. Davies explains how, for eight years, 12 B-52 Stratofortresses maintained a ceaseless airborne alert within striking distance of Soviet targets, orbiting over the Mediterranean and north of Alaska. Each bomber stayed aloft for 24 hours, flying around 10,000 miles until relieved by another. In each cockpit a top-secret Combat Mission Folder contained details of the routes and procedures for a nuclear attack on a pre-determined Soviet target. Dramatic and controversial, the years of unrelenting Chrome Dome missions saw several B-52 crashes and losses of nuclear weapons, most famously those in Greenland and off the Spanish coast. Drawing on first-hand information from the personnel who flew and supported these gargantuan efforts, and packed with archive photos, superb new artwork, maps, and diagrams, this book offers an authoritative history of how SAC flew its most challenging operation of the Cold War. Includes: Battlescenes, Bird's-Eye Views, Maps and Diagrams, Expert Analysis