Deadly B-52 crash puts focus on engines, controllability as investigators hunt for answers

The B-52 bomber aircraft first entered service during the Eisenhower administration during the 1950s. 

More than seven decades later, the Air Force is spending billions of dollars to transform the Cold War-era bomber with new engines, upgraded avionics and advanced radar systems designed to keep it flying into the 2050s.

That modernization effort was thrust into the spotlight Monday when a B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in California during a test mission...