— An aircraft that spent 16 years preserved entirely under Antarctic snow before returning to flight and ending up in the sweltering desert heat The B-52s have their tails removed — one of the terms of a post-Cold War treaty with Russia to provide proof the bombers were indeed decommissioned. The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group was established in 1946 as the 4105th Army Air Force Unit to house planes after World War II.