Originally Posted by
treadigraph
It seems pretty astonishing to see KC-135s, B-52s and some U-2s, all built more than 50 years ago still plying their trade, albeit with various upgrades. There's even a couple of C-5s which are about 50 years old now...
It is amazing though; the Stringbags used against the Channel Dash, Bismarck and other operations, what fantastically brave crews they were... and an aeroplane that seems to have been better than its intended replacement, the Applecore...
I think the Swordfish explains a great deal - one of the classic volumes (?Mason?) said that the Swordfish was really obsolescent by 1940 BUT it was able to operate in places where there was little or no real aerial opposition - such as out in the Atlantic, or at night. When it did operate against modern fighters in daylight it was a slaughter (think the Channel Dash here). And as it could operate in austere environments it was useful in all sorts of places & roles to the end of the war - at which point it was retired rater quickly.
This is exactly paralleled by the B-52 and the U2 - they wouldn't stand a chance in a full on war - the U2 has been restricted to "non-opposed" roles since Cuba, the B52 after Vietnam but they are able to fill a lot of niches that it would frankly be too expensive to fill with new designs and, like the Swordfish, seem eminently capable of infinite modification.