The B-52 touched down at the base on the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire border this morning but an MoD spokesman insisted that the MoD could not comment on the movement of any US aircraft.

The airplane’s engine ... Some general aviation singles come with winterization kits that are especially effective at keeping the oil and cylinder head temperatures in the green band.

The B-52 bomber is old, as the National Interest remarked. The aircraft first reached operating capability in 1952, only seven years after the end of the Second World War, and entered service in 1961.