Exclusive: On board a B-52 bomber mission to China's doorstep

CNN — On the edge of the East China Sea, CNN was on board a B-52 bomber as it turned northeast - toward Alaska, the US and Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana - when the oil pressure gauge for one of its engines began flickering erratically. Nineteen hours into one of the longest military missions the US carries out, the crew had already contended with communications issues and had to make pinpoint fuel calculations as they navigated their 13,000-mile journey from Louisiana to Japan and back again. But this was something different. Up front, the two pilots began working…