B-47 Stratojet

[steveno]

I just finished reading the book “Boeing B-47 Stratojet” by C Mike Habermehl & Robert s Hopkins III. All I can says that it had a really checkered history. General LeMay was never crazy about it because it was just a medium range bomber and he didn’t want it to interfere with the development of the B-52. He finally accepted it but it was a hard sell.

It was said it would be the perfect bomber if we were at war with Mexico and Canada. It didn’t have the range to attack the USSR without air refueling. Air to air refueling was haphazard affair it those days. All of the air refueling airplane at the time were prop driven and and the speed difference was a big problem.

There was one version that had turboprops on the inboard engines with 15 foot diameter props. This version had almost 30 hours of flight time but the biggest problem was engine reliability and altitude.

There was one version that was supposed to be atomic powered but it is very vague on how that is supposed to work.

A purpose driven drone B-47 with a big hydrogen bomb in it.

At least on paper there are drawings of a B-36 with B-47’s on each wingtip. The B-47’s would hook up in flight and then the engines would be shutdown until they got within range of the USSR. Then the B-47 engines would get restarted. Another version would be the B-47 with F-86 fighters on each wingtip. None of these were ever flown and on paper only thankfully.

A B-47 was also given to Canada as a test bed. They mounted a jet engine on the rear of the fuselage. It was flown but nothing ever came from it.

The B-47 was also offered to Britain and Australia but never really happened beyond being offered.

The only thing that can be said was that the B-47 served as a test bed for other more successful airplanes.

The other thing that really killed off the B-47 was that McNamara believed that missiles were the future in the defense plan. LeMay obviously didn't agree with this.

It is a pretty interesting book with a lot of pictures. It would be considered a coffee table book.

Boeing B-47 Stratojet - Wikipedia

 

[Ozark Marine]

Jimmy Stewart starred in a great flick "Strategic Air Command" featuring the B-47 in 1955.
Jimmy sure did love the U.S. Air Force.

 

[tlawler]

Jimmy Stewart starred in a great flick "Strategic Air Command" featuring the B-47 in 1955.
Jimmy sure did love the U.S. Air Force.

Well, he was a highly decorated bomber pilot during WWII. He went into harms way over and over as an inspiration to other air crews when he didn’t have to. To me, that is the epitome of a true hero.

 

[Ozark Marine]

He also flew a bombing mission in 1966 as a observer in a B-52 in Vietnam.
His son was killed in Vietnam one year later.

 

[crazyphil]

Jimmy Stewart was in Boise early in his Air Corps career. He was
instructing pilots for the B-17 in the 29th Bombardment Group at
Gowen Field. Every person I have ever met who knew him back
then had good things to say about him.

He flew 20 combat missions in the European theater, and retired
from the Air Force at the rank of Brigadier General.

 

[H Richard]

Talk of the refueling problems, in 1960 we had KB50J tankers for refueling our B66 bombers in the UK. The KB50's had one J47 Jet engine mounted under each wing tip and were only used for take off, and when needed to match speed of the B66. It evidently worked as this went on for at least two years I was there. We had an old B47 in the dump at the back of the base, and got the CO's permission to remove one of the engines, and rebuild it as training. We successfully tore it totally down, sandblasted parts and totally rebuilt it. Ran it in the test cell and requested to put it in service, and our CO backed us, but the Command wouldn't let a once condemned engine be restored to use. Wonder what ever happened to that old J47.

 

[PALADIN85020]

In spite of its shortcomings compared to later aircraft such as the B-52, I always thought the B-47 was beautiful aircraft - as sleek as a bomber could be.

John

 

[Watchdog]

The B-47 always reminded me of a fighter jet that had been stretched out like we now stretch out cars to make limos out of them. Or maybe as if the designers had really wanted a fighter-bomber but then went too far with the design.

I seem to remember they also used Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO) often.

And in spite of what I thought it reminded me of, I think it's a beautiful airplane.

 

[A-37]

The air refueling pic (above) took me back to '58-'64 when I flew KC-97Gs. SAC was bringing the KC-135s on line at the time.

A light B-47 could refuel in level flight with a KC-97 but as the B-47 took on fuel, its pilot would request the KC-97 pilot to "toboggan". The planes would start a slow descent and increase airspeed so that the B-47 could take on a full load of fuel without falling off the boom.

During air refueling, the KC-97 pilot flew manually, requiring a light touch and full concentration on airspeed and altitude. Much easier in a KC-135 where the autopilot did most of the work.

 

[steveno]

the ANG had KC-97L's tdy to Rhein Main AB to do the refueling of fighters in Europe because all of the KC-135's were in SEA

 

[Ματθιας]

I picked this up this weekend 3rd Strat Recon Squad. It's an RB-47E Squadron. They flew deep into the Soviet Union to plot the routes for SAC bombers. Some flights took place from Thule, Greenland and some from Upper Hayford. It was active from 1952 to 1958 when U2s took over after it became clear how vulnerable the '47 really was.

The thing is without the pioneering B-47, there wouldn't have been a B-52 or 707. I think the B-47 is one of the most important aircraft in the history of aviation.

 

[LVSteve]

I picked this up this weekend 3rd Strat Recon Wing. It's an RB-47E Squadron. They flew deep into the Soviet Union to plot the routes for SAC bombers. Some flights took place from Thule, Greenland and some from Upper Hayford. It was active from 1952 to 1958 when U2s took over after it became clear how vulnerable the '47 really was.

The UK location for RB-47s was Upper HEYFORD. My dad may have been covering the retreat of one of those aircraft on its return from an encounter with MiG 17s over the Kola Peninsula. It was known the the MiG 15 couldn't really intercept the RB-47, but the MiG 17 could, and nobody knew they had been deployed to the Kola. A chase into Finland and Sweden ensued.

Dad recalled being rousted out of bed to man his CHAIN HOME radar in Norfolk and to "look for a target coming down from Denmark, and look carefully to see if it is being followed." My money is on this event in Dad's life being linked to that famous 1954 incident.

 

[Ματθιας]

The UK location for RB-47s was Upper HEYFORD. My dad may have been covering the retreat of one of those aircraft on its return from an encounter with MiG 17s over the Kola Peninsula. It was known the the MiG 15 couldn't really intercept the RB-47, but the MiG 17 could, and nobody knew they had been deployed to the Kola. A chase into Finland and Sweden ensued.

Dad recalled being rousted out of bed to man his CHAIN HOME radar in Norfolk and to "look for a target coming down from Denmark, and look carefully to see if it is being followed." My money is on this event in Dad's life being linked to that famous 1954 incident.

That's cool! The B47 was probably/likely from this squadron.

My typing (lack of) skills and auto-correct kill me. I typed "Heyford" and it auto-corrected to HAYford. Sorry.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...a clip from "Strategic Air Command"...starring Jimmy Stewart and the B-47...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV1hVLGLZ-w[/ame]

 

[tlawler]

In spite of its shortcomings compared to later aircraft such as the B-52, I always thought the B-47 was beautiful aircraft - as sleek as a bomber could be.

John

It sure is prettier and more graceful than the BUFF.

 

[Watchdog]

It sure is prettier and more graceful than the BUFF.

It's just grace and beauty on a smaller scale, that's all. The planes are almost identical in configuration...size being the most obvious visual difference.

 

[Mack]

What I found interesting from that wiki link is the price, $1.9 million or $17.1 million in 2018 dollars seems like a heck of a deal on a state of the art warplane.

 

[Faulkner]

On the morning of March 31, 1960, a six-engine B47 from the Little Rock Air Force Base exploded mid-air over the Arkansas capital city. Flaming debris fell all over the city including the state capital grounds.

Three airmen died in the explosion and two civilians were killed when debris fell on their homes. The only survivor from the crew, 1st Lieutenant Thomas Smoak, was found dangling from a tree in his parachute. He was treated by a nurse, Jimmye Lee Holeman, in whose yard he had landed. Many vehicles and homes were damaged, some were destroyed by debris. The damage estimate was put around $4 million.

The Strategic Air Command’s edited account of the incident noted:

A B-47 was climbing after takeoff in day VFR weather. At about 15,000 feet, the copilot suddenly realized that the aircraft was in a very steep left bank, that the nose was well below the horizon, and that the airspeed was excessive. He pulled the throttles to idle, punched the interphone button and shouted at the aircraft commander.

Almost immediately, the nose came up, the wings leveled, and the aircraft disintegrated. In the cockpit section, which had separated intact from the rest of the aircraft, the copilot tried to eject, but the clamshell initiator pin had not been removed. The copilot then unfastened his seat belt. The canopy blew off at about 10,000 feet. The unconscious copilot was thrown out at 4,000 feet and his parachute opened automatically.

The aircraft commander ejected at 2,000 feet, but his parachute had been fused by fire and he died upon impact. The fourth man was found near the wreckage and did not survive. The navigator was killed in his position. The falling wreckage killed two civilians and caused serious damage to property.”

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

I knew a guy the flew the B-47's supposedly loaded with nukes back in the day. He got out of service, planning on flying commercial planes, but had a wreck on a motorcycle and lost a leg. No more flying.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[Auburn4]

Went to B-52school in 1959, many of my instructors were cross trained from B-47's. What stories they told. The consensus was it was a political GIFT to Boeing. Went to Minot (one of the 1st 500).