The B-47 Stratojet Bomber
By Boeing designed as a medium size medium range bomber. It was capable of flying at fast subsonic speeds for penetrating the Soviet airspace. Being one of the first post World War II jet designs its innovations lead to some of the development of what we know today as the modern Jet liners. The B-47 duty was with (SAC) the Strategic Air Command in the 50s and early 1960s.
Two prototypes called XB-47 were ordered by the USAAF in 1947. Their construction began in June of 1947. In September 1947 on the 18th the USAAC became what we know today as the U.S. Air Force. The XB-47 prototype made its test flight in December of 1947 on the 17th. Test pilots Robert Robbins and Scott Osler reported that its flight characteristics were good.
Maintaining trim with the enormous fuel capacity of 17,000 gallons was a critical task for the co-pilot. This was a major undertaking compared to the 5,000 gallon on the B-29s.
With the low thrust of the General Electric J35 turbojets takeoffs when loaded were a problem for the first prototypes. So they added 18 solid-fuel (RATO) rockets for rocket-assisted-takeoff. They each provided and thousand pounds of extra thrust on takeoff. They arranged in three rows of three on each side of the rear of the fuselage to provide the extra thrust needed for takeoff.
Carrying a crew of 3 the XB-47 had a pilot and co-pilot sitting jet-fighter style in tandem. The navigator would crawl in to the nose compartment and doubled as bombardier. The co-pilot also doubled as the tail gunner. The bubble canopy was so high off the ground the crew had to climb in through a door and ladder on the underside of the nose of the aircraft.
Crews were very excited to get the new B-47’s; the hot new bombers were closer in performance to the jet fighters of the day. The aircraft really handled well and was so fast it set many new records.
A mishap involving a B-47 occurred on 5 February 1958 near Savannah, Georgia. One of the B-47s based out of homestead AFB, Florida was engaged in a simulated combat exercise with and F-86 Sabre, the bomber simulating an attacking aircraft. The F-86 hit the B-47 which was carrying a Mark 15 thermonuclear bomb. The F-86 pilot ejected and the fighter crashed, the B-47 suffered substantial damage, including loss of power on one of its outboard jet engines. The pilot safe soft drop the Mark 15 bomb around Tybee Island off the coast of Savannah Georgia. The Mark 15 dropped in 18 feet of water was never found.
B-47 Stratojet has a lot of interesting History, Flight Manuals and DVDs.
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US $295.00
