B-47 Model aircraft. |
B-47 Models, aircraft of the Boeing Company B-47 Stratojet with the B47 's super secret revealed. Model Aircraft Jet BombersClick Here's some information that was previously above top secret about the B-47 Models. When the B-29's and B-36's were decommissioned we had the all new B-47 Stratojet which could out fly anything in the sky. This large bomber, with a jet fighter canopy was our main Strategic Air Command bomber and our first line of air defense. We didn't have any other aircraft with the capabilities that were needed to take this role in defense of our country, that's why what I'm going to tell you was above top secret. My supervisor was a former B-47 pilot. He flew all of the previous bombers and was given the new job of being a B-47 Pilot. One of the duties of pilot was to inspect the airplane prior to flight, Preflight. One tools that he had to use was a ruler, yes, a 12 inch ruler, this was the secret! He had to measure the crack in the wings before every flight. The cracks were the secret that we couldn't let out. The design was flawed and all of the wings of the B47 had cracks. If the crack exceeded 12 inches, the plane was unfit to fly. If it was under 12 inches, the plane could be flown but was limited to a 1/4 G maneuver. We couldn't let the enemy know that our first line of SAC defense had cracked wings.
One thing you failed to
mention was the 12 inch ruler was used to measure the length of the crack.
The way it was written might give someone who is not familiar with aircraft
the impression that the ruler was used to measure how wide the crack was.
That practice was quickly ended when all the B-47s were sent back to Wichita
for modifications, that was two massive plates placed on the wing close to
the wing root and the plane was limited to around 400 knots.
I'm an ex B-47 mechanic, served with the 96th Bomb Wing in the late 50s.
William Ray,
Ohio. Added
4-20-2009 Jeff, In my
opinion what caused the cracks in the first place was the maneuver called
the "LABS" Maneuver where the plane would come in at low altitude then do a
sharp pull up, toss the bomb, roll over and return the way it came. With
thin wings (First of it's kind) and the stress put on them it was inevitable
that they would develop cracks and in some cases lost the wing. You can find
this maneuver by searching the net.
B-47 Stratojet Books B-47 Stratojet Movies B-47 Stratojet Models B-47 Stratojet Art 1/72 Scale B-47 Models 1/72 Scale B-47 Models 1/144 Scale B-47 Models B-47 Shoulder / Hat Patches B-47 Hat Pins / Lapel Pins B-47 Photos B-47 Art |
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B-47 Stratojet Bombers
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iPhones, Cell Phones, Mobile Phones, GPS
Product Description Product Description B-47 Stratojet Pilot and Crew Handbook |
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B-47 Aviation Art |
New
Breed Bombers The highly successful B-47 Stratojet is seen over the desert |
B-47 Stratojet Mark Karvon Mark Karvon grew up in the Chicago area. From an early age he was interested in drawing. In High School his course work included electives in architectural design and mechanical drawing. Upon graduating, he attended college and studied aeronautical engineering for a short time. In the early 1990's Mark befriended the world renowned marine artist Charles Vickery. Through their friendship and Charles's guidance, Mark's drawing skills improved and he began to explore other media including oil painting. Not only was Charles instrumental in teaching Mark about composition and the finer points of creating art, but he also offered much wisdom regarding life in general. They remained good friends until Charles passed away in 1998. Some of Mark's early commissioned works include small illustrations for advertisements in a local newspaper and portrait work for friends and associates. From 1996 to 1997 he worked under commission for the Illinois Railway Museum creating original works depicting many of the locomotives in the museum's collection. In 1999 Mark moved to North Carolina with his wife and children. Since that time Mark's portfolio has continued to grow through ongoing commissioned paintings, drawings and technical illustrations for industrial and commercial clients as well as private collectors. Mark's work is collected by veterans, corporate clients, the armed services and art connoisseurs around the world. His work hangs in public and private collections worldwide. |
Stratojet
Shakedown
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Cold
War Warriors The B-47 became the first modern bomber to fill the ranks of General Curtis Lemay's new Strategic Air Command. With long range, high altitude capabilities, the "Stratojet" became the backbone of SAC in the early 1950's. As fast as many early jet fighters, with sophisticated defenses and operational altitudes of up to 40,000 feet, the B-47 was a strong deterrent. |
B-47 Stratojet Books B-47 Stratojet Movies B-47 Stratojet Models B-47 Stratojet Art
15 July 2010 Jeff, I was a KC-97 pilot for 5 years, in the 70th ARS at Little Rock, 1958-1963. We supported the B-47 training wing there, so flew more hours and did more refueling than most other '97 units. Most of our receivers were B/RB-47's, with many B-52's also. On our stateside training missions, we would have as much as 5 hours of refueling on a 9 hour mission. Hook-up after hook-up, with very little actual off-load. 4 or 5 receivers, with the maximum off-load being 6,000 lbs., which was the minimum to be considered a "wet" contact. If the -47 was not heavy, we had no big problem maintaining the speed they needed. Unless a dire emergency, we NEVER used "maximum power", which was 3500 hp per engine, and required the use of ADI/water-alcohol injection. We only carried about 20 minutes of the stuff. We DID use METO power much of the time. (METO is "Maximum Except Take Off, 3250 hp) On operational missions, many flown out of the Azores, over the Atlantic, the B-47's wanted to be absolutely full at end of refueling, so we would pump it to them as they burned it until the time was up, then "blow them off" with fuel pressure. This way, they had enough fuel to make the states if they missed the tanker out of Bermuda. This evolved some downhill flying, usually about 2-300 fpm. One night, an airborne emergency required us to refuel a -47 that was just about on fumes, and we did it at our climb speed of 170 KIAS, until he had taken on a bit of fuel. A little know fact, we could tow fighters, of
the F-84 era, by disconnecting the boom limits and towing them. We
practiced this a bit. As for the "fuel pump" problem, it did not exist !!! I've had many friends and class mates that flew -47's, and currently work at an aviation museum with two former 47 pilots, and no one has ever heard of that "problem". The wing cracks, however, were quite real, caused by the LABS procedure. As to the first B-47-KC-97 contact causing an explosion due to static----that is pure B--L S--t !!! Ever hear of static dischargers ??? And boom refueling did not start with the KC-97, it was done many times with B/KB-29's FYI, the B-36's were retired in '58-59. I flew
same TB-25's into the boneyard in late '58, and watched the -36's
coming in. The first B-47 flight was in 1947, and they had been
operational for awhile before the -36's were retired. The B-52, not
the B-47 replaced the -36. The 47 was classified as a "medium"
bomber. My name is Don Sproule, my email is www.donsprl@aol.com I will now depart my soapbox. Thanks, Don
3-14-2010
26 Sep 2009 23-Sep-2008 Dear Farrel, That is pretty interesting and I will look into it more. I tried to look at B-47 wing cracks and found nothing. My boss told me about the fueling with the KC-97 but never mentioned the explosions or anything like that. He said that the KC-97 would have to run it's engines at full power while the B-47 was just above stall speed. He said that he had to re-hook with the KC-97 five to ten times for each fueling because he was flying so slow that the B-47 would stall and decouple. I have wondered about this many times and I assume that this was at altitude because the stall speed of the B-47 near the ground was much lower than the max speed of the KC-97. My boss was a super nice man and was extremely smart too. He had a quadruple bypass, then came back to work and looked real bad for about a year. I transferred to the Automated Test Department, where we wrote the computer test for electronic weapons systems, and then never seen him again. That was over twenty years ago.I had to retire because of the disabilities that I acquired in the Navy became so bad that I couldn't work anymore. This is why I have a website and can still work in aviation. The website has brought me to meet so many people like yourself and I have learned a tremendous amount from everyone and I really appreciate it. I'm 54 now and take care of my 92 year old mom. I can't live in the house with her, so I live in the garage, which sounds bad, but I have peace and quiet and just work on the computer. So that's my life, but the computer has kept me in contact with the world, and again, people who have done tremendous things and has kept the bums out of my life. Thank you very much and have a nice day and thank you for serving our country.Jeff.
22-Sep-2008 22-Sep-2008 Dear Farrel, My boss was John Miller and he worked as my boss in 1984 at the Sacramento Army Depot. He said that he retired just before the B-52 came into service and after all of the B-36 and B-29 units were disbanded. He said that they did not know about this problem until the planes were at their latter stages of service, but I don't have a date. I will have to do more research on the B-52s to know. At this time they thought that the B-47s were the greatest thing that ever happened and then the cracks formed. One day I was at Mather AFB and was talking to one of the B-52 pilots about the huge wrinkles in the fuselage of the plane. He said that when the plane was in the air, the wrinkles would come out of the fuselage. I was amazed that the aluminum could flex that much. To me the B-52 looked very much like the B-47, at least as how the wings were constructed so I know what you are talking about with the 18 foot total swing of the wings.Changing the subject slightly. One day when I was at work and talking on the phone, I was looking out of the window of the building at the Army Depot. All of a sudden I saw a huge, super black, cloud rising up from the ground. I never saw a flash, but it was a B-52 that crashed after a student pilot stalled the plane on takeoff. It was terrible, not a single man lived. The plane just missed a house in the country and then hit the barn next to the house. From what I understand, everyone was at home in the house when the plane hit. If you can find out more about these cracks and if they did indeed exist, and I don't doubt my boss, please let me know. I know about my job as an electronics technician on the A-7 Corsair II that there was so much to know about the planes, that no one man could know everything. We were all over the planes too, but when I visit the very plane that I worked on in the Navy that is now in the Prairie Aviation Museum in Bloomington Illinois, I realize that it was much more complex than I even realized then.Thank you very much and have a nice day, Jeff.19-Sep-2008 DEAR JEFF: I appreciate your reply. I would like to know about what date your boss noticed theses cracks. The first few months at MacDill was really a laboratory for the B-47. We had to rewire some of the conduits that went to all units in the wings because of the 9 ft. up and 9 ft down flexibility of the wings . The fuel tanks had a modification because of some leaks. the hydraulic system had to be modified. The propellant to eject the pilot and co-pilot wasn't enough to get them over the 30ft tail at 500 mph. that was solved about a year into the program. I would never question the knowledge or integrity of a B-47 pilot and maybe this was at the beginning when everything was happening. while i was researching the B-47 Jet i found where there is to be a get together in -Murrieta, GA on the 25th of Sep. to the 29th. I would love to have gone but i have conflicting dates. Sincerely Farrel 9-Sep-2008 I am Farrel A Paulk , i was a aircraft electrician on the B-47 from 1951 to 1955. We received the first 3 planes at McDill AFB. and had 3 bomb wings by 1955. We had a All planes general group that inspected the plane before each flight . If there was even a rivet loose they took care of it. being a electron on the B-47. I was all over the plane and would have noticed any cracks in the wings. I don't know where this story came from but i say it is entirely untrue. I am extremely proud of my involvement with the B-47 and don't appreciate a lie like this about our plane. My e mail is fpaulk@alltel.net. If any one wants to talk with me I say bring it on Thanks Farrel Dear Farrel, Thank you very much for your comments. I don't know when these planes went out of service. It was my boss that told me about the cracks. He was a B-29 pilot, then a B-47 pilot. He told me that this was a top secret since the B-29's and B-36's were taken out of service and the B-52's were not in service yet. He said that the planes were limited to a 1/4 G turn because of the size of the cracks. On his last flight, the flight surgeon grounded him because of the flu. His plane took off and a wing fell off and killed everyone in the plane. He said that, that was the last time he flew and he asked to get out of the Air Force because of this. He feels that he should have been on that plane himself. C. Jeff Dyrek, Webmaster Click Here's some more evidence of Cracks, not in the B-47, but in the British Victor Bomber which was a very similar wing/fuselage design. The Handley Page Victor was one of three bomber types built as part of Great Britain's V-Bomber force as part of the Cold War nuclear deterrant. Each of the V-bombers was required to be able to scramble away from their bases in very quick time due to the much shorter time of flight for incoming bombers or missiles that might strike the UK. In the case of the Victor, the B.1 was powered by four non-afterburning Sapphire engines that gave the aircraft the ability to speed away from home and provide an appropriate response to any hostility. |
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