The Boeing B-47 Stratojet was a long range, six-engine, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft. The B-47's primary mission was to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union. With its engines carried in nacelles under the swept wing, the B-47 was a major innovation in post-World War II combat jet design, and contributed to the development of modern jet airliners.
The B-47 entered service with the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC) in 1951. It never saw combat as a bomber, but was a mainstay of SAC's bomber strength during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and remained in use as a bomber until 1965. It was also adapted to a number of other missions, including photographic reconnaissance, electronic intelligence and weather reconnaissance, remaining in service as a reconnaissance aircraft until 1969 and as a testbed until 1977.
B-47 Stratojet in The Hot War[]
As the Korean War morphed into World War III, the United States began phasing in the all-jet B-47s. One B-47 dropped an atomic bomb on Kiev on 4 March 1951.[1] However, the Air Force had so many older models from World War II that it was still cost-effective for them to use them up along with their crews rather than immediately upgrade. B-29s were abundant throughout the fighting.[2]
After the Treaty of Versailles ended the war in Europe, the U.S. began accumulating B-47s in Japan, and used them to put pressure on China and North Korea.[3]
References[]
- ↑ Bombs Away, pgs. 163-164, HC.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 287-288.
- ↑ Armistice, pg. 163, ebook.
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