B-47 Stratojet

[Daryl J.]

Make the cockpit an aquarium bowl and it's the BA.E Stratojet B.III₂₁ in RAF Kullerz.



Daryl J.

[MAD]

Has anyone got photos/pics of B-47 dropping bombs – conventional or nuclear?

What about late B-47's being used against targets in North Vietnam, in place of the B-52?
The reason for the B-47 being used in place of the B-52, is both a political and military choice -
Political - because the B-47 does not seem as such a big stick / offensive.
Militarily because, like that during the Korean War, when the USAF/SAC opted to use B-29's instead of the larger and more powerful B-36 Peacemaker.
The USAF / SAC not wanting any risks of its most powerful physical/physiological deterrent to be seen by the likes of the Soviet Union or the PRC, if they were to be shot down.
I know the B-47's conventional bomb load was some what limited when compared to that of the B-52.
But it would be seen as a step up from the F-105's that were at the time attacking strategic targets in North Vietnam.
What about wing pylons installed (like that of the B-52's - although somewhat smaller and lighter!) between the fuselage and inboard engine pylons, that allowed the external carrying of say 6 x 750lb GP bombs each?
This would allow the B-52's to be kept in strategic nuclear strike, without giving the potential real enemy (Soviet Union & PRC) any inclination of the designs weaknesses and short falls!

!B-47's in South East Asian camouflage, black undersides, dropping 750lb GP bombs and dodging SA-2 'Guideline' SAM's!!!!!

M.A.D

[MAD]

Hay I forgot to mention – I would look at replace the B-47's original six  General Electric J47 turbojets of 7,500 lb thrust each (45,000lb total) with four Pratt & Whitney J57 of 11,700 lb (with water-methanol injection) thrust turbojets (46,800lb total) as used on the newer B-52 series
This would give both greater thrust and logistical, service and maintenance compatibility within the USAF with the likes of the B-52 and KC-135

M.A.D

[dy031101]

B-52D had their bombload increased by just rearranging internal systems...... could B-47 have done the same?

[jcf]

Has anyone got photos/pics of B-47 dropping bombs – conventional or nuclear?

What about late B-47's being used against targets in North Vietnam, in place of the B-52?

!B-47's in South East Asian camouflage, black undersides, dropping 750lb GP bombs and dodging SA-2 'Guideline' SAM's!!!!!

M.A.D

The B-47 bombers (as opposed to RB and EB variants) were pretty much all out of service by September of 1964, the Wings had either been converted to other aircraft (B-52, B-58, KC-135) or decommissioned.
The B-52 heavy bomber missions didn't start until June of 1965.

Jon

[GTX]

Has anyone got photos/pics of B-47 dropping bombs – conventional or nuclear?

Here you go:


You might also like these:




And especially watch this video!

Regards,

Greg

[sequoiaranger]

>Has anyone got photos/pics of B-47 dropping bombs – conventional or nuclear?<

In the pic below, how can you tell if the bombs they are dropping are nuclear or not? 

[MAD]

>Has anyone got photos/pics of B-47 dropping bombs – conventional or nuclear?<

In the pic below, how can you tell if the bombs they are dropping are nuclear or not? 

1/ You would be vaporized if they were nukes; at the altitude they are being dropped!!
    Although CEP would be great!!
2/ Nukes of the era were not this compact (?)
3/ You would really have to hate your enemy to drop this many nukes onto one target.

M.A.D

[MAD]

Has anyone got photos/pics of B-47 dropping bombs – conventional or nuclear?

Here you go:


You might also like these:




And especially watch this video!

Regards,

Greg

Thanks Greg for the great pics

The low altitude bombing run is very impressive, especially when the bombs do not appear to be retarded types!
The second is the Rascal ASM test program!
But the third I am stuck on - what are the four missile/weapons that the B-47 is carrying?

As a side line this last pic has the four weapons pylons I envisaged in my 'What If'.
Say have the outer pylons with drop tanks and the pylons between the engine pods and fuselage armed with 12x750lb GP bombs!!!

P.S. I loved the video. I had read many times that the B-47 could be quite nimble in the air

Thanks again

M.A.D

[jcf]

But the third I am stuck on - what are the four missile/weapons that the B-47 is carrying?

Radioplane GAM-67 Crossbow, RP-45D target drone converted to an ECM RPV.

Jon

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I had another brilliant idea for a kit bashing the other day that involved a 1/72nd scale B-47 and B-58 to turn the B-47 into a higher performance aircraft by fitting the J79 engines from the B-58 to the B-47. 

I imagine in real life it would have been a short life span airframe due to the increased stress on the airframe imposed by the higher performance engines but it would have been a real looker for the short time that it was active.  Take off rolls would have been much shorter and time to climb would have been reduced substantially.  Anyone have a B-47 and a B-58 to kit bash?

Realized the error of my judgment yesterday when I suggestion the use of four engine pods from the B-58 Hustler.  The outrigger wheels on the B-47 that are located in each of the inboard engine modules would need to be moved outboard to make this work since a single engine pod would not have the room for the wheel and gear.  Maybe mount it internal to the wing as was done on the B-52?  That is one solution to the problem but there may by other ideas waiting to be shared. 

[Shasper]

Re-role some of the B-47Es into Wild Weasels for the B-52s, hang some AGM-45 or 76s externally & put the APR processing stuff in a dorsal spine.

Shas

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The Model 450-150-30 was a B-47 based long-range patrol bomber project with four J57-P-1 engines that was worked on in the early '50s.

That is quite similar to Evan's suggestion as well as my own about using different engines on the B-47.  While Evan suggested the J57 and I was looking for a way to use surplus J79 engine pods from the B-58 so I suggested a kit bash with the engine pods and the B-47 to create a four engine bomber.  It makes me glad to see something like that was actually proposed and considered for a real aircraft design.  The J57 engines would certainly be a bit larger, maybe requiring a scale-o-rama to achieve the same results on a model.  

[Cliffy B]

Hey guys, got my hands on one of Academy's 1/144 B-47s for a whiff and I need some advice/info.  Does anyone know of any drawings/photos of the interior layout of the planes?  I need to see what spare room there is (if any) and what goes where.  Is there interior space for maybe a B-25 style dorsal turret?  How about some Brownings in the nose?

Here's a link to my whiff profiles:

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,28037.45.html 

I would like to do the USN Patrol Bomber version and was wondering if there was any room inside the plane to house some sonobouys, MAD gear, a radar, etc...  Are there any drawings/photos of the bomb bay?  Would a torpedo or two or more fit inside?  Were the external wing tank hard points set up for any other ordnance or just gas?  Was considering adding some rockets or some sort of an early guided ASM.

Any and all help, ideas, criticisms, etc... are always appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

-Mike

[GTX]

Here you go, does this help:



The B-47 was actually quite full - mainly of fuel.  You could give up some of that to get more room for equipment.

Re the bomb-bay, this may help - I will check other references soon:



Re MAD - just remove the tail gun or else put on wingtip.

Re radars, just 'covert' existing to have appropriate function.

Re guided missiles, it did actually carry some in real life:




You may also wish to consider re-introducing the clear nose of the early versions:



and perhaps even go turboprop (may help to recover range after you've removed fuel cells for equipment):



Regards,

Greg