Boeing's B-47 Stratojet Book

The B-47 was the United States Air Force's first strategic jet bomber. When the U.S. Army Air Forces issued a requirement for a jet bomber in 1944, four manufacturers presented proposals. It was Boeing's design for the B-47 that won for a number of reasons, but especially because it was capable of carrying the outsized nuclear weapons of the day. The B-47 became the cornerstone of America's nuclear deterrent force until the B-52 came into the inventory. At the peak of its career in 1956, 1,367 B-47s were in Strategic Air Command's (SAC) inventory of 1,650 bombers. The B-47 proved to be as fast as many of the jet fighters of the day, and its operational altitude was as high as 40,000 feet. The revolutionary B-47 paved the way for future large jet aircraft with its swept wing, and multiple podded engines hung below the wing on pylons. Most large transport airplanes today have this configuration. The design was extremely successful, and it was later adapted to the B-52 bomber and the KC-135 tanker, which later formed the basis for the Boeing 707. In fact, almost all jet-powered commercial airliners today can trace their design ancestry back to the B-47. This book covers the B-47's entire history in deep technical detail, with more than 400 photographs, many never before seen. In addition, this work provides a comprehensive overview of B-47 operations and test programs.Read More