Trip to the National Museum of the US Air Force

[T Bolt]

The B-47 was designed in the late years of WWII first flying in 1947 and flew into the mid 1960s. I had many advanced design features including swept wings, jet engines in under wing pods and fuselage mounted main landing gear. It could carry the same bomb tonnage at the B-29s and B-50s it replaced, and could fly 200mph faster!

The Stratojet on display is a RB-47H which was a strategic reconnaissance version that collected essential intelligence about the size and capability of Soviet the air defense.

[Airframes]

Good stuff Glenn - always liked the Stratojet.

[Crimea_River]

Me too.

[T Bolt]

The design of the B-52 began right after the Second World War as a straight wing turboprop and went through several changes before the final design which was a scaled up version of the B-47, making its first flight in April 1952. Officially known as the Stratofortress, it was known buy it’s crews as BUFF (Big Ugly Fat F—ker) .

The B-52 can carry 70,000lbs of either conventional or nuclear weapons, has a maximum speed of 638 mph and a maximum unrefueled range of 8300 miles. In Vietnam it flew 126,615 combat sorties with 17 B-52s lost to enemy action. It was also a B-52 that made the first airborne hydrogen bomb drop over Bikini Atoll in 1956.

Nearly 750 were built before production ended in 1962, and many are still flying, celebrating there 50th anniversary of service with the Air Force in 2005. After being upgraded between 2013 and 2015 the B-52 will serve into the 2040s by which time the youngest of the aircraft will be almost 80 years old! That has to be a first in aviation history!

[Airframes]

Great stuff Glenn - I like the panels with the nose art.

[Gnomey]

Good stuff Glenn! Always liked the early jet bombers (and the early jets in general).

[T Bolt]

The Provider was a short-range transport used for airlifting troops and cargo to and from small, unprepared airstrips, first flying in 1949. It was designed as basically a glider powered my piston engines. In fact the second prototype was un-powered. In 1966 C-123Bs began being converted into C-35Ks by the addition of two J85 jet engine in under wing pods increasing the payload by one third. The Providers flew into the 1980s

[T Bolt]

The Canadian build Caribou was, like the C-123, designed for operation from short unimproved airstrips. It first flew in 1958 and The U.S. Army began taking delivery of them in 1961. In 1967 the Air Force inherited the Caribous from the army when operation of all fixed wing aircraft was given to the Air Force and they were given the designation C-7.

[Airframes]

More good stuff Glenn, and another two aircraft I quite like.

[Gnomey]

Good stuff Glenn!

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Thank you for taking the time to share these Glenn. I had a friend in the camera club that flew in the RB-47s as a navigator. He told some harrowing stories about flying over places they weren't suppose to be. Thank you sir.

[T Bolt]

Glad you guys like them. More tomorrow.

Thank you for taking the time to share these Glenn. I had a friend in the camera club that flew in the RB-47s as a navigator. He told some harrowing stories about flying over places they weren't suppose to be. Thank you sir.

Sounds like you're Friend had a pretty adventurous career in the Air Force!

[Crimea_River]

Keep 'em coming Glenn. So, question to techies out there: What's up with the wrinkly skins on the B-36 and Buff?

[T Bolt]

The structure of both those aircraft have sagged over the years causing the ripples in the skin. The diagonal ripples in the B-52 between the cockpit and the forward landing gear is characteristic of all B-52s and has been for many years. I read a magazine article (I think it was in Flying) that talked about it way back in 1981 or 82 and it said the cause was all the weight of the nose cantilevered on front of the wheels all those years. And that was 30 years ago. It must not be a serious defect because the Air Force is keeping them in service for at least another 25 years.

[oldcrowcv63]

Thanks TB, Great photos... Never realized the B-52 had a 4 cannon stinger!