swampyankee
Chief Master Sergeant
- 3,954
- Jun 25, 2013
The YB-49 was a YB-35 modified to install j35 engines so there were no YB-49s with R-4369 engines. The YB-47, basically a contemporary to the YB-49, also had J-35 engines and the B-47 later received the J-47, so, I think the J-47 was not ready for the YB-49 and I suspect there was no eagerness to upgrade the YB-49.
There is no doubt that the aircraft with the most potential for handling the future mission of enemy penetration was the B-49 due to its inherent stealthiness. The B-36 was obsolete when it became operational, only one year before the MiG-15 entered service and we know what it did to the B-29 force in Korea.
Performance comparisons using corrected NACA data (as stated in "Goodby Beautiful Wing" by Terrence O'Neill).
B-35 - B36
Empty wt. lbs 89,000 - 133,800
Wt. Cruise 135,000 - 212,000
Wt. Gross 180, 000* - 287,000 * weight reduced from max due to AF refusal to test landing gear
wt. max T/O 207,000 - 311,000
Miles-to-target 5,100 -3,600
Speed Combat (mph) 405 - 331
Design Ceiling ft. 49,000 - 40,000
Note: these B-35 numbers are using NACA corrections to previous flight test estimates using N9M reduced scale test aircraft. B-35 had the potential of performing the same mission as the B-36 at 60% of the weight.
Note also: That the B-49 radar cross section could have easily been improved significantly by moving the engine inlets to top of wing ala B-2. No need to make sophisticated ducts because there would be no airborn radar platforms above it probably well into the '50s, if not later. The B-49 could be practically invisible from the front to Russian radars.
These still don't solve the various handling problems, which were (largely) due to the inherent low pitch and yaw damping of flying wings. Indeed, the yaw damping problems were likely worse on the B-49, as the pusher propellers were stabilizing as they were behind the aircraft c/g.