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TB-47B S/N 50-0062 |
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B-47 Stratojet (Manufactures Serial number 50-062) is a TB-47B, a training version of the
bomber aircraft. It was built by the Boeing
Airplane Company at Wichita, Kansas and delivered to the US Air Force on 7 February 1952. This
aircraft was first assigned to the Strategic Air Command’s training Wing at McConnell
Air Force Base, Kansas. In January 1957, the
aircraft was re-designated as a JTB-47B to be used as a flying test platform. It was transferred to Eglin Air Force Base,
Florida, where it remained for the rest of its service life. In April 1967, the aircraft was dropped from the
US Air Force inventory and was allocated for museum use.
The aircraft was transported to The Mighty Eighth Air Force Heritage Museum
from Florence, S.C. in 1998 and has since been refurbished largely by dedicated
volunteers. During
the 1950s and early 1960s the B-47 played a vital role as a mainstay of the United States
nuclear deterrent forces. The B-47s and their
crews stood on nuclear alert during the Cold War, prepared to strike the Soviet Union and
its client states with only a few minutes warning. B-47 Stratojets eventually equipped
twenty-eight of Strategic Air Command’s medium bombardment wings and also flew vital
strategic reconnaissance missions. The
swept-wing, multi-jet engine design of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet bomber provided a model
for commercial jet airliners from the time of its introduction in the late 1940s through
the 1960s. Commercial aircraft such as the
Boeing 707, the Boeing 747 and the Douglas DC-8 owe their aerodynamic profiles to this
Cold War bomber. This
particular aircraft is painted to represent a B-47 assigned to the 303rd Bomb Wing. It
stands as a tribute to the World War II Eighth Air Force veterans of the 303rd Bomb Group,
Molesworth Air Base, in England, whose generosity made the restoration of this aircraft
possible. The red triangle “C”
depicted on the vertical fin did not appear on the original aircraft. This World War II tail insignia symbolizes the
historic tie between World War II and post-World War II bomber units and aircraft. |
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