90130_ Report This Comment Date: November 17, 2006 06:10AM
Beautiful swept-wing strategic bomber, the Boeing B-47 Stratojet.
90130_ Report This Comment Date: November 17, 2006 06:12AM
The Boeing B-47 was the country's first swept-wing multi-engine bomber. It
represented a milestone in aviation history and a revolution in aircraft design.
Every large jet aircraft today is a descendant of the B-47.
Boeing engineers had envisioned a jet-powered plane as early as 1943. However,
wind-tunnel tests of straight-wing jet aircraft indicated that the straight wing
did not use the full potential of jet-engine power.
Near the end of World War II, Boeing aerodynamicist George Schairer was in
Germany as part of a fact-finding mission. At a hidden German aeronautics
laboratory, Schairer saw wind-tunnel data on swept-wing jet airplanes and sent
the information home. Engineers then used the recently completed Boeing
High-Speed Wind Tunnel to develop and design the XB-47, with its slender
35-degree swept-back wings.
A pod containing two General Electric J-35 engines hung from each wing inboard,
and a single engine hung farther out. The weight of these six engines made the
wings droop. B-47 had tandem bicycle-type landing gear under the front and back
sections of the fuselage. Small outrigger wheels on the inboard engines kept the
airplane from tipping over when it was on the ground.
Because early jet engines could not provide enough thrust for takeoff, the XB-47
had 18 small rocket units in the fuselage for jet-assisted takeoff (JATO).
Thrust reversers and anti-skid brakes had not yet been developed, so a
ribbon-type drag parachute reduced the B-47 landing speed.
Once airborne, the graceful jet broke speed and distance records; in 1949 it
crossed the United States in under four hours at an average 608 mph. The B-47
needed defensive armament only in the rear because no fighter was fast enough to
attack from any other angle.
The B-47 medium bomber became the foundation of the Air Force's newly created
Strategic Air Command and many were adapted for several specialized functions.
One became a missile carrier, others were reconnaissance aircraft or trainers or
carried remote controls for other aircraft.
Between 1947 and 1956, a total of 2,032 B-47s in all variants were built. Boeing
built 1,373, Douglas Aircraft Co. built 274 and Lockheed Aircraft Corp. built
385.
Anonymous Report This Comment Date: November 22, 2006 08:38PM
war war war!!! I love fascism! War war war! (I just came)