Jimmy Stewart was a qualified B-47 pilot. After WW2 he continued with the USAF Reserves and during some of his operational periods (which the pilots had to do on a regular basis) he flew B-47s; but he was qualified on the B-52 as well. And when Hollywood made a movie that featured the B-47, he actually flew it in the film. FYI, he was a squadron commander during WW2 and flew 20 combat missions in B-24s. On March 31, 1944, was appointed Operations Officer of the 453rd Bomb Group and, subsequently, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat wing, 2nd Air Division of the 8th Air Force. He retired from the USAF reserves in the 1960s as a Brigadier General.
Hi I first flew the B-47's in 1955 right out of flight training in B-25's . This was a great flying airplane with faults that were fatal at times. It was like flying a big fighter . One fault was in the control system which caused the controls to lock up under certain conditions . I lost an old Cadet friend during a flight when the aircraft was no longer controllable. I was previlaged to be able to fly Ikes inauguration fly over. Actually lost one of the drop tanks over the swamps , no injuries or damaged. Airplane was not a problem to fly home.
Lost an outboard engine on take off due to injecting some very large birds. Climb and directional control was maintained . Had to fly around awhile to reduce landing weight. No damage landing completed.
very late to comment here, & maybe already mentioned, but it seems the B-47 wing was the ground breaking advance in design that can still be seen in every modern airliner. Boeing surely took their learnings from the B-47 directly into the 707 / 720 development, and that shape has been the norm ever since.
And to follow up on that point: Lets assume we're standing at the runway of Langley AFB whilst simultaneously standing at the runway of say NAS Point Mugu (time-travel eh?), knowing that Operation:FARMGATE was happening/about to happen, looking at our aircraft manifests "Well look at that, XXX of NA F100 Super Sabre's & XXX of NA T28 Trojan's plus XXX of Douglas A1 Skyraiders [and so on and so forth]" I wonder what the conversation would be like by 1973 at the conclusion of Operation:LINEBACKER II & then Operation:FREQUENTWIND (and was it TALONCLAW for the Phnom Penh evacuation?) - I mean, think of it like this: 1963, Essex-class CVs are still flying WF2s (well E2's) and A1s & by 1975, fleet-carriers (although I don't think CV(N)s made it to Yankee Station did they?) like the Forrestal and Midway et. al. were flying F14A's as top-cover MiGCAP for C5's out of Tan Son Nhut. The USAF started with A26s & ended with F111s. Yet in 1961-63, it was F11s & F3's (for the Navy). For the USAF would the nearest equivalent be say F84Fs & F102s? (in terms of pure fighters/interceptors). For attack aircraft A1s vs A6s & A7s (USN). In an Abe Simpson style apology "Apologies, this old one does ramble on a bit" (You could do the same for the RAF and FAA from say 1960 and 1975 i.e. the interventions in Malaya & Borneo + the Gulf into the mid-Cold-War period).
I was lucky enough to see and explore the B-47 when I was in the Air Training Cadets (ATC) during the early 1960s. Our squadron (2121, based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire), went on a visit to RAF Brize Norton where we were given the opportunity to see and actually sit in the cockpit of one of these aircraft. Back then, this was a 'super modern' plane and very impressive to see. That was a great day and a wonderful aircraft.
Chuck Yeager in his book talks about the B-47, how it was such a clean shape that he determined that at about 3-4 feet off the deck going wide open it was impossible to fly it into the ground due to ground effect. And that the only way to figure that out for certain means he actually tried it.
There was one more flight of a B-47. It occured in 1986 when it flew from China Lake, CA to Castle AFB, CA. This was the last flight of a B-47. It took a lot of man hours to get back into flying condition. But it was done. It is now on display at the Castle Air Museum.
There's a B-47B on static display at the Mighty Eighth Air Force museum outside Savannah, GA. They have the bomb bay open, too, and you can crouch under to stand inside it.
I crewed a WB-47E at Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico in 1968-69. We had 6 aircraft in the 53rd WRS, “The Hurricane Hunters!” To this day, I still have fond memories of the time I spent with this aircraft! Seeing them fly with the drogue chute deployed, always amazed me! As I recall, we used water/alcohol instead of Jato rockets to improve take off thrust, pretty Smokey! Nice video!
Went TDY to Ramey a few times. Last time was a joint deployment. First time I saw chute on final was scary. Then talked to pilots and learned about engines. Neat memories of 47's and 52's.
My father flew the 47's during his late years as a career USAF pilot. His stations with the 47, as far as I know, were Chennault, Lake Charles, Carswell, and Little Rock. After the 47 came the B58 Hustler he flew until his retirement. Both those ladies were absolutely beautiful planes!.
My father was a mechanic/technician of the Radar/Cannon system on the tail of this plane. He served from 1954 to 1960 in Lincoln AFB in Nebraska. He is 85 years old now.
There's still one on static display at Grissom AFB ( Formally Bunker Hill AFB) at Bunker Hill, Indiana. My dad was a Radar Gunnery Technician stationed there until we were shipped to Minot and he moved over to the B-52's. Fun Fact: Pop/Country Singer John Denver's dad was a B-47 pilot and still holds a world's record in that plane to this day.
Yes. Love this Plane! Thank you. Don't let the bubble canopy fool you. There's room to walk around in that fuselage and if I remember correctly there was cause to do so in certain situations during flight.
There is a B-47 on display at the SAC aerospace museum on interstate 80 in Nebraska between Omaha and Lincoln. They also have a B-52 on display in numerous other aircraft.
Another great video Paul. One minor note, the thrust is measured in pound force (lbf) and in common language usage is just referred to as pounds. A common translation issue is lb-ft (or lbf•ft) which is actually pound foot (as stated in the commentary), however this is a measurement of torque.
Thanks Daniel. Yes I think I discovered that for a later video although I'd edited this quite a while ago and had delayed releasing it. thanks for the info, though
My grandfather was a B47 pilot, I have many manuals and information about the plane, I also have his dosemeter the crew was required to ware. Thankyou for the video!
My dad was in the USAF from 1951-1955 and was stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson AZ. I believe this is where you are shooting this video at the museum nearby. My sister and I were born in the base hospital. The B-47s and B-36s were flown out of that base during those years, so your videos are especially interesting to me. My dad was a staff sergeant and his job was clerk-typist -- not a very glorious job. He used to joke that he flew Royal typewriters at 50,000 feet.
Hello Paul. I had to laugh when you stood under the wingtip touching your head. I did something similar with that aircraft during my PIMA visit, I tried lifting the edge to see if I could get it to flex. I moved it up maybe 1/64th of an inch! Thanks for the video. 👍👍👍
It's crazy to see you reviewing a plane that I drive by frequently since I live nearby! This video makes me want to hit up this museum again some time 🥲
For any of those wondering, it's the Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona 💪, literally like 5 minutes away from the world's largest aircraft boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB
When I grew up in Carterton which was home to the then USAF Brize Norton there was later so many complaints coming in from farmers on the Westerly side of the base concerning drop in milk yields and chickens frightened into laying eggs on perches, that the commander decided that they should take off at a sharp incline until the RATO ended their cycle then level off. We ran down to the fence on the North Westerly side of the runway and as soon as the RATO kicked in we had a game where we would press our chest against our mate's shoulder and scream at the top of our voice, the name of the latest TV show or character and the other person had to guess it. The noise was so loud that you had to hold your breath as it was so hard to breath. We gave that game up quickly. The only time we saw another aircraft take such a sharp angle of rotation was in the final days of SAC by a visiting Vulcan which did it under its own steam. I still have the last copy of the Brize Breeze magazine which depicts in the centre pages the handover to RAF control.
1st thing in restoration that needs to be done are the engines! Followed by flight test! Does absolutely no good sitting with no one appreciating a living breathing flying B-47 !
@@PaulStewartAviation Here it is, U.S. Foreign Aid budget 1/10 of 1% taken from Foreign aid reciprocal countries that don't even like the United States! More than enough! How's that for Start Son?
Another great video Paul! With all of this 'teasing' from PIMA, I'm definitely going to have to add it to my bucket list. Seattle, PIMA and Dayton looks like incredible aviation nerd destinations
Go in winter. Summer can be unbearable. I was stationed at Davis Monthan working on H-3's that had mid air retrival system installed (MARS) which consisted of a winch practically obstructing the sliding (right) door. It sat in front of a cable tray with rollers that directed the cable down the cargo hook hole. The cable was pulled taut under the belly to the ramp which had the lift struts removed and replaced with fixed rods to hold the ramp level. At the extreme rear of the ramp was a pair of holding fixtures which held aluminum poles that had hooks at the lower end that would snap off with a strong tug. Onto those hooks was a triangular rope which attached to hook and the third strand held the winch cable which had a beautiful polished 3 prong grappling hook. The helicopter would fly over a drone which had released a parachute. The idea was to grab the parachute with at least the grappling hook. A good catch snagged the chute with all 3 hooks. The helicopter would fly over and the winch would play out the cable and slowly put the brakes on the playout at such a rate as to not (completely) tear the chute. The whole tangled mess was winched back in and the drone was ferried back under the helicopter and set down on landing bags. The drones were Ryan Firebees (one on display at Pima) operated with the 432TDG. I was with the 432AGS maintaining the helicopters. The unit was defunded and shut down in Dec 1979. I was transferred to McClellan AFB in Sacramento where I worked on H-53's. Up to 4 drones could be mounted on pylons under the wings of the DC-130's that were next to our shop. In those years, A-10s and A-7s operated out of DM (tail code on airplane). I was there when an A-7 crashed next to Arizona State after the pilot ejected due to an engine failure.
workhardtravelharder9313, if you make the trip to the PIMIA museum, you can maximize the 'bang for buck' by including a tour of the nearby AMARG Boneyard, and also take a trip a bit south to the Titan Missile Museum (which I believe is run by the same organization that runs PIMA).
Fascinating to hear the extra detail of the B-47 needing some "rocket assist" to get off the ground when at near maximum take off weight and parachute assist to slow the aircraft down at landing! Yes, and the 5 metres of wing flex is amazing too. A great aircraft for its day and its looks impressive too. Thanks again Paul for interesting commentary and good video footage...
I've really been enjoying these walk around videos, thank you for sharing them. As a model making, these types of videos are useful for reference! If you ever make it out to Utah, the Hill Aerospace Museum has some awesome displays of unique aircraft, definitely worth a visit!
The B-47 is quite a remarkable aircraft for its day. This is the plane that someone described as a bomber but flew with the performance of a fighter. It definitely is a beautiful aircraft. Thanks Paul good video ! 😁👍
Greetings Paul! Late commenting, but thank-you again for such an informative video. I would've loved to see this acft doing a JATO take-off! Had to be amazing. Couldn't help but notice the EC-135 parked next to the B-47. The EC-135 - an earlier version equipped J-57 engines - was the first aircraft I worked on as a fledgling USAF jet engine mechanic.
You do such a fine job on your presentations, Paul! I like your personality and the way you explain aircraft to us. Better than the tours at the museums where many of these displays are located. Lots of technical info!
Another amazing video about a truly transformational aircraft. It is interesting to observe the compromises made in order to deliver a jet powered, intercontinental range bomber given the limitations of jet engine technology at the time. As always your videos are unfailingly enlightening.
Fascinating stuff, Paul. Compare and contrast the combined thrust of those six engines with that of, say, a Trent or a GE90. Too bad you couldn't get inside! The ergonomics of aircraft interiors and the division of tasks between the crew members always interest me.
From technical illustrations and photos I've seen the interior of the B-47 looks incredibly cramped, there is basically a tiny crawl space below the bubble canopy that allows access to the bombardier's seat in the nose and the pilot and co pilots seats above. It doesn't look very comfortable!
@@kingssuck06 well, no, of course crew comfort is not a big concern in the design of a military aircraft but the B-47 looks to be somewhat more cramped than most large bombers.
The whole terrifying thing of storing a Nuclear Bomb , getting it to the Bomber , loading it and taking off without crashing so it never went off in your country !
When the B47 that is at Castle air museum was flown in, the pilot, who had thousands of hours in the plane, famously got out of the plane and said “never again”
It was in a 1957 movie called KRONOS where a B-47 is sent to drop a nuclear bomb on a Giant Monolith Robot that sucking Earth dry of all its electrical energy !
Definitely not sci-fi, but you can see see some great footage of this acft, along with the B-36 in the movie "Strategic Air Command". A wonderful, "must see" movie, and not just for acft enthusiasts. I've linked a clip of the movie showing a B-47 take-off, using JATO. ua-cam.com/video/iV1hVLGLZ-w/v-deo.html
One of these aircraft gave a low-level display over Canberra several decades ago, probably the only time one flew to Oz, which is a shame because in appearance it is not much less striking than that of the matchless B-52. I live in hope the latter machine, still in service, will appear at one of our air shows before I depart.
You merely missed out. The B-52 is often overflown in RAAF airshows. I attended a RAAF airshow at Pearce WA about 8 years ago. The USAF were flying a B-52 from Guam via Darwin to Diego Garcia anyway so they had it detour to Pearce on the way to be part of the show. It's quite an awe inspiring aircraft to see. The USAF gave a retired B-52 to an air museum in Darwin - you can go look at any time. Also on display at Pearce on the day was a USAF KC-135 tanker. I never realised how big these are until I stood underneath its' nose.
Thanks brother my dad learned on this in af school he was 43rd flightline laredo afb 1959-1963
The dropping wings had very small extra landing gear near the wing tips
Jimmy Stewart was a qualified B-47 pilot. After WW2 he continued with the USAF Reserves and during some of his operational periods (which the pilots had to do on a regular basis) he flew B-47s; but he was qualified on the B-52 as well. And when Hollywood made a movie that featured the B-47, he actually flew it in the film. FYI, he was a squadron commander during WW2 and flew 20 combat missions in B-24s. On March 31, 1944, was appointed Operations Officer of the 453rd Bomb Group and, subsequently, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat wing, 2nd Air Division of the 8th Air Force. He retired from the USAF reserves in the 1960s as a Brigadier General.
Hi
I first flew the B-47's in 1955 right out of flight training in B-25's . This was a great flying airplane with faults that were fatal at times. It was like flying a big fighter . One fault was in the control system which caused the controls to lock up under certain conditions . I lost an old Cadet friend during a flight when the aircraft was no longer controllable.
I was previlaged to be able to fly Ikes inauguration fly over. Actually lost one of the drop tanks over the swamps , no injuries or damaged. Airplane was not a problem to fly home.
You'd have some fascinating stories to tell! What an adventure flying such a plane?!
Lost an outboard engine on take off due to injecting some very large birds. Climb and directional control was maintained . Had to fly around awhile to reduce landing weight. No damage landing completed.
I did not find the B-47 difficult to fly , but it certainly did demand that you fly with in its boundaries or else it would bite you.
For those that don't know - These were flown in an upward arc to lob the bomb giving the plane and crew more time to get away from the blast radius.
Yes but it punished the airframe
In 1959, USAF Captain John S. Lappo, flew his B~47 under the Mackinac Bridge, just for kicks. Thank You for the video.
Leppo was permanently grounded. He did manage to retire as a LtCol, though.
very late to comment here, & maybe already mentioned, but it seems the B-47 wing was the ground breaking advance in design that can still be seen in every modern airliner.
Boeing surely took their learnings from the B-47 directly into the 707 / 720 development, and that shape has been the norm ever since.
BEAUTIFUL BOMBER!!!!!
And the only ones fired on was the RB47 - its amazing how much the USAF got from 1945-1962 but that never got to Vietnam even between 1963-1965.
And to follow up on that point: Lets assume we're standing at the runway of Langley AFB whilst simultaneously standing at the runway of say NAS Point Mugu (time-travel eh?), knowing that Operation:FARMGATE was happening/about to happen, looking at our aircraft manifests "Well look at that, XXX of NA F100 Super Sabre's & XXX of NA T28 Trojan's plus XXX of Douglas A1 Skyraiders [and so on and so forth]" I wonder what the conversation would be like by 1973 at the conclusion of Operation:LINEBACKER II & then Operation:FREQUENTWIND (and was it TALONCLAW for the Phnom Penh evacuation?) - I mean, think of it like this: 1963, Essex-class CVs are still flying WF2s (well E2's) and A1s & by 1975, fleet-carriers (although I don't think CV(N)s made it to Yankee Station did they?) like the Forrestal and Midway et. al. were flying F14A's as top-cover MiGCAP for C5's out of Tan Son Nhut.
The USAF started with A26s & ended with F111s.
Yet in 1961-63, it was F11s & F3's (for the Navy). For the USAF would the nearest equivalent be say F84Fs & F102s? (in terms of pure fighters/interceptors). For attack aircraft A1s vs A6s & A7s (USN).
In an Abe Simpson style apology "Apologies, this old one does ramble on a bit" (You could do the same for the RAF and FAA from say 1960 and 1975 i.e. the interventions in Malaya & Borneo + the Gulf into the mid-Cold-War period).
A B-47 was shot at by Mig-17's over Finland in the 50's but managed to narrowly escape being shot down
From what I understand this aircraft developed a reputation as a widow maker as many of them crashed
Rest in Peace, Daddy. B-47E 52-0339. Near 58 years ago, and I've never recovered from such a devastating loss.
Very interesting, thanks!
Good stuff as usual Pauly!!!
Glad you enjoyed it
You can clearly see the inspiration for the b52 in this bad boi
Agreed! I'm filming inside a B-47 in August and can't wait to talk about the design in more detail.
@@PaulStewartAviation I’ll be watching out for that
God bless USA & England. Brothers forever. 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇸🇬🇧
Hope you enjoyed Tucson
I loved it
I was lucky enough to see and explore the B-47 when I was in the Air Training Cadets (ATC) during the early 1960s. Our squadron (2121, based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire), went on a visit to RAF Brize Norton where we were given the opportunity to see and actually sit in the cockpit of one of these aircraft. Back then, this was a 'super modern' plane and very impressive to see. That was a great day and a wonderful aircraft.
Another monsterouse death trap....so much for so little actually delivered ... brilliant as usual chap
I've got a tour around and inside a B47 coming next week :)
Nuke bombs were very big in 1950s
Chuck Yeager in his book talks about the B-47, how it was such a clean shape that he determined that at about 3-4 feet off the deck going wide open it was impossible to fly it into the ground due to ground effect. And that the only way to figure that out for certain means he actually tried it.
Nice one Paul. Always reminds me of the James Stewart movie Strategic Air Command.
Looks like march field museum
This is PIMA
I didn't know PIMA had a shackleton, and gannet you don't usually see those outside the UK/commonwealth
There was one more flight of a B-47. It occured in 1986 when it flew from China Lake, CA to Castle AFB, CA. This was the last flight of a B-47. It took a lot of man hours to get back into flying condition. But it was done. It is now on display at the Castle Air Museum.
I remember reading and seeing a picture of its wingtip scraping the runway upon landing at Castle AFB
I was there also. It was almost wrecked upon landing. The pilot recovered and now it is a museum exhibit.
The Gannet and Shackleton in the background 🙂
A 25 megaton bomb aboard that aircraft. That's enough to make another Barringer Crater on a ground burst!
There's a B-47B on static display at the Mighty Eighth Air Force museum outside Savannah, GA. They have the bomb bay open, too, and you can crouch under to stand inside it.
I crewed a WB-47E at Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico in 1968-69. We had 6 aircraft in the 53rd WRS, “The Hurricane Hunters!” To this day, I still have fond memories of the time I spent with this aircraft! Seeing them fly with the drogue chute deployed, always amazed me! As I recall, we used water/alcohol instead of Jato rockets to improve take off thrust, pretty Smokey! Nice video!
I was in a patrol squadron in the Navy in the early 70s and the only B-47 I ever saw was at Rosie Roads during a Springboard exercise.
Is that why the exhaust is so black in the take off films? Alcohol & water? I thought it was incomplete combustion.
We all need your experience and piloting skills to get a B-47 restored up and Flying again!
Went TDY to Ramey a few times. Last time was a joint deployment. First time I saw chute on final was scary. Then talked to pilots and learned about engines. Neat memories of 47's and 52's.
Water methanol gives extra thrust but NO where near much as JATO you must know that 🤔
My father flew the 47's during his late years as a career USAF pilot. His stations with the 47, as far as I know, were Chennault, Lake Charles, Carswell, and Little Rock. After the 47 came the B58 Hustler he flew until his retirement. Both those ladies were absolutely beautiful planes!.
My father was a crew cheif on both the b-47 and the b-52
My father was a mechanic/technician of the Radar/Cannon system on the tail of this plane. He served from 1954 to 1960 in Lincoln AFB in Nebraska. He is 85 years old now.
PIMA has a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer like the one my Grandfather flew on as Radioman in WWII, any chance you did a walkthrough of that?
Your videos are an aviation geeks dream come true thank you so much.
Glad you like them! I'm working on my F-22 video as we speak :)
I saw one of these at a base in Missouri, as a gateguard. They are much bigger up close than pictures indicate. Excellent walk-around video!
150k lbs as heavy as B29
Great episode Paul. Can't believe how thin the wings are and how much it had to carry. 5m of flex is insane!
There's still one on static display at Grissom AFB ( Formally Bunker Hill AFB) at Bunker Hill, Indiana. My dad was a Radar Gunnery Technician stationed there until we were shipped to Minot and he moved over to the B-52's.
Fun Fact:
Pop/Country Singer John Denver's dad was a B-47 pilot and still holds a world's record in that plane to this day.
My dad and I worked on the B-47 at the 8th Air Force museum in Savannah, Ga.
Yes. Love this Plane! Thank you.
Don't let the bubble canopy fool you. There's room to walk around in that fuselage and if I remember correctly there was cause to do so in certain situations during flight.
Yes, they were great aircraft!!! To see them is really really nice...
Thank you for showing those beautiful birds...
There is a B-47 on display at the SAC aerospace museum on interstate 80 in Nebraska between Omaha and Lincoln. They also have a B-52 on display in numerous other aircraft.
There's one on outdoor display just off I-95 near Savannah GA at the Museum for the Mighty Eighth Air Force.
It's amazing how fast they built a massive number of those things.
2000 is alot of these aircraft
Remember, 1947 America still had war time production capability.
excellent Paul, another one off my list, thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
Great video! Thanks for highlighting these aircraft that are not well known!
Glad you liked it!
Great place been there a couple of times from the UK
Самолет реально очень крутой
Love them Paul! Keep the videos coming!
Wikipedia says Mk41 is 25 Megatons.
25 megatonnes equals 25,000 kilotonnes
It was shot down by some soviet fighters over the Baltic sea in soviet airspace
Just getting around to see your videos, thank you so much and very nice work!
Glad you like them! More coming
Anofher superb vlog Paul
Thanks for another great video Paul
Hi Paul, Another huge bird. Very cool and thank you.
Another great video Paul.
One minor note, the thrust is measured in pound force (lbf) and in common language usage is just referred to as pounds. A common translation issue is lb-ft (or lbf•ft) which is actually pound foot (as stated in the commentary), however this is a measurement of torque.
Thanks Daniel. Yes I think I discovered that for a later video although I'd edited this quite a while ago and had delayed releasing it. thanks for the info, though
Many B-47's crashed because it was so new, it was a handful to fly from what I've read
Hi Paul thank you for the video. Don't know much about planes but found it interesting.
Thank you for the new video paul!!!!! wicked stuff as always
Thank you for sharing this!
Incredible how an absolute nobody can get to tour these airplanes. Jokes aside, you're a legend, Paul 👌🏻
Another very interesting documentary!
Thank you very much, Paul, for sharing your video with us.
My grandfather was a B47 pilot, I have many manuals and information about the plane, I also have his dosemeter the crew was required to ware. Thankyou for the video!
Another super fun and well constructed video. Thank you!
COOL aircraft in the background!
which one?
@@PaulStewartAviation ALL the aircraft in your videos 👍
My dad was in the USAF from 1951-1955 and was stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson AZ. I believe this is where you are shooting this video at the museum nearby. My sister and I were born in the base hospital. The B-47s and B-36s were flown out of that base during those years, so your videos are especially interesting to me. My dad was a staff sergeant and his job was clerk-typist -- not a very glorious job. He used to joke that he flew Royal typewriters at 50,000 feet.
Always love your vids, Paul! Thank you!! :)
Hello Paul. I had to laugh when you stood under the wingtip touching your head. I did something similar with that aircraft during my PIMA visit, I tried lifting the edge to see if I could get it to flex. I moved it up maybe 1/64th of an inch! Thanks for the video. 👍👍👍
My dad was bombadier/navigator from B 17 through to B 52. The B47 was his favorite plane to fly in....cause it was fast and low
Awesome plane but why did they think a bomber needed a bubble canopy?
That is a very good question! I wonder if it was the only way they could keep the fuselage as small as it was?
Went to tech school on the B-47 in 1964 at Amarillo AFB, TX. Never saw another one after graduation.
Oops! My memory almost failed me. I meant Air Training Corp, not Air Training Cadets. My bad!
It's crazy to see you reviewing a plane that I drive by frequently since I live nearby! This video makes me want to hit up this museum again some time 🥲
For any of those wondering, it's the Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona 💪, literally like 5 minutes away from the world's largest aircraft boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB
When I grew up in Carterton which was home to the then USAF Brize Norton there was later so many complaints coming in from farmers on the Westerly side of the base concerning drop in milk yields and chickens frightened into laying eggs on perches, that the commander decided that they should take off at a sharp incline until the RATO ended their cycle then level off. We ran down to the fence on the North Westerly side of the runway and as soon as the RATO kicked in we had a game where we would press our chest against our mate's shoulder and scream at the top of our voice, the name of the latest TV show or character and the other person had to guess it. The noise was so loud that you had to hold your breath as it was so hard to breath. We gave that game up quickly. The only time we saw another aircraft take such a sharp angle of rotation was in the final days of SAC by a visiting Vulcan which did it under its own steam. I still have the last copy of the Brize Breeze magazine which depicts in the centre pages the handover to RAF control.
1st thing in restoration that needs to be done are the engines! Followed by flight test! Does absolutely no good sitting with no one appreciating a living breathing flying B-47 !
Where is your cheque book? :)
@@PaulStewartAviation Here it is, U.S. Foreign Aid budget 1/10 of 1% taken from Foreign aid reciprocal countries that don't even like the United States! More than enough! How's that for Start Son?
Utube better than nothing
Another great video Paul! With all of this 'teasing' from PIMA, I'm definitely going to have to add it to my bucket list. Seattle, PIMA and Dayton looks like incredible aviation nerd destinations
Go in winter. Summer can be unbearable. I was stationed at Davis Monthan working on H-3's that had mid air retrival system installed (MARS) which consisted of a winch practically obstructing the sliding (right) door. It sat in front of a cable tray with rollers that directed the cable down the cargo hook hole. The cable was pulled taut under the belly to the ramp which had the lift struts removed and replaced with fixed rods to hold the ramp level. At the extreme rear of the ramp was a pair of holding fixtures which held aluminum poles that had hooks at the lower end that would snap off with a strong tug. Onto those hooks was a triangular rope which attached to hook and the third strand held the winch cable which had a beautiful polished 3 prong grappling hook. The helicopter would fly over a drone which had released a parachute. The idea was to grab the parachute with at least the grappling hook. A good catch snagged the chute with all 3 hooks. The helicopter would fly over and the winch would play out the cable and slowly put the brakes on the playout at such a rate as to not (completely) tear the chute. The whole tangled mess was winched back in and the drone was ferried back under the helicopter and set down on landing bags. The drones were Ryan Firebees (one on display at Pima) operated with the 432TDG. I was with the 432AGS maintaining the helicopters. The unit was defunded and shut down in Dec 1979. I was transferred to McClellan AFB in Sacramento where I worked on H-53's. Up to 4 drones could be mounted on pylons under the wings of the DC-130's that were next to our shop. In those years, A-10s and A-7s operated out of DM (tail code on airplane). I was there when an A-7 crashed next to Arizona State after the pilot ejected due to an engine failure.
workhardtravelharder9313, if you make the trip to the PIMIA museum, you can maximize the 'bang for buck' by including a tour of the nearby AMARG Boneyard, and also take a trip a bit south to the Titan Missile Museum (which I believe is run by the same organization that runs PIMA).
Fascinating to hear the extra detail of the B-47 needing some "rocket assist" to get off the ground when at near maximum take off weight and parachute assist to slow the aircraft down at landing! Yes, and the 5 metres of wing flex is amazing too. A great aircraft for its day and its looks impressive too. Thanks again Paul for interesting commentary and good video footage...
@2:00 Jimmy Stewart taking off with RATO
ua-cam.com/video/iV1hVLGLZ-w/v-deo.html
I've really been enjoying these walk around videos, thank you for sharing them. As a model making, these types of videos are useful for reference! If you ever make it out to Utah, the Hill Aerospace Museum has some awesome displays of unique aircraft, definitely worth a visit!
Literally a mini b52 lol
yes a smaller and fitter younger brother! actually it would be an older brother!
Good one Paul✈️👍
The B-47 is quite a remarkable aircraft for its day. This is the plane that someone described as a bomber but flew with the performance of a fighter. It definitely is a beautiful aircraft. Thanks Paul good video ! 😁👍
Greetings Paul! Late commenting, but thank-you again for such an informative video. I would've loved to see this acft doing a JATO take-off! Had to be amazing.
Couldn't help but notice the EC-135 parked next to the B-47. The EC-135 - an earlier version equipped J-57 engines - was the first aircraft I worked on as a fledgling USAF jet engine mechanic.
I bet it is loud as hell.
Great tour as always Paul. Can't wait to see what you have coming up next.
You do such a fine job on your presentations, Paul! I like your personality and the way you explain aircraft to us. Better than the tours at the museums where many of these displays are located. Lots of technical info!
Glad you like them!
It sure did revolutionise. The pylons holding the engines were swept, like tge wings, for a specific mach speed.
Another amazing video about a truly transformational aircraft. It is interesting to observe the compromises made in order to deliver a jet powered, intercontinental range bomber given the limitations of jet engine technology at the time. As always your videos are unfailingly enlightening.
Fascinating stuff, Paul. Compare and contrast the combined thrust of those six engines with that of, say, a Trent or a GE90. Too bad you couldn't get inside! The ergonomics of aircraft interiors and the division of tasks between the crew members always interest me.
From technical illustrations and photos I've seen the interior of the B-47 looks incredibly cramped, there is basically a tiny crawl space below the bubble canopy that allows access to the bombardier's seat in the nose and the pilot and co pilots seats above. It doesn't look very comfortable!
@@MrRandomcommentguy Ejection seats are very uncomfortable; no matter what fighter, attack or bomber.
@@MrRandomcommentguy I don’t think they were aiming for comfort
@@kingssuck06 well, no, of course crew comfort is not a big concern in the design of a military aircraft but the B-47 looks to be somewhat more cramped than most large bombers.
The whole terrifying thing of storing a Nuclear Bomb , getting it to the Bomber , loading it and taking off without crashing so it never went off in your country !
Can u do a video on the t33??
I have done a video on the P-80 which is similar :)
When the B47 that is at Castle air museum was flown in, the pilot, who had thousands of hours in the plane, famously got out of the plane and said “never again”
B29s that nuked japan same all guns removed except tail gun but manned
This beast first flew in 1947! Take that wehraboo's.
What Sci-Fi movie was this Jet in ?
It was in a 1957 movie called KRONOS where a B-47 is sent to drop a nuclear bomb on a Giant Monolith Robot that sucking Earth dry of all its electrical energy !
Definitely not sci-fi, but you can see see some great footage of this acft, along with the B-36 in the movie "Strategic Air Command". A wonderful, "must see" movie, and not just for acft enthusiasts. I've linked a clip of the movie showing a B-47 take-off, using JATO. ua-cam.com/video/iV1hVLGLZ-w/v-deo.html
@@johnt.4947 The B-47 was real but as far as know it only in one movie.
Excellent.
Many thanks!
Thanks! Nice vid.
Glad you liked it!
My dad flew B-47's from '53 through '58 out of Hunter in Savannah before transitioning to B-52's. He hated how heavy the helmets were at that time.
One of these aircraft gave a low-level display over Canberra several decades ago, probably the only time one flew to Oz, which is a shame because in appearance it is not much less striking than that of the matchless B-52. I live in hope the latter machine, still in service, will appear at one of our air shows before I depart.
You merely missed out. The B-52 is often overflown in RAAF airshows. I attended a RAAF airshow at Pearce WA about 8 years ago. The USAF were flying a B-52 from Guam via Darwin to Diego Garcia anyway so they had it detour to Pearce on the way to be part of the show. It's quite an awe inspiring aircraft to see. The USAF gave a retired B-52 to an air museum in Darwin - you can go look at any time.
Also on display at Pearce on the day was a USAF KC-135 tanker. I never realised how big these are until I stood underneath its' nose.
Also flybys and static displays at Avalon air show.
👍😎👍
GREAT VIDEO!! 👍
Thank you! 👍
The grandfather to the b52?
Where is this located?
PIMA