SOME BACKGROUND…

Every large jet aircraft today is a descendant of the B-47. The B-47 Stratojet produced by Boeing was a milestone in American bomber design in several ways. The system pioneered the now-traditional bomber layout found on many of today's bomber aircraft and offered up performance capabilities unheard of before then. As a post-war/Cold War aircraft design, the system was the epitome of what the American military sought in terms of high-level penetration systems capable of nuclear strikes deep within enemy territory. In fact it incorporated many advanced features for the time, including swept wings, jet engines in underwing pods, fuselage-mounted main landing gear and automated systems that reduced the standard crew size to three.

Thanks to all these features the Stratojet became an essential component of the U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as a nuclear bomber and a reconnaissance aircraft.
The B-47 began replacing the propeller-driven B-29s and B-50s in SAC’s medium bomber units in May 1951. Between 1947 and 1957, Boeing, Douglas and Lockheed built over 2,000 Stratojets. At its peak use in 1958, the USAF operated 28 B-47 bomb wings and four RB-47 reconnaissance wings, totaling 1,357 B-47s and 175 RB-47s. While it could carry about the same bomb tonnage as the aircraft it replaced, the B-47’s top speed was more than 200 mph faster.

The USAF phased out its last B-47 bombers in 1965, and retired its last Stratojet, a WB-47E, in 1969.

THE BUILD

This build isn’t intended to be a 100% accurate simulation of the B-47, but it covers the basics and (hopefully) does the original some justice. I didn’t add the RATO option, since that would increase the part count again; maybe I’ll make a “full version” some time later on. The model has all the usual stuff -custom landing gear and control surfaces (including inboard “flaperons”), animated bomb bay hatch, and a cockpit view that’s somewhat B-47-ish.

There are some minor additional animations; when the plane is parked, the crew access hatch opens and the ladder is extended. Activate AG3 when parked, and a pair of wheel chocks magically appear (haha) to prevent the plane from slowly rolling away. These parking features are just for show of course, and all disappear automatically as soon as you hit the throttle to get moving. Last of all, you will notice black smoke from the engines sometimes (e.g. on takeoff, steep climb) -this simulates the B-47’s engine smoke when the water injection system was used to provide extra thrust.

The B-47 was primarily a nuclear bomber… but since SP doesn’t have nukes (except as mods), I gave it a mixed package of conventional weapons. It carries 18 500lb “dumb” bombs (the B-47’s maximum was 28), to be released one at a time or in three batches of 6. And of course it has a fully functional tail barbette with two 20mm cannons, as well as flare dispensers to help it to evade missiles.

Additionally, the plane comes equipped with two GAM-67 “Crossbow” missiles. The GAM-67 was a jet-powered anti-radar missile, developed by Northrop in the fifties. The project was cancelled in ’57 and the missiles never actually saw service -but the B-47 was used as a test bed, and could carry up to four of these missiles underwing.

TAKE-OFF AND LANDING

The B-47’s take-off run (loaded and without RATO) is quite long, so forget about using short airstrips. With about 25-40% flaps, the B-47 would lift off automatically when unloaded. With fuel and weapons on board, a bit of nose-up pitch is required. Lift-off is with the fuselage level to the ground; do not rotate. The aircraft will feel nose heavy until it gains some more speed; this is normal, and once it gets going it will handle nicely -for a bomber, that is.

Landing the Stratojet properly is a challenge. The combination of a high aspect, swept wing without high-lift devices such as edge slats, and bicycle-type landing gear leaves a narrow margin for a successful touchdown. It’s not advisable to attempt landing with a full load, although a totally empty plane with almost no fuel brings its own difficulties. The airplane has no thrust reversers or speedbrakes, and very little frontal drag, so allow plenty of distance to slow down. You can use the approach brake chute (AG1) but it has to be opened and cut loose again at the right moments. You’ll be landing at some 350 km/h, touching down on front & rear wheels simultaneously. The approach must be long and flat; it’s not possible to dive in, chop throttles and flare land the B-47.

Play around with the flaps on landings, you’ll get the hang of it soon enough!

CONTROLS

AG1 : approach chute
AG2 : brake chute
AG3 : freezes the plane’s pitch & yaw controls and activates the gyro for added stability. Pitch & yaw now control the tail barbette; don’t forget to select cannons from the weapons display. When the plane is parked, AG3 will toggle the front wheel chocks.
AG4 : drop everything from underwing (i.e. the fuel tanks and the GAM-67’s, if the latter haven’t been launched yet)
AG5 : release 6 bombs (open bomb bay first, VTOL up)
AG6 : release 6 bombs (open bomb bay first, VTOL up)
AG7 : release 6 bombs (open bomb bay first, VTOL up)
AG8 : toggle lights
VTOL up : open bomb bay doors
VTOL down : flaps
Trim : pitch trim

CAMERA VIEWS

1 – Tail cannons
2 through 6 – Missile and bomb chase cams
7 – Bombardier’s view (the B-47 probably never had a window in the bottom for this purpose, but it does come in handy sometimes for aiming)

Have fun with this icon from the fifties!

Maps used in screenshots: Stork Island, Area 51, Prague Airport.

Special thanks to Gestour for the cockpit instruments mod.