This Day in Aviation History 

December 17th, 1947
First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet.

The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (company Model 450) was a long range, six-engine, jet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interception. The B-47’s primary mission was to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union. With its engines carried in nacelles under the swept wing, the B-47 was a major innovation in post-World War II combat jet design, and helped lead to modern jet airliners.

The B-47 entered service with the United States Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) in 1951. It never saw combat as a bomber, but was a mainstay of SAC’s bomber strength during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and remained in use as a bomber until 1965. It was also adapted to a number of other missions, including photographic reconnaissance, electronic intelligence and weather reconnaissance, remaining in service as a reconnaissance platform until 1969 and as a testbed until 1977….

Source:
Wikipedia, Boeing B-47 Stratojet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-47_Stratojet

YouTube, Stratojet: Meet Your Boeing B-47 – Restored Color – 1954:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilu3NSvl3Ow

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