@ Riverside, CA
August 2009
Discovered this photo of a B-47E from an old trip to visit the March Field Air Museum and did a monochrome edit. First flown in 1947, this design was the result of a 1943 US Army Air Forces (USAAF) request for a jet-powered reconnaissance bomber. This revolutionary jet age design incorporated swept wings and jet engines carried in nacelles underneath the wing. The Stratojet never saw combat as a bomber, but reconnaissance RB-47s were fired upon during missions near Soviet airspace. This example was delivered in February 1955 and served until August 1964 when she was provided to the Navy as a drone target. She was recovered from China Lake and brought to the Museum in 1988. More than 2,000 were produced and served as late as 1969.