@ Atwater, CA
April 2021
First flown in 1947, the B-47 Stratojet 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 B-47 was delivered to the USAF in 1952, then transferred to the US Navy in 1958 where she spent 20 years as a Navy bombing and gunnery target at the China Lake Naval Weapons facility. After retirement from the Navy, a five-year effort was undertaken to make her airworthy once more, culminating in a 1986 flight from China Lake to Castle AFB. More than 2,000 were produced and served as late as 1969.
