B-47 from 1951 to 1955. We received the first
3 planes at McDill AFB. and had 3 bomb wings by 1955. We had a All planes
general group that inspected the plane before each flight . If there was
even a rivet loose they took care of it. being a electron on the B-47. I was
all over the plane and would have noticed any cracks in the wings. I don't
know where this story came from but i say it is entirely untrue. I am
extremely proud of my involvement with the B-47 and don't appreciate a lie
like this about our plane. My e mail is
fpaulk@alltel.net.
If any one wants to talk with me I say bring it on Thanks Farrel
Dear Farrel,
Thank you very much for your comments. I don't know when these planes went
out of service. It was my boss that told me about the cracks. He was a
B-29 pilot, then a B-47 pilot. He told me that this was a top secret since
the B-29's and B-36's were taken out of service and the B-52's were not in
service yet. He said that the planes were limited to a 1/4 G turn because of
the size of the cracks. On his last flight, the flight surgeon grounded him
because of the flu. His plane took off and a wing fell off and killed
everyone in the plane. He said that, that was the last time he flew and he
asked to get out of the Air Force because of this. He feels that he should
have been on that plane himself. C. Jeff Dyrek, Webmaster
1998
Here's some information that was previously above top
secret about the B-47. When the B-29's and B-36's were decommissioned
we had the all new B-47 Stratojet which could out fly anything in the sky.
This large bomber, with a jet fighter canopy was our
main Strategic Air Command bomber and our first line of air defense.
We didn't have any other aircraft with the capabilities that were needed to
take this role in defense of our country, that's why what I'm going to tell
you was above top secret.
My supervisor was a former B-47 pilot. He flew
all of the previous bombers and was given the new job of being a B-47 Pilot.
One of the duties of pilot was to inspect the airplane prior to flight,
Preflight. One tools that he had to use was a ruler, yes, a 12 inch
ruler, this was the secret! He had to measure the crack in the wings
before every flight. The cracks were the secret that we couldn't let
out. The design was flawed and all of the wings of the B47 had cracks.
If the crack exceeded 12 inches, the plane was unfit to fly. If it was
under 12 inches, the plane could be flown but was limited to a 1/4 G
maneuver. We couldn't let the enemy know that our first line of SAC
defense had cracked wings.
