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B47

B-47 strategic bombers doing Immelmann Turns and Barrel Rolls

by Till Daisd September 16, 2024

The two, cool videos in this post clearly show why B-47 crews loved this aircraft’s maneuverability and sweet handling for good reason.’

The two videos in this post make it quite evident why B-47 crews found this aircraft’s agility and awesome handling to be so appealing.

The exceptional agility of the B-47 was demonstrated in a series of maneuver tests carried out by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in 1954. The purpose of these tests was to investigate the B-47s’ ability to “toss bombs.” The plane would fly low and fast toward the target, pull up sharply, open the bomb bay doors, employ momentum to launch the bomb toward the target, and then complete the remaining half of an Immelmann turn to fly back the other way at the top of the loop.

By using this maneuver, the bomber was able to drop high explosives and nuclear weapons at low altitudes without running the risk of hitting heavily protected targets or suffering blast damage. It is memorable to see the large, sleek B-47 perform this maneuver (and barrel rolls too!).

During test flights, the aircraft’s several cameras provide distinct perspectives.

The Boeing B-47 Stratojet represented a milestone in aviation history and a revolution in aircraft design. It had sweeping wings, jet engines in underwing pods, main landing gear located on the fuselage, and automated systems that lowered the crew number to three, among many other cutting-edge technologies for the time.

More than 2,000 Stratojets were produced by Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed between 1947 and 1957. The USAF flew 1,357 B-47s and 175 RB-47s during its most active period of operation in 1958, when it operated 28 B-47 bomb wings and four RB-47 reconnaissance wings.

However, this is not the first time that we saw such a large aircraft performing aerobatic maneuvers: on Jul. 17, 2018, at Farnborough Airshow Test, pilot Wayne Roberts, flying the Lockheed LM-100J Super Hercules, showed the aircraft’s amazing flying qualities (the aircraft also did a loop!). Click here to watch the video!

September 16, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

During a night training Mach 2 bomb run, the B-58 navigator remembers his pilot turning in his wings after their Hustler went in a nose-high stall

by Till Daisd June 24, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The B-58 Hustler

On November 11, 1956, the B-58, the US Air Force’s first operational supersonic bomber, took off. Apart from its delta wing design, the Hustler was distinguished by its advanced inertial guidance navigation and bombing system, its slender “wasp-waist” fuselage, and its extensive use of heat-resistant honeycomb sandwich skin panels in both the wings and fuselage. The thin fuselage made it impossible to carry bombs inside; thus, a nuclear weapon, additional fuel, reconnaissance equipment, and other specialized gear were all stored in a droppable, two-component pod beneath the fuselage. The B-58 crew consisted of a pilot, navigator/bombardier, and defense systems operator.

Richard “Butch” Sheffield volunteered for the then-new B-58 while serving as a navigator and bombardier on the B-47. He had to return to his previous rank of lieutenant after losing his spot promotion. In his book “The Very First,” which he left for his family, he writes about it.

‘I entered the B-58 Combat Crew Training School (CCTS) as a student. The school was about two months long with academics and simulators. I was crewed with Captain Sparks (Sparky), aircraft Commander (AC), and Lt. Patrick, Defense Systems Officer (DSO).

The first crew to pass Central Evaluations Group

‘We soon started flying, and I loved the B-58. The bombing and navigation system, plus the cockpit, were excellent. We became combat-ready fast and were one of the first crews checked out in the aircraft, number fourteen, I believe.

‘General LeMay wanted all SAC crews to be changeable. Each crew and crew position were to have procedures alike for the aircraft they were flying in. The Central Evaluations Group (CEG) visited each wing and tested and evaluated the crew force to see if all wings performed the same procedures. To pass CEG was a big deal in B-47’s.

‘The CEG people wanted to get their foot in the door on this new program, so they decided that they should come in and give a check ride to one of the crews. We were selected.

‘It was a joke; they didn’t know anything about the aircraft, but they went through the motions and checked us; it was a piece of cake; we passed. So, we became the first B-58 crew ever to pass CEG.’

B-58 Hustler nose-high stall over Dallas

He continues;

B-58 navigator recalls when his pilot turned in his wings after their Hustler went in a nose-high stall during a night training Mach 2 bomb run over Dallas — Richard Butch Sheffield (in the middle) B-58 crew.

‘About six months after we became combat-ready, we flew a Mach 2 bomb run on Dallas at night. When the run was over, and we went to start our descent from fifty thousand feet, Capt. Sparks pulled back the power but FORGOT to take the altitude hold off.

‘The aircraft went into a nose-high stall, and we began to drop quickly; the engine’s compressor stalled, and the generators all went offline. We lost all electrical power; I had only a tiny battery-powered light in the cockpit. The only thing I could see was the airspeed and altimeter. I called the pilot, who said the flight controls had locked up.

‘It took one hundred and fifteen pounds of pressure to override the autopilot. He was a petite guy trying to override it, not knowing that altitude hold was on. It was a wild ride down. We were falling tail first with very little forward motion.

‘I decided to eject at fifteen thousand feet as we were trained. At about twenty thousand feet, I felt the nose of the aircraft starting to drop, and he said, I think I have got it (he had overridden the autopilot). Once the nose came down, the engines could be re-started, and we recovered at about ten thousand feet; we landed at Carswell. No one said a thing.’

The pilot quits

Sheffield concludes;

‘The following day, when I went into the Squadron, everyone was saying, did you hear about “Sparky?” I said no. They said he went into the commander (CO) office this morning, and threw his wings on his desk, and said, “I quit!” He then went around the Squadron bad-mouthing the B-58 and telling the other crews they should quit the program, too, because the aircraft was unsafe; the CO told him to get out.’

Up until 1964, when he was hired away to the SR-71 program, he continued to serve with the B-58s. In 1965, he arrived at Beale Air Force Base after passing the astronaut physical at Brooks Air Force Base in Texas.

Check out Habubrats SR-71‘s Twitter profile and Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Habubrats‘s Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Convair Thought to Transform the B-58 into a Supersonic Airliner. And to Store 5 Passengers in Hustler’s MB-1C Pod.

Photo by Linda Sheffield Miller and U.S. Air Force

June 24, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The only B-47 that that took off from Little Rock AFB to the UK across the Atlantic Ocean

by Till Daisd June 9, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The B-47 Stratojet

The first XB-47 prototype, which was built to fulfill a 1944 need, flew in December 1947 and outperformed its rivals. It had sweeping wings, jet engines in underwing pods, main landing gear located on the fuselage, and automated systems that reduced the crew number to three, among many other cutting-edge technologies for the period.

The B-47 started to replace the B-29 and B-50 propeller-driven bombers in May 1951 in the medium bomber units of the US Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC). The B-47’s maximum speed was more than 200 mph faster than the aircraft it replaced, even though it could carry roughly the same bomb tonnage.

45 B-47s took off from Little Rock AFB to the UK, only one made it across the Atlantic Ocean

45 B-47s were launched from Little Rock Air Force Base (AFB) to the United Kingdom in 1956 as part of a bomb run exercise. All except one of the B-47s returned to the United States after crossing the Atlantic. Lieutenant Richard “Butch” Sheffield, a B-47 navigator and bombardier, was prepared to follow. He needed to learn how to lead rapidly.

He recalls in his unpublished book, “The Very First:”

‘As we prepared to fly to the UK, my aircraft and crew were to be the fifth aircraft in a flight of five. I believe that because I was the lowest-ranking navigator with the least experience, they did not want me to have to navigate the Atlantic as lead or alone.

‘We took off from Little Rock, all forty-five B-47s, and flew up to Northern New York State to refuel from KC-97 tankers flying at fifteen thousand feet. We were at thirty-five-thousand feet. Tankers put out a radar signal that we could identify on our radar screen. Each set of tankers, nine different sets, put signals that were almost alike but not. I saw our signal and told the aircraft commander (AC). He relayed to the lead aircraft that we had the tankers that we were to refuel with, and they didn’t believe him.

‘As we overflew them, we went over twice as fast and twenty thousand feet above them. My AC asked me if I was sure, and I said yes. He then told the lead, you are going to miss them; they are right below us now. Once again, they didn’t believe him, or I guess they didn’t believe that a Lieutenant could find the tankers from among the many radar signals.’

B-47 navigator/bombardier recalls when out of 45 Stratojets that took off from Little Rock AFB to the UK his B-47 was the only one that made it across the Atlantic Ocean

Heading for the UK

He continues;

‘My AC asked me for a heading for the tankers and left the formation. We rendezvoused with our tankers and took on our fuel. After refueling (we could not use the radios while refueling), the pilots asked for our location, and I gave it to them. They called the rest of the flight and told them where the tankers were at that time; by then, they were far away from the tankers.

‘I really didn’t know what we were going to do next, then the AC said; give me a heading for the UK. Now, I knew we were going to the UK alone, and I was going to navigate the North Atlantic in the middle of the winter, all by myself. I broke into a cold sweat; I was not prepared to do it.

‘Normally, the fifth aircraft in a flight of five just station keeps (keeps other aircraft on the radar) on the other aircraft in front of them, and the navigator/copilot team doesn’t shoot stars.

‘The lead navigator would do his planning by pre-computing the star shots on the ground the day before the flight. Now, I had to do the star computations in the small area and dim light of the cockpit. All across the Atlantic, I shot one star after another. My copilot, Mac McCraken, was young and eager, like me. He would do anything I asked him in the air. The older World War Two copilots would not have done it. This was hard work, and we never stopped until I saw the UK lands on the radar. WE HAD MADE IT.’

B-47 navigator/bombardier recalls when his Stratojet flew the largest Nuclear Bomb ever built to Spain — Richard “Butch” Sheffield is on the far right in the photo. His crew was named Best B-47 crew in 1960.

The only B-47 out of 45 that made it from Little Rock AFB to the UK

Sheffield concludes;

‘The following day, we were all told to report to see the Squadron Commander in his Office. This always meant trouble or an award. When we arrived, the AC was told to go in alone; Mac and I waited outside the door. We heard the Commander hollering all over the building, he was very mad that we had left the formation and went it alone.

‘When the AC came out, he was smiling. He said the Squadron Commander was just mad that the others were still back in the US, and they had never found the tankers and landed in North Eastern United States!

‘He said, I told him, we are here, and they are back in the US, so who goofed up?’

When he crossed the Atlantic Ocean alone, he was just 23 years old. A few years later, he was chosen to be among the first navigators on the new B-58. He was also the first RSO to be chosen for the SR-71 Blackbird initiative. He was ordered to follow the experienced, older navigators, but he had to take the lead and soon become good at it.

Check out the Habubrats SR-71‘s Twitter profile and the Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder‘s Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force and Linda Sheffield Miller

June 9, 2024 0 comment

Cold War

The pilot and bombardier of the B-47 remembers carrying the biggest nuclear bomb ever manufactured toward Spain

by Till Daisd April 20, 2024

written by Till Daisd

The B-47 that flew the largest Nuclear Bomb ever built to Spain

The first XB-47 prototype, built to fulfill a 1944 need, flew in December 1947 and outperformed its competitors. It had swept wings, jet engines in underwing pods, main landing gear located on the fuselage, and automated systems that lowered the crew number to three, among many other innovative features for the period.

In May 1951, the B-47 began replacing the propeller-driven B-29s and B-50s in the US Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) medium bomber units. 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 US Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC) medium bomber units started using B-47s in May 1951 in place of their propeller-driven B-29s and B-50s. The B-47 had a top speed of over 200 mph, but it could carry roughly the same number of bombs as the aircraft it replaced.

B-47 Stratojet nuclear bomber

Due to its capabilities, the B-47 Stratojet—a nuclear bomber and reconnaissance aircraft—became an essential component of the SAC in the 1950s and early 1960s.

As Richard “Butch” Sheffield (former B-47 navigator/bombardier, former B-58 navigator/bombardier, and former SR-71 Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO)) recalls in his unpublished book “The Very First,” Stratojet units regularly deployed to forward air bases around the world on temporary duty because the B-47 did not have the range of SAC’s heavy bombers (the B-36 and later the B-52).

Flying to Spain with Mark 36

‘In the summer of 1959, our Wing moved its overseas operating location from Fairford, Royal Air Force Base, in the United Kingdom (UK) to a Spanish Air Force Base at Moron, Spain, near Seville.

‘In order to get our nuclear weapons to Spain, we just flew them in our B-47’s. This way, we did not have to down load them from our alert status in the UK. Our primary weapon was the Mark 36. It weighed twenty thousand pounds, completely filled the B-47 bomb bay, and had a seven-megaton yield. This was the largest nuclear bomb ever produced.

‘The normal way of moving nuclear weapons was by Military Air Lift. The weapons were safe, offloaded from the bombers, place into heavy lift aircraft like C-130, C-97, or later, C-5s.

Carrying the largest Nuclear Bomb ever produced

‘So, flying them in the bomber was very unusual. Also, when the B-47 was full of fuel, with tip tanks fully loaded and the Mark 36 loaded, our center of gravity (CG) was far aft of normal. We could not land with the bomb onboard and fuel in the tip tanks. We have to burn the fuel out of the tip tanks or drop the bomb to get the CG forward to land.

‘The route to Moron took us right over the Capital City of Spain, Madrid. As I flew over Madrid with this very large Hydrogen bomb, I couldn’t help but think, what do those people on the ground think is flying over them today? We even made a simulated bomb run on them.’

Flying home over the Bermuda Triangle

When Richard “Butch” Sheffield would discuss flying over the Bermuda Triangle and claim that there was indeed something strange about it, he would have a perplexed expression on his face.

‘When it came time to rotate back home to Little Rock, my CO-pilot, Jim McCracken, and I came up with a way to get home sooner than normal. We would land at the Azores; refuel then were going to fly all the way home on one tank of gas going over Bermuda.

‘Everything was going well, right on fuel plans until we passed Bermuda, then we ran into the jet stream, two hundred-knot headwinds, that were not forecast. We were lucky to make it to the East Coast. I have never seen, before, or sense, headwinds like that. The jet stream never goes that far South.

‘We landed at Hunter, AFB, SC. on the East Coast. Flew home to Little Rock the next day.’

Check out Habubrats SR-71’s Twitter profile and the Born into the Wilde Blue Yonder Facebook page for further Blackbird photos and stories.

Photo by U.S. Air Force and Linda Sheffield Miller

April 20, 2024 0 comment

History

The story of the XB-52 and YB-52, the scrapped B-52s prototype

by Till Daisd September 19, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The designations XB-52 and YB-52 were assigned to these prototype B-52 aircraft. X stands for “experimental,” and Y stands for “prototype.”

The B-52 was the primary long-range heavy bomber of the US Air Force during the Cold War after it went into service in 1955, and it is still a crucial component of the USAF bomber force today.

In his book Boeing B-47 Stratojet & B-52 Stratofortress Origins and Evolution, Scott Lowther explains how the Model 464-49, which was chosen as the XB-52’s winning design, evolved into the Model 464-67. Although they were similar in many ways, there were several noticeable variations, most notably the enlargement of the forward Fuselage. 464-67 had the cockpit well in front of the wing, as opposed to 464-49 which had the cockpit canopy’s rear behind the leading edge of the wing roots. The engine nacelles were modified, and the spoilers on the wings’ comparatively large area were shrunk. With these modifications, Boeing was prepared to start building two Model 464-67s after receiving an Air Force “letter of intent” for B-52 tooling in March 1951.

The designations XB-52 and YB-52 were assigned to these prototype B-52 aircraft. X stands for “experimental,” and Y stands for “prototype.” Usually, an “experimental” aircraft is constructed before a “prototype,” but in this instance, the YB-52 took flight first on April 15, 1952, while the XB-52 (serial number 49-230) rolled out on November 29, 1951, and the YB-52 (serial number 49-231) followed on March 15, 1952. This was because the XB-52 needed major repairs after damage occurred during testing of the pneumatic system’s pressurization.

On October 2, 1952, the XB-52 took to the skies after the prototype. The YB-52’s two-hour initial flight was powered by YJ57-P-3 prototype engines. The XB-52 and YB-52 were basically the same despite having different names.

In terms of appearance, the prototype B-52s and the finished aircraft shared many similarities. The cockpit, however, was a feature that stood out between the two planes right away. The pilot had good visibility thanks to the low-drag tandem fighter-style canopy, which was used on the B-47.

The layout of the landing gear used by the rest of the B-52 fleet was pioneered by the prototypes. Though at first appearing to be fairly comparable to the B-47’s bicycle arrangement, the B-52’s gear was very different. Four separate dual-wheel bogies were stored within the B-52 fuselage, but instead of deploying straight down, they deployed out to the sides, twisting around so that the bogies stored fore-and-aft ended up side-by-side. This gave the B-52 not a bicycle arrangement, but a quadricycle.

The main landing gear of the B-52 would allow it to sit levelly without leaning to one side or the other. It continued to use smaller outrigger gear close to the wingtips, although this was done to prevent wingtip impact with the ground during heavy takeoffs or bumpy landings.

Moreover, the B-52 was able to land while “crabbing” into the wind with its fuselage oriented significantly off the plane’s groundpath because to its forward bogies’ ability to swivel up to 20° side to side. This would allow for risk-free landings in strong winds.

The main wings of the prototypes had flapperons, ailerons, and spoilers. The inboard engine pylon was right outside the ailerons, which were small and placed far from the wingtip. The ailerons would have had better control if they had been positioned at the wingtip, but that would have placed them in a much thinner and more flexible area of the wing. The inboard spot was suitable for the maneuvers the bomber was supposed to make.

In any case, the spoilers were to handle the majority of the aircraft’s control requirements, making the ailerons redundant over time. The prototypes lacked the capacity to refuel in flight, unlike the subsequent production aircraft. The external fuel tanks that often adorned the outer wings of B-52 production models were also absent at first, but they were finally fitted later in the testing phase.

All of the horizontal stabilizers could move, although this movement was intended to stabilize the trim. Real control was carried out via small elevators around the back. Trim tabs were present in the elevators of the B-52F. The folding vertical fin was a significant but underappreciated characteristic of all B-52s that came after the prototype. Up until the G-model, the fin was a sizable structure that was far too tall to allow the B-52 to fit inside conventional hangars.

As a result, it could fold over 90 degrees, significantly decreasing the aircraft’s effective height. The fielding fin is not a self-contained system; an additional crane is required to lay it over and hoist it back up again, in contrast to naval aircraft that have wings that can fold to fit in the constrained area on board aircraft carriers.

The Boeing Seattle factory essentially handcrafted the prototypes. Jigs were not finalized, therefore production processes were not applied, and frequently, standard instruments and equipment were not used. The tail turrets on either prototype were represented by static fairings with painted-on lines; none was equipped with defensive armaments.

After 783 hours of flight, the YB-52 was handed to the US Air Force Museum on January 27, 1958. It was on display for a while, but the XB-52 and YB-52 were both scrapped sometime in the 1960s as a result of a “beautification” plan coordinated by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson. The available literature does not sufficiently explain how the official museum of the United States Air Force was ‘beautified’ by turning one of the most beautiful airplanes ever made into razor blades and soda cans.

Boeing B-47 Stratojet & B-52 Stratofortress Origins and Evolution is published by Mortons Books and is available to order here.

Photo by: U.S. Air Force

September 19, 2023 0 comment

Cold War

The B-47 Stratojet served as the strategic air command’s backbone throughout the early Cold War

by Till Daisd March 29, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The USAF operated 28 B-47 bomb wings and four RB-47 reconnaissance wings, totaling 1,357 B-47s and 175 RB-47s, during the height of their use in 1958

The Boeing B-47 Stratojet was a turning point in the history of aviation and an innovation in aircraft design. It included a lot of cutting-edge components for the time, like swept wings, underwing jet engines, main landing gear mounted on the fuselage, and automated systems that reduced the crew size to three from the usual four.

Today, every major jet aircraft comes from the B-47. Due to all of these capabilities, the Stratojet became a crucial part of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) of the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s and early 1960s, serving both as a nuclear bomber and a reconnaissance aircraft.

In May 1951, the propeller-driven B-29s and B-50s in the SAC’s medium bomber units started to be replaced by the B-47, which was created to satisfy the demand from 1944.

The RB-47H carried electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment and electronic sensors in radomes in several locations — in the nose, under the front and rear of the fuselage, under the wing tips, and on some later RB-47Hs like the one pictured here, in a pod attached to the right side of the fuselage.

Notably, the B-47’s top speed was more than 200 mph quicker even though it could carry roughly the same amount of bombs as the aircraft it replaced. Due to the B-47’s limited range in comparison to SAC’s heavy bombers (the B-36 and later the B-52), Stratojet units were frequently sent on temporary assignments to forward air bases all over the world.

These deployments typically lasted three months, but thanks to the Reflex Action program, they were cut down to three weeks starting in 1957.

The Stratojet served as a nuclear strike bomber, but its speed and payload also made it an excellent aircraft for strategic reconnaissance. Photographic reconnaissance B-47s made many overflights of the Soviet Union between 1952 and 1956, giving detailed images of the country’s military and industrial facilities. The Soviet Union’s intercontinental ballistic missile program and air defense systems were the subjects of Stratajet intelligence gathering.

The B-47’s weather reconnaissance models acquired air samples from Soviet nuclear explosions in addition to collecting weather data. These crucial RB-47 missions over and near the Soviet Union’s border were risky; Soviet fighters shot down two reconnaissance Stratojets and damaged one, killing seven USAF personnel and imprisoning two others for a short time.

Though mismatched in speed, the propeller-driven KC-97 became the main tanker aircraft used to extend the Stratojet’s range. During refueling, the B-47 flew just above stall speed while the KC-97 flew at full throttle.

Almost 2,000 Stratojet aircraft were produced by Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed between 1947 and 1957. The USAF operated 28 B-47 bomb wings and four RB-47 reconnaissance wings, totaling 1,357 B-47s and 175 RB-47s, during the height of their operations in 1958.

According to Robert Robbins, a B-47 test pilot, “the best way to tell about the performance of the Stratojet was to say that any good crew could have flown it. It took no unusual ability or education. […] Rather, the credit should go to the men who carried out these visions on the drafting boards and the factory workers who made the visions a reality.”

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

The RB-47E carried one forward-looking camera in the nose and up to six cameras in the modified bomb bay, plus photoflash bombs for night photography and a defensive 20mm cannon in the tail.

Source: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and Boeing

Photo by U.S. Air Force

March 29, 2023 0 comment

History

A Soviet MiG-19 shot down an American Elint aircraft over the Barents Sea

by Till Daisd October 18, 2021

written by Till Daisd

Before swinging back to launch a cannon strike, the MiG-19 broke away from the RB-47H during the maneuver. The aircraft was shot down after two firing attempts

The 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (SRW), headquartered at Forbes AFB, Kansas, was re-equipped with the specially modified RB-47H type of the B-47 Stratojet during the second half of 1955, replacing their outdated Boeing RB-50Gs. Three Special Operators were transported by the RB-47H in a pressurized bomb-bay capsule. The APD-4 automatic receiver/analyzer served as the primary Elint system for the aircraft, with manual APR-17 receivers, an ALA-6 direction finding (D/F) system, and ALA-74 pulse analyzers serving as backups. Regular monthly detachments to the UK were undertaken by the RB-47Hs of the 55th SRW, from whence they launched Elint sorties over Europe.

RB-47H shot down: when a Soviet MiG-19 downed a USAF Elint plane over the Barents Sea — The RB-47H carried a crew of six, with the pilot, co-pilot, and navigator in a pressurized section in the nose. The three electronic warfare officers (EWOs), also known as “Ravens” or “Crows,” were stationed in what would be the bomb bay in a normal B-47. On typical missions, the EWOs spent about 12-14 hours working in this confined, windowless compartment, completely surrounded by electronic equipment.

An RB-47H (53-4281) of the 55th SRW, based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, launched an Elint sortie into the Barents Sea on July 1st, 1960. The aircraft flew in international airspace about 50 miles (80 km) off the Russian coast while traveling up the Norwegian coast, around the North Cape, and then southeast along the Kola Peninsula’s coastline. A MiG-19 Farmer intercepted the RB-47H as it got close to the tip of the peninsula and flew in tight formation with it. The RB-47H performed a predetermined maneuver to the northeast, moving away from the coastline, about 50 miles (80 km) off Cape Svyatoy Nos (Holy Nose Point), close to the entrance to the White Sea.

The RB-47H broke away from the MiG-19 during the maneuver, and it then swung back to launch a cannon strike. The aircraft was downed after two fire passes. Sadly, only Col. Bruce Olmstead, the co-pilot of the RB-47H, and John McKone, the navigator, remained alive; the three Special Operators perished. Later, the Soviet Union used the assertion that the aircraft had violated Soviet territorial waters by approaching a location 11.83 miles (19 km) north of Svyatoy Nos to defend against the strike.

Over the Arctic Ocean, Olmstead and McKone were forced to eject from their damaged aircraft. They were detained in the Soviet Union for seven months. The KGB sent Olmstead and McKone to Moscow’s feared Lubyanka prison and accused them of spying after they survived the downing of their RB-47H. They were interrogated nonstop while being confined in isolation in a freezing cell with limited opportunities for food or rest.

They knew plenty of secrets. But neither Olmstead nor McKone gave up a thing to the KGB during seven months of solitary confinement.

“They continued to fulfill the Airman’s Creed, to never surrender,” explained retired Brig. Gen. Reg Urschler of Bellevue, a squadron mate of Olmstead’s later commanded the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (SRW). “None of us can imagine what they went through.”

After his release, Olmstead never flew again for the 55th, but he became a test pilot and, later, an air attaché in Denmark, and he retired as a colonel in 1983. Post-military, he became a home remodeling contractor. He visited Russia and hosted Russian military veterans in his home.

However, he carried the effects of those months in jail with him for the rest of his life.

“You can’t sit in a cell for 211 days without it affecting you,” he told the Washington Post in 1978. “You don’t forgive and forget. You forgive, and you live with it.”

In 2004, after Cold War veterans became eligible for combat medals, Olmstead and McKone (who passed away in 2013) finally earned their Silver Star medals. After two years, Olmstead gave his to the 55th Wing.

The loss of the RB-47H increased scrutiny of US units operating out of the UK, according to Dave Forster and Chris Gibson in their book Listening In, RAF Electronic Intelligence Gathering Since 1945. It was discovered that the UK was typically given the Navigator’s log and intelligence findings from each flight sometime thereafter but was not typically given the route of US Elint missions in advance. The Air Ministry was only generally informed about the expected aircraft track of any sortie as a result.

Later, the flight plan for the RB-47H sortie on July 1 as well as ground intercepts of Soviet air defense activities, including tracking information, were forwarded to the Air Ministry. This suggested that the intended distance from the Soviet coast was to be 60nm (111km), however, intercept evidence suggested that the RB-47H had actually closed to 28 nautical miles (52km) before continuing on its intended course and standing off by about 66nm (122km). Although the tracking information was inconsistent, it seemed to indicate that the aircraft may have closed the coast again before being shot down.

The RB-47 remained in service until 1967, when the RC-135 took its place.

Photo by U.S. Air Force

October 18, 2021 0 comment