page_title: Strategic Air Command in the United Kingdom
section_title: Aerial refuelling and reconnaissance
hierarchical_section_title: Strategic Air Command in the United Kingdom / B-50 deployments / Aerial refuelling and reconnaissance
caption_attribution_description: English: Boeing KB-29P, originally B-29-45-BA, S/N 44-83951. (U.S. Air Force photo) A U.S. Air Force Boeing KB-29P Superfortress , originally B-29-45-BA, s/n 44-83951. This photo was taken after 1954 since tail number begins "O" (for "obsolete", meaning more than ten years old). Note the aviation fuel streaking out of the refueling boom and the drogue basket for use with probe equipped receivers.
context_page_description: Between 1948 and 1992, personnel and aircraft of the US Strategic Air Command were deployed to bases in England. An informal agreement to base SAC bombers in the UK was reached between US General Carl Spaatz, and Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder, in July 1946. At that time there were only three bases in the UK deemed suitable for operating Boeing B-29 Superfortresses: RAF Lakenheath, RAF Marham and RAF Sculthorpe. These were airbases that had been extended during World War II when there were plans to use B-29s against Germany. When the Berlin Blockade began in June 1948, two B-29 groups deployed to the UK, but neither was equipped with Silverplate bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Nuclear-capable Boeing B-50 Superfortress bombers began deploying in 1949, and nuclear bombs followed in 1950.
  The original bases in East Anglia were considered inadequate for the deployment of the forces called for called for in the Offtackle war plan, and there were concerns that they were exposed to a surprise attack from the North Sea.
context_section_description: Neither the B-29 nor the B-50 had the range to reach distant targets in the Soviet Union, so aerial refuelling techniques were developed. In 1948, 92 B-29s were converted to KB-29M tankers, and 74 B-29s, 57 B-50As and 44 TB-50Bs were modified to receive fuel from tankers. The first tanker units, the 43rd and the 509th Air Refueling Squadron, were formed in 1948, and in May 1949 eleven KB-29Ms of the 509th Air Refueling Squadron were the first to deploy to the UK. They were replaced by tankers of the 43rd Air Refueling Squadron in August and September. In May 1950, the 301st Air Refueling Squadron became the first tanker squadron to deploy all sixteen of its aircraft.
  SAC developed a new method of refuelling, the flying boom, and 116 B-29s were converted to the KB-29P configuration that employed it. A pair of KB-29Ps from the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron deployed to the UK in June 1951. Although SAC continued to use the KB-29P until 1957, the last KB-29P deployment to the UK was of the 2nd Air Refueling Squadron, which was at RAF Lakenheath from September to December 1952. The final KB-29M deployment was of the 43rd Air Refueling Squadron, which deployed to RAF Lakenheath from March to June 1943. The KB-29Ms were scrapped soon after.
  Four SAC RB-29As of the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron visited RAF Scampton in October and November 1948. One crashed at Bleaklow in Derbyshire, killing all 13 on board. Twelve RB-29As of the 23rd Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron deployed to RAF Sculthorpe from December 1949 to March 1950. The next deployment was the 72d Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, which arrived there in May 1950. In response to the outbreak of the Korean War, it conducted a search for indications of an imminent Soviet attack on Western Europe, but found none. Two of the aircraft were lost in crashes. 
  The 301st Bombardment Wing, which deployed to RAF Brize Norton and RAF Upper Heyford from December 1952 to March 1953, was the final B-29 deployment to the UK, and the first SAC deployment to the new bases in the Midlands. They were replaced by the B-50As of the 43rd Bombardment Wing. Its departure in June marked the final deployment of that aircraft as well.
caption: A U.S. Air Force Boeing KB-29P Superfortress , originally B-29-45-BA, s/n 44-83951, with the refuelling boom.
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