Boeing B - 47 Stratojet The Boeing Model 450 B - 47 Stratojet was a long - range , six - engined , jet - powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speeds and at high altitudes to avoid enemy interception . The B - 47 ' s mission was primarily to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union . With its engines carried in pods under the swept wing , the B - 47 was a major innovation in post - World War II combat jet design , and helped lead to modern jet airliner s . The B - 47 entered service with the United States Air Force ' s Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) in 1951 . It never saw combat as a bomber , but was a mainstay of SAC ' s bomber strength during the 1950s and early 1960s , and remained in use as a bomber until 1965 . It was also adapted to a number of other missions , including photo reconnaissance , electronic intelligence and weather reconnaissance , remaining in service as a reconnaissance platform until 1969 and as a testbed until 1977 . Development . Origins . The B - 47 arose from an informal 1943 requirement for a jet - powered reconnaissance bomber , drawn up by the U . S . Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) to prompt manufacturers to start research into jet bombers . Boeing was among several companies that responded to this request ; its initial design , the Model 424 , was basically a scaled - down version of the piston - engine d Boeing B - 29 Superfortress equipped with four jet engines . The next year , this concept evolved into a formal request - for - proposal to design a new bomber with a maximum speed of 550 mph ( 800 km / h ) , a cruise speed of 450 mph ( 725 km / h ) , a range of 3 , 500 mi ( 5 , 600 km ) and a service ceiling of 45 , 000 ft ( 13 , 700 m ) . In December 1944 , North American Aviation , the Convair Corp . , Boeing and the Glenn Martin Company submitted proposals for the new long - range jet bomber . Wind tunnel testing had shown that the drag from the engine installation of the Model 424 was too high , so Boeing engineers then tried a revised design , the Model 432 , with the four engines buried in the forward fuselage . The USAAF awarded study contracts to all four companies , requiring that North American and Convair concentrate on four - engined designs ( to become B - 45 and XB - 46 ) , while Boeing and Martin were to build six - engined aircraft ( the B - 47 and XB - 48 ) . The powerplant was to be General Electric ' s new TG - 180 turbojet engine . Swept wings . In mid - 1945 , with the defeat of Germany achieved , the von Kármán mission of the Army Air Forces inspected German aeronautics laboratories from the beginning of May through the end of July 1945 , in search of German developments that might help the United States . One of the Boeing engineers on the mission , George S . Schairer , studied German reports on the effects of wing sweepback on the performance of aircraft as they approached the speed of sound , and realizing the possible implications for the new bomber , sent word back to Boeing to stop work on the straight - winged design and switch to swept wings . Analysis work by Boeing engineer Vic Ganzer suggested an optimum sweepback angle of about 35 degrees . Boeing ' s aeronautical engineers modified their Model 432 design to include swept wings and tail , resulting in the " Model 448 " , which was presented to the USAAF in September 1945 . The Model 448 retained its four TG - 180 jet engines in its forward fuselage , with two more TG - 180s in the rear fuselage . The flush - mounted air intakes for the rear engines were inadequate , while the USAAF disliked the installation of engines within the fuselage , considering it a fire hazard . The engines were moved out to streamlined pods pylon mounted under the wings , leading to the next iteration , the " Model 450 " , which featured two TG - 180s in a twin pod mounted on a pylon about a third of the way outboard on each wing , plus another engine at each wingtip . The Army Air Force liked this new configuration , and so Boeing ' s team of engineers continued to refine it , with the outer engines being moved further inboard , to about 3 / 4 of the wingspan . The thin wings provided no room into which wheels could be retracted , so a " bicycle landing gear " was chosen , with the two main gear assemblies arranged in a tandem configuration and outrigger struts fitted to the inboard engine pods . As the landing gear arrangement made rotation ( i . e . , lifting the nose during take - off ) impossible , the landing gear was designed so that the aircraft rested on the ground at the proper angle for take - off . USAAF selects Boeing . The USAAF was very pleased with the refined Model 450 design , and in April 1946 , the service ordered two prototypes , to be designated " XB - 47 " . Assembly began in June 1947 . People involved with the project were very excited , since they believed ( correctly as it turned out ) they were working on a breakthrough in aircraft design . The first XB - 47 was rolled out on 12 September 1947 , a few days before the USAAF became a separate service , the U . S . Air Force on 18 September 1947 . The XB - 47 prototype flew its first flight on 17 December 1947 ( the anniversary of the Wright Brothers ' first four flights on 17 December 1903 ) , with the test pilots Robert Robbins and Scott Osler at the controls of the aircraft . It flew from Boeing Field in Seattle to the Moses Lake Airfield in central Washington state , in a flight that lasted just 27 minutes , with no major problems . Robbins had to pull up the flaps with the emergency hydraulic system , and the " engine fire " warning indicators were falsely lit . Robbins reported that the flight characteristics of the aircraft were good . Canopy malfunction . During early tests of the XB - 47 prototype , the canopy came off at high speed , killing pilot Scott Osler . The copilot safely landed the aircraft . This resulted in a canopy redesign , and the hiring of pilot Tex Johnston as chief test pilot . Second X - model . The second XB - 47 prototype first took to the air on 21 July 1948 , and was equipped with much more powerful General Electric J47 - GE - 3 turbojets with 5 , 200 lbs ( 23 kN ) of static thrust each . The J47 or " TG - 190 " was a redesigned version of the TG - 180 / J35 . The first XB - 47 prototype was later retrofitted with these engines . Flight testing of the prototypes was particularly careful and methodical , since the design was new in so many ways . The prototypes initially suffered from " Dutch roll " , an instability that caused the aircraft to weave in widening " S " turns . This problem was remedied by the addition of a " yaw damper " control system that applied rudder automatically to damp out the weaving motion . The prototypes also had a tendency to pitch up . This problem was solved by adding small vanes called " vortex generator s " onto the wings that caused turbulence to prevent airflow separation . Boeing test pilot Rob Robbins had originally been skeptical about the XB - 47 , saying that before the initial flight he had " prayed to God to please help me " through the flight . The aircraft was so unusual that he simply did not know if it would fly . Robbins soon realized that he had an extraordinary aircraft . In early 1948 , the United States Air Force ( having become a separate service in 1947 ) sent up a chase plane from Muroc ( now Edwards ) Air Force Base in California to help calibrate the bomber ' s airspeed system . Robbins reported later : Yeager would test fly the XB - 47 later in its development cycle and years later , would note that the aircraft was so aerodynamically clean that he had difficulty putting it down on the runway . X - model competitions . By mid - 1948 , the Air Force ' s bomber competition had already been through one iteration , pitting the North American XB - 45 against the Convair XB - 46 . The North American design won that round of the competition , and as an interim measure the USAF had decided to put the North American bomber into production on a limited basis as the B - 45 Tornado . The expectation was that B - 45 production would be terminated if either of the remaining two designs in the competition , the Boeing XB - 47 and the Martin XB - 48 , proved superior . It is sometimes claimed that the final production decision was made as a result of Boeing president Bill Allen inviting USAF General K . B . Wolfe , in charge of bomber production , for a ride on the XB - 47 . A formal contract for 10 aircraft was signed on 3 September 1948 . Design . Overview . The XB - 47 , which looked unlike any contemporary bomber , was described by some observers as a " sleek , beautiful outcome that was highly advanced " . The 35 - degree swept wings were shoulder - mounted , with the twin inboard turbojet engines mounted in neat pods , and the outboard engines tacked under the wings short of the wingtips . With the exception of a change from the shoulder - mounted wing configuration to being under the fuselage , most future airliners would use a similar configuration , with the engines mounted in underwing pylons . The wing airfoil was identified by Boeing as the BAC 145 , but this was actually the NACA 64A ( . 225 ) 12 mod airfoil . The wing ' s flexibility was a concern , as it could flex as much as 5 ft ( 1 . 5 m ) up or down , and major effort was expended to ensure that flight control could be maintained as the wing moved up and down . As it turned out , most of the worries proved unfounded . The aircraft ' s maximum speed was limited to to avoid control reversal , where aileron inputs by the pilot would cause the wings to twist and produce a roll in the opposite direction to that desired by the pilot . The wings were fitted with a set of Fowler flap s that extended well behind the wing , to enhance lift at slow speeds . The XB - 47 was designed to carry a crew of three in a pressurized forward compartment : a pilot and copilot , in tandem , in a long fighter - style bubble canopy , and a navigator in a compartment in the nose . The copilot doubled as tail gunner , and the navigator as bombardier . The bubble canopy could pitch up and slide backward , but as the cockpit was high off the ground , crew entrance was through a door and ladder on the underside of the nose . The extreme front of the nose was initially glazed to allow visual navigation and bomb sighting , but this was quickly and increasingly faired over with metal . Almost all production versions had a solid metal nose with no windows . A K - series bombsight provided integrated radar and visual navigation , with the optical portion extending through the nose of the aircraft in a small dome . Engines and performance . The first prototypes were fitted with General Electric J35 turbojets , the production version of the TG - 180 , with 3 , 970 lbf ( 17 . 7 kN ) of thrust . Early jet engines did not develop good thrust at low speeds , so to help a heavily loaded bomber take off , the XB - 47 prototype had provisions for fitting 18 solid - fuel rocket - assisted takeoff ( RATO ) rockets with 1 , 000 lbs ( 4 . 4 kN ) of static thrust each . Fittings for nine such units were built into each side of the rear fuselage , arranged in three rows of three bottles . The performance of the Model 450 design was projected to be so good that the bomber would be as fast as fighters then on the drawing board , and so the only defensive armament was to be a tail turret with two . 50 in ( 12 . 7 mm ) Browning machine guns , which would in principle be directed by an automatic fire - control system . The two XB - 47s were not fitted with the tail turrets as they were engineering and flight test aircraft ; indeed , the prototypes had no combat equipment at all . The one problem with this early design was that at higher altitudes where the pure turbojet engines could produce decent fuel economy , the wing was very compromised , speed wise . At the top of the B - 47 ' s envelope , about 37 , 000 feet , the B - 47 was in the " coffin corner " . That means that at this level , which produced the most range at most weights due to fuel consumption , there was an envelope of 5 knots between maximum mach and stall speed . Since this airplane had a rudimentary autopilot at best , it meant that if the B - 47 was going to cross the Atlantic ocean , it had to be flown this high and the pilot had to leave the autopilot OFF and needed to spend up to 8 hours staring at the airspeed and manipulating the throttles in order to not fall from the sky . To put this in perspective , a modern Boeing 757 has over 50 knots of difference at even a very heavy weight at 41 , 000 feet . Fuel capacity was enormous , at 17 , 000 gal ( 64 , 400 l ) , more than triple the 5 , 000 gal ( 19 , 000 l ) on the B - 29 Superfortress . That meant that maintaining fuel trim to ensure a stable center of gravity in flight would be a very critical copilot duty . The total bombload capacity was to be 10 , 000 lb ( 4 . 5 metric tons ) . Production aircraft were to be equipped with state - of - the - art electronics for navigation , bombing , countermeasures , and turret fire control . Drag chutes . A related problem was that the aircraft ' s engines would have to be throttled down on landing approach . Since it could take as long as 20 seconds to throttle them back up to full power , the big bomber could not easily do a " touch and go " momentary landing . A small " approach chute " ( drogue parachute ) provided drag so that the aircraft could be flown at approach speeds with the engines throttled at ready - to - spool - up medium power . Training typically included an hour of dragging this chute around the landing pattern for multiple practice landings . The aircraft was so aerodynamically slick that rapid descent ( " penetration " ) from high cruise altitude to the landing pattern required dragging the deployed rear landing gear . Unusually high wing loading ( weight / wing area ) required a high landing speed of . To shorten the landing roll , Air Force test pilot Major Guy Townsend promoted the addition of a 32 ft ( 9 . 75 m ) German - designed " ribbon " drag chute . ( Jet engine thrust reverser s were still a " far - future " concept . ) As a consequence , the B - 47 was the first mass - produced aircraft to be equipped with an anti - skid braking system . Production numbers . The total number of B - 47s built was 2 , 032 . Operational history . Early years . The USAF Strategic Air Command operated B - 47 Stratojets ( B - 47s , EB - 47s , RB - 47s and YRB - 47s ) from 1951 through 1965 . When B - 47s began to be delivered to the Air Force , most crews were excited about getting their hands on the hot new bomber , an aircraft whose performance was closer to that of jet fighters of the period than SAC ' s extant B - 36 Peacemaker bomber . The B - 47 was so fast that in the early days the aircraft set records with ease . The aircraft handled well in flight , with a fighter - like light touch to the controls . The large bubble canopy for the pilot and co - pilot enhanced the fighter - like feel of the aircraft with improved vision , but the design would also cause variations in internal temperatures for the three - man crew . It took the Air Force until 1953 to turn the B - 47 into an operational aircraft . The aircraft was sluggish on takeoff and too fast on landings , a very unpleasant combination . If the pilot landed at the wrong angle , the B - 47 would " porpoise " , bouncing fore - and - aft . If the pilot did not lift off for another go - around , instability would quickly cause the bomber to skid onto one wing and cartwheel . Because the wings and surfaces were flexible and bent in flight , low altitude speed restrictions were necessary to ensure effective flight control . Improved training led to a good safety record , and few crews felt the aircraft was unsafe or too demanding , but apparently there were some aircrews who had little affection for the B - 47 . Crew workload was high , with only three officer crew members to keep the B - 47 flying right . The Boeing B - 52 Stratofortress , in contrast , generally had six crewmen , five officers and one enlisted , with far more internal cabin space . Training and problems . The B - 47 ' s reliability and serviceability were regarded as good . The only major problem was poor avionics reliability , normal in this environment given the vacuum tube technology at the time , and the need to place some equipment outside the pressurized crew compartment . Much work was done to improve avionics reliability , but they remained problematic throughout the B - 47 ' s operational life . Starting in 1950 , several models of the B - 47 included a fuel tank inerting system , in which dry ice was sublimed into carbon dioxide vapor while the fuel pumps operated or while the in - flight refueling system was in use . The carbon dioxide was then pumped into the fuel tanks and the rest of the fuel system , ensuring that the amount of oxygen in the fuel system was low , reducing the probability of an explosion . Ten carbon dioxide tanks and heaters were involved . The system was implemented largely to reduce risks from static electricity discharges occurring during in - flight refueling . Initial mission profiles included the loft bombing of nuclear weapons . As the training for this imposes repeated high stress on the aircraft , the airframe lifetime would have been severely limited by metal fatigue , and this maneuver was eliminated . Prime years . By 1956 , the U . S . Air Force had 28 wings of B - 47 bombers and five wings of RB - 47 reconnaissance aircraft . The bombers were the first line of America ' s strategic nuclear deterrent , often operating from forward bases in the UK , Morocco , Spain , Alaska , Greenland and Guam . B - 47 bombers were often set up on " one - third " alert , with a third of the operational aircraft available sitting on hardstands or an alert ramp adjacent to the runway , loaded with fuel and nuclear weapons , crews on standby , ready to attack the USSR at short notice . Crews were also trained to perform " Minimum Interval Take Off s ( MITO ) " , with one bomber following the other into the air at intervals of as little as 15 seconds , to launch all bombers as fast as possible . MITO could be hazardous , as the bombers left turbulence and , with first generation turbojet engines with water injection systems , dense black smoke that blinded pilots in the following aircraft . The B - 47 was the backbone of SAC into 1959 , when the B - 52 began to assume nuclear alert duties and the number of B - 47 bomber wings started to be reduced . B - 47 production ceased in 1957 , though modifications and rebuilds continued after that . Operational practice for B - 47 bomber operations during this time went from high altitude bombing to low altitude strike , which was judged more likely to penetrate Soviet defenses . Bomber crews were trained in " pop - up " attacks , coming in at low level at and then climbing abruptly near the target before releasing a nuclear weapon . Later years . Stress and fatigue incurred in low - altitude operations led to a number of wing failures and crashes and an extensive refit program was begun in 1958 to strengthen the wing mountings . The program was known as " Milk Bottle " , named after the big connecting pins that were replaced in the wing roots . One of the more notable mishaps involving a B - 47 occurred on 5 February 1958 near Savannah , Georgia , in the so - called 1958 Tybee Island B - 47 crash . A B - 47 based out of Homestead AFB , Florida was engaged in a simulated combat exercise against an F - 86 fighter , the bomber simulating an attacking aircraft and the fighter a defender . As was the practice at the time , the B - 47 was carrying a single Mark 15 nuclear bomb without its core . During this exercise , the F - 86 collided with the B - 47 . The F - 86 pilot ejected and the fighter crashed , while the B - 47 suffered substantial damage , including loss of power on one of its outboard jet engines . The bomber pilot had to " safe " soft drop the Mark 15 weapon off the coast of Savannah , Georgia near Tybee Island after three unsuccessful landing attempts at Hunter Air Force Base . The bomb was jettisoned and the aircraft landed safely . An extensive nine - month search was mounted for the unarmed bomb , but proved futile . Final phaseout of B - 47 bomber wings began in 1963 , and the last bombers were out of service by 1965 . The very last USAF operational aircraft was grounded in 1969 . The U . S . Navy kept specialized B - 47 test aircraft in occasional use up to 1976 . The final recorded flight of a B - 47 was on 17 June 1986 , when a B - 47E was flown from the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake , California , to Castle Air Force Base , California , for static display at the Castle Air Museum . Reconnaissance . The only B - 47s to see anything that resembled combat were the aerial reconnaissance variants . The first overflight of Soviet territory with an RB - 47 took place on 15 October 1952 , when an RB - 47B flying out of Alaska overflew Soviet airfields in Eastern Siberia . RB - 47s operated from almost every airfield that gave them access to the USSR , and they often probed Soviet airspace , and on occasion , their pilots were caught in situations from which mostly speed and evasion in retreat saved them . At least five of these aircraft were fired on , and three of these were shot down . The RB - 47s fired back with their tail turrets , although it is uncertain if they scored any kills . Nonetheless , these were the only shots fired in anger by any B - 47 . On 8 May 1954 , after a top secret reconnaissance mission in the Kola Peninsula , a 4th Air Division 91 Strategic Reconnaissance Wing RB - 47E reconnaissance aircraft , with Hal Austin at the controls , flew west from the Soviet Union . The RB - 47E was flying at high altitude , out of reach of MiG - 15 s , but unknown to USAF intelligence some MiG - 17 s had been stationed in the area that were able to intercept the intruder . The RB - 47E was chased by three Soviet MiG - 17 fighters attempting to destroy the aircraft with their guns over Soviet and Finnish airspace . Although sustaining damage , the RB - 47E managed to escape over Sweden back to its home base at RAF Fairford , Gloucestershire . Its top speed and combat radius superiority to the Soviet fighter jets were the deciding factors . The mission marked the first time a jet aircraft equipped with modern photography equipment was used for American military reconnaissance . The incident was kept secret by all parties . Other interceptions resulted in losses . An RB - 47 flying out of Alaska was scouting out the Kamchatka Peninsula on 17 April 1955 , when it was bounced by Soviet MiG - 15s in international airspace . The RB - 47 and its crew disappeared . Between 21 March and 10 May 1956 , 16 RB - 47Es and five RB - 47Hs operating from Thule performed overflights the length of Siberia 156 times under Project HOMERUN . The Soviets filed an angry complaint with the U . S . government , which attributed the overflights to " navigational difficulties " . MiGs bounced RB - 47s on three separate occasions in the fall of 1958 : over the Black Sea on 31 October , over the Baltic on 7 November , and over the Sea of Japan on 17 November . On 1 July 1960 , a PVO Strany MiG - 19 shot down an RB - 47H ( AF Serial No . 53 - 4281 ) reconnaissance aircraft in the international airspace over the Barents Sea with four of the crew being killed and two captured by the Soviets , but released in 1961 . The co - pilot reported that the MiG - 19 jammed ( " whited - out " ) his MD - 4 FCS scope , rendering the RB - 47H defenseless . The last known confrontation between MiGs and RB - 47s took place on 27 April 1965 , when an ERB - 47H was jumped by North Korean MiG - 17s over the Sea of Japan . The MiGs scored hits on the aircraft , but the ERB - 47H managed to make it back to Yokota Air Base in Japan with two engines out . While a few of these aircraft performed special duties during the Vietnam War , such as relaying ELINT data from drones , they were eventually replaced by much more efficient and capable Boeing RC - 135 platforms . The last RB - 47H was retired on 29 December 1967 . The final 15 RB - 47Es , built beginning in December 1955 , were fitted with additional equipment , including the AN / APD " side looking airborne radar ( SLAR ) " system , and gear to sample the air for fallout from nuclear tests . These last examples were given the new designation of RB - 47K . The RB - 47Ks were generally used for weather reconnaissance missions , carrying a load of eight " dropsonde " weather sensors that were released at various checkpoints along the aircraft ' s flight path . Data radioed back from the dropsondes was logged using equipment operated by the navigator . The RB - 47Ks stayed in service until 1963 . The first 10 aircraft were designated " B - 47A " , and were strictly evaluation aircraft . The first was delivered in December 1950 . The configuration of the B - 47As was close to that of the initial XB - 47 prototypes . They were fitted with J47 - GE - 11 turbojets , offering the same 5 , 200 lbf ( 23 kN ) thrust as the earlier J47 - GE - 3 , and they also featured the built - in RATO bottles . Survivors . About 25 surviving airframes exist in museum collections worldwide . Accidents and incidents . On 10 March 1956 , four B - 47 Stratojets left MacDill Air Force Base in Florida for a non - stop flight to Ben Guerir Air Base in Morocco . Their first aerial refueling was completed without incident . After descending through cloud to begin their second refueling , over the Mediterranean Sea at 14 , 000 ft , the aircraft manned by Captain Robert H . Hodgin ( 31 , commander ) , Captain Gordon M . Insley ( 32 , navigator / observer ) , and 2nd Lt . Ronald L . Kurtz ( 22 , pilot ) failed to make contact with the tanker . Neither the aircraft nor its personnel were ever found . On 27 July 1956 , a B - 47 Stratojet of the 307th Bombardment Wing crashed at RAF Lakenheath killing its crew and causing a near nuclear accident when the aircraft hit a storage igloo containing three MK - 6 nuclear weapons . Although the bombs involved in the accident did not have their fissile cores installed , each of them carried about 8 , 000 pounds of high explosives as part of their trigger mechanism . The crash and ensuing fire did not ignite the high explosives and no denotation occurred . On 9 October 1957 , B - 47 Stratojet 51 - 2177A , of the 447th Bomb Squadron , 321st Bomb Wing at Pinecastle Air Force Base suffered wing failure and crashed northwest of Orlando , Florida and west of Winter Park , Florida while taking part in a practice demonstration during the annual Strategic Air Command Bombing Navigation and Reconnaissance Competition at Pinecastle AFB . The wing commander , Colonel Michael Norman Wright McCoy , was killed in the crash . Pinecastle Air Force Base was later renamed McCoy Air Force Base in his honor . On 31 March 1960 , a B - 47 Stratojet exploded in mid - air during a training mission over Little Rock , Arkansas , 13 minutes after takeoff . Three of the four crew members on board were killed , along with two civilians on the ground . On 20 February 1963 , a B - 47 Stratojet , — of the 98th Bomb Wing based at Lincoln AFB , Nebraska , crashed in Bashaw Township , approximately 3 miles north of the town of Comfrey , Minnesota . All four crew members , on board , were killed . Killed in the crash were Lt . Col . Lamar Ledbetter ( 41 , 98th Bomb Wing , Standardization and Evaluation division ) , Captain Donald J . Livingston ( 31 , Aircraft Commander ) 343rd Bomb Sqdn , Lt . Thomas Hallgarth ( 22 , Navigator ) 343rd Bomb Sqdn , and Lt . Michael R . Rebmann ( 23 , Co - pilot ) 343rd Bomb Sqdn . The crew had just completed a low - altitude , simulated bombing run near the town of Heron Lake , Minnesota , when the jet ' s sixth engine failed causing the jet to crash in a field resulting in a 25 - foot deep by 50 - foot wide crater . On 20 August 1963 , a QB - 47 veered off course on its landing approach at Eglin Air Force Base and crash landed on a stretch of road that ran parallel to the runway . The QB - 47 that crashed was used for Bomarc Missile Program tests , which normally operated from Eglin AFB Auxiliary Field Number Three ( Duke Field ) , approximately north of the main base . Two cars were crushed by the crash landing , killing two occupants who both worked for the Minnesota Honeywell Corporation at the time , a firm which had just completed flight tests on an inertia guidance sub - system for the Boeing X - 20 Dyna - Soar project at the base , and injuring a third . Both vehicles were destroyed by fire . Popular culture . The B - 47 is featured prominently in the 1955 film " Strategic Air Command " starring James Stewart . The film features good aerial footage of both the B - 47 and the Convair B - 36 . The majority of B - 47 scenes were filmed at MacDill AFB , Florida utilizing aircraft from the 306th Bombardment Wing . The movie " On the Threshold of Space " ( 1956 ) has footage of a B - 47E being used as a test ship in the development of a downward - firing ejection seat , with Eglin Air Force Base identified as Sovran Air Force Base . The 1957 film " Bombers B - 52 " features B - 47s at Castle Air Force Base , that sported the proud legend , " Home of the B - 47 " and a fly - over in formation , before moving to focus on the new B - 52 . In the 1957 science fiction film " Kronos " , a B - 47 is dispatched to attack the monster Kronos with a hydrogen bomb . There is a fact - based movie starring John Payne in the development of the downward - firing ejection seat . It is called " Bailout at 43 , 000 Feet " and is of some interest . The 1 July 1960 shoot down of an RB - 47H ( AF Ser . No . " 53 - 4281 " ) by a MiG - 19 over the Barents Sea was retold by the two surviving crewmembers : Captain John R . McKone ( navigator ) and Capt Freeman B . Olmstead ( co - pilot ) , in the biographical book , " The Little Toy Dog " by William L . White . The title refers to a small plastic toy " Snoopy " that Capt McKone carried with him , and kept during their seven months in Lubyanka prison in the Soviet Union . A one - hour episode of the TV series " Kraft Suspense Theatre " , " Streetcar , Do You Read Me ? " ( 1965 ) , starring Martin Milner , features extensive real footage , interior and exterior scenes , of the B - 47E . The fictional story depicts a mission of the 307th Bomb Wing of the Strategic Air Command .