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→B-47 Medium Bombardment units: edited and expanded
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→B-47 Medium Bombardment units: edited and expanded
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* [[100th Bombardment Wing]],[[Pease AFB|Portsmouth (later, Pease) AFB]], [[New Hampshire]]
* [[100th Bombardment Wing]],[[Pease AFB|Portsmouth (later, Pease) AFB]], [[New Hampshire]]
: B-47E, 1954-1965
⚫
* [[301st Bombardment Wing]],[[Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base|Lockbourne AFB]], [[Ohio]]
* [[303d Bombardment Wing]], [[Davis-Monthan AFB]], [[Arizona]]
:: [[349th Bombardment Squadron]]
:: [[350th Bombardment Squadron]]
:: [[351st Bombardment Squadron]]
:: [[418th Bombardment Squadron]] (1959-1962)*
: 100th BW moved to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona in 1966; converted to Lockheed U-2

⚫
* [[301st Bombardment Wing]],[[Lockbourne AFB]], [[Ohio]]
: B-47B/E, 1953-1958, 1958-1961; RB-47, 1958; EB-47E+++, 1961-1964
:: [[32d Bombardment Squadron]]
:: [[352d Bombardment Squadron]]
:: [[353d Bombardment Squadron]]
:: [[419th Bombardment Squadron]] (1958-1961)*
: Became KC-135 Air Refueling Wing in 1964

* [[303d Bombardment Wing]], [[Davis-Monthan AFB]], [[Arizona]] (B-47B/E, 1953-1964)
:: [[358th Bombardment Squadron]]
:: [[359th Bombardment Squadron]]
:: [[360th Bombardment Squadron]]
:: [[427th Bombardment Squadron]] (1958-1961)*
: Inactivated 15 June 1964


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.++ 376th BW EB-47Ls were modified B-47Es used as an electronics communications aircraft which served as relay stations between other aircraft (such as the USAF "Looking Glass" EC-135) or between aircraft and ground stations during and after a nuclear attack.
.++ 376th BW EB-47Ls were modified B-47Es used as an electronics communications aircraft which served as relay stations between other aircraft (such as the USAF "Looking Glass" EC-135) or between aircraft and ground stations during and after a nuclear attack.


.+++ 380th BW EB-47Es were electronics countermeasure conversions of the standard B-47E. Not much is known about the USAF EB-47E program.
.+++ 301st BW/380th BW EB-47Es were electronics countermeasure conversions of the standard B-47E. Not much is known about the USAF EB-47E program.


==RB-47 Strategic Reconnaissance units==
==RB-47 Strategic Reconnaissance units==

Revision as of 09:43, 3 July 2010

Boeing B-47B-20-BW Stratojet 50-062, Redesignated NTB-47B in August 1961. Currently on static display at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, Pooler, Georgia

The Boeing B-47 Stratojet was operational with the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command beginning in May 1951 with the first operational B-47As to the 306th Bombardment Wing, Medium, based at MacDill AFB, Florida.

In March 1961, President John F. Kennedy directed the phaseout of the B-47. However this was delayed in July by the onset of the Berlin crisis of 1961-62. In the following years, B-47s were gradually delivered to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center (MASDC) at Davis-Monthan AFB.

This list is of the units it was assigned to, and the bases it was stationed.

B-47 Medium Bombardment units

The first operational B-47B Medium bombers were delivered to SAC in July 1951 to the 306th Bombardment Wing, MacDill AFB, Florida. SAC's last two B-47E bombers went to storage on 11 February 1966 from the 384th Bombardment Wing, Little Rock AFB, Arkansas.

Operational medium bomber versions of the Stratojet were B-47B (1951-1953) and B-47E (1953-1957). B-47Bs were modified to B-47E specifications beginning in 1953 to 1957. By 1957, the B-47Bs had effectively ceased to exist, having been brought up to the B-47E standard. These modified B-47Bs are sometimes known as B-47B-II, although this was not an official Air Force designation. Outwardly, they could be distinguished from B-47Es only by their serial numbers.

.* Activated by SAC as a non-operational combat crew training squadron after ATC ended combat crew training in 1958.

.** Two modified 9th BW B-47Es (53-2316 and 53-2320) modified and redesignated as EB-47Es. Stationed at Incirlik AB, Turkey to monitoring the telemetry that was broadcast during Soviet space launches from the IRBM facility at Kasputin Yar and the space center at Tyuratam. In service from 1958 until about 1967.

.*** The B-47As of the 306th BW were primarily training aircraft and were not considered as being combat ready. None of the B-47As ever saw any operational duty, and were withdrawn from active service by 1953, being replaced by B-47Bs.

.+ Equipped with the YRB-47B conversion of the B-47B, specifically intended for the training of crews for RB-47Es. Later converted to B-47E Bomber Configuration by March 1955

.++ 376th BW EB-47Ls were modified B-47Es used as an electronics communications aircraft which served as relay stations between other aircraft (such as the USAF "Looking Glass" EC-135) or between aircraft and ground stations during and after a nuclear attack.

.+++ 301st BW/380th BW EB-47Es were electronics countermeasure conversions of the standard B-47E. Not much is known about the USAF EB-47E program.

RB-47 Strategic Reconnaissance units

The RB-47 was designed to replace the RB-29 and RB-50 Superfortress aircraft which were serving in the long-range photo-reconnaissance role but which were rapidly approaching obsolescence. The RB-47 carried out many ferret missions around the periphery of Soviet territory, and sometimes inside on penetration flights to map planned routes for B-52s if combat missions over the Soviet Union ever became necessary. The last SAC B-47, a RB-47H (53-4296) of the 55th SRW was flown to Davis Monthan AFB for storage on 29 December 1967,

WB-47E Weather Reconnaissance units

WB-47E was the designation assigned to converted SAC B-47E medium bombers used for weather reconnaissance by the Air Weather Service (AWS). They had nose-mounted cameras that recorded cloud formations, and they carried air-sampling and data recording equipment inside a sensor pod in the bomb bay.

  • 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Hunter AFB, Georgia (1963-1966); Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico, (1966-1969)
  • 55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, McClellan AFB, California, 1963-1969

The first of 34 WB-47Es was delivered to the AWS on 20 March 1963. The last operational USAF B-47 to fly was WB-47E-75-BW (51-7066) of the 55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron on 30 October 1969. It was flown from McClellan AFB, California to Boeing Field, Washington, where subsequently it was restored to its SAC configuration and put on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight where it resides today.

Provisional 4-Digit Training Units

B-47 training was originally planned to have been performed at Wichita AFB, Kansas, with Boeing manufacturing the aircraft on one side of the base as a joint tenant beginning in 1951. However a variety of problems converting the Wichita Municipal Airport to a Air Force Base kept training from being performed there until 1954. To accommodate B-47 training, Air Training Command activated Pinecastle AFB, Florida, on 10 September 1951 for B-47 training, however the training did not begin until early 1952 with the activation of the 3540th Combat Crew Training Wing.

  • 3540th Combat Crew Training Wing (ATC) (10 Jan 1952-1 Jan 1954)
Redesignated: 4240th Flying Training Wing (SAC) (1 Jan-30 May 1954), Pinecastle AFB, Florida
TB-47B, B-47B, 1952-1954
3542d Combat Crew (later Flying Training) Training Squadron
3544th Combat Crew (later Flying Training) Training Squadron

B-47 crew training was moved from Pinecastle AFB to McConnell AFB in 1954; conducted under Air Training Command until 30 Dec 1958 when was reassigned to SAC. With the reassignment of the crew training wing, operational transition training on the B-47 began at Pinecastle with the 306th Bombardment Wing.

  • 3520th Combat Crew Training Wing (ATC) (7 Jun 1951-1 Jan 1959)
Redesignated: 4347th Combat Crew Training Wing (SAC), (1 Jan 1959-15 Jun 1963) McConnell AFB, Kansas
TB-47B, B-47B, 1954-1963
3520th Combat Crew Training Squadron, 26 Oct 1954-1 Jul 1958
3521st Combat Crew Training Squadron, 26 Oct 1954-8 Sep 1955
3522d (later 4347th) Combat Crew Training Squadron, 26 Oct 1954-15 Jun 1963
3523d (later 4348th) Combat Crew Training Squadron, 26 Oct 1954-15 Jun 1963
3525th Combat Crew Training Squadron, 26 Oct 1954-8 Sep 1955
3526th (later 4349th) Combat Crew Training Squadron, 26 Oct 1954-15 Jun 1963
4350th Combat Crew Training Squadron, 1 Sep 1959-15 Jun 1962

Crew training on the B-47 ended in June 1963 as part of the planned phaseout and retirement of the aircraft.

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  • Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ASIN: B000NYX3PC (Training Units)
  • Mueller, Robert, Air Force Bases Volume I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982, Office of Air Force History, 1989 (McConnell AFB section)
  • Mauer, Mauer (1969), Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II, Air Force Historical Studies Office, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. ISBN: 0892010975 (Wing/Squadron Lookups)
  • 55th WRS lineage and history
  • Air Weather Reconnaissance Organization (WB-47E Weather Reconnaissance units)
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