Boeing's B-47 Stratojet

by Alwyn T. Lloyd

The B-47 was the United States Air Forces first strategic jet bomber. When the U.S. Army Air Forces issued a requirement for a jet bomber in 1944, four manufacturers presented proposals. It was Boeings design for the B-47 that won for a number of reasons, but especially because it was capable of carrying the outsized nuclear weapons of the day. The B-47 became the cornerstone of Americas nuclear deterrent force until the B-52 came into the inventory. At the peak of its ca.