| B-50 Superfortress | |
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| Role | Strategic bomber |
| Manufacturer | Boeing |
| First flight | 25 June 1947 |
| Introduction | 1948 |
| Retired | 1965 |
| Status | Retired |
| Primary user | United States Air Force |
| Produced | 1947–1953 |
| Number built | 370 |
| Unit cost | US $1,144,296 ($10.4 million in today's dollars)[1] |
| Developed from | B-29 Superfortress |
| Variants | Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter |
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress strategic bomber was a post-World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller fin, and other improvements. It was the last piston-engined bomber designed by Boeing for the United States Air Force. Not as well known as its direct predecessor, the B-50 was in USAF service for nearly 20 years.
After its primary service with SAC ended, B-50 airframes were modified into aerial tankers for Tactical Air Command (KB-50) and as weather reconnaissance aircraft (WB-50) for the Air Weather Service. Both the tanker and hurricane hunter versions were retired in March 1965 due to metal fatigue and corrosion found in the wreckage of KB-50J, 48-065, which crashed on 14 October 1964.[2]
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Development of an improved B-29 started in 1944, with the desire to replace the unreliable Wright R-3350 engines with the more powerful four-row, 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp-Major radial engine.[3] A B-29A-5-BN (serial number 42-93845) was modified by Pratt & Whitney as a testbed for the installation of the R-4360 in the B-29, with four 3,000 horsepower (2,240 kW) R-4630-33s replacing the 2,200 horsepower (1,640 kW) R-3350s. The modified aircraft, designated XB-44 Superfortress, first flew in May 1945.[4][5] The planned Wasp-Major powered bomber, the B-29D, was to incorporate considerable changes in addition to the engine installation tested in the B-44. The use of a new alloy of aluminum, 75-S rather than the existing 24ST, gave a wing that was both stronger and lighter, while the undercarriage was strengthened to allow the aircraft to operate at weights of up to 40,000 pounds (18,200 kilograms) greater than the B-29. A larger vertical fin and rudder (which could fold to allow the aircraft to fit into existing hangars) and enlarged flaps were provided to deal with the increased weight.[6][7][nb 1] Armament was similar to that of the B-29, with two bomb bays carrying 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) of bombs, and a further 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) externally. Defensive armament was 13 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns (or 12 machine guns and one 20 mm cannon) in five turrets.[6][9]
First flying in May 1945, the XB-44 proved 50-60 mph faster than the B-29 (available sources do not indicate how much of this increased speed was due to differing aircraft weight or to deleted armament). Only the one aircraft was used in the B-44 flight test program.[10]
An order for 200 B-29Ds was placed in July 1945, but the ending of World War II in August 1945 prompted mass cancellations of outstanding orders for military equipment, with over 5,000 B-29s cancelled in September 1945.[11] In December that year, B-29D orders were cut from 200 to 60, while at the same time the designation of the aircraft was changed to B-50.[3]
Officially, the aircraft's new designation was justified by the changes incorporated into the revised aircraft, but according to Peter M. Bowers, a long-time Boeing employee and aircraft designer, and a well-known authority on Boeing aircraft, "the redesignation was an outright military ruse to win appropriations for the procurement of an airplane that by its B-29D designation appeared to be merely a later version of an existing model that was being canceled wholesale, with many existing examples being put into dead storage."[7]
The first production B-50A (there were no prototypes, as the aircraft's engines and new tail had already been tested) made its maiden flight on June 25, 1947, with a further 78 B-50As following.[8] The last airframe of the initial order was held back for modification to the prototype YB-50C, a planned version to be powered by R-4360-43 turbo-compound engines. It was to have a longer fuselage, allowing the two small bomb-bays of the B-29 and the B-50A to be replaced by a single large bomb-bay, more suited to carrying large nuclear weapons. It would also have longer span wings, which required additional outrigger wheels to stabilize the aircraft on the ground. Orders for 43 B-54s, the planned production version of the YB-50C, were placed in 1948, but the program was unpopular with Curtis LeMay, commander of Strategic Air Command (SAC), as being inferior to the Convair B-36 and having little capacity for further improvement, while requiring an expensive redevelopment of air bases owing to the type's undercarriage. The B-54 program was therefore canceled in April 1949, work on the YB-50C being stopped prior to it being completed.[12][13]
While the B-54 was canceled, production of less elaborate developments continued as a stopgap until jet bombers like the Boeing B-47 and B-52 could enter service. Forty-five B-50Bs, fitted with lightweight fuel tanks and capable of operating at higher weights, were built, followed by 222 B-50Ds, capable of carrying underwing fuel tanks and distinguished by a one-piece plastic nose dome.[14][15] To give the Superfortress the range to reach the Soviet Union, B-50s were fitted to be refueled in flight. Most (but not all) of the B-50As were fitted with the early "looped hose" refueling system, developed by the British company Flight Refuelling Limited, in which the receiving aircraft would use a grapple to catch a line trailed by the tanker aircraft (normally a Boeing KB-29) before hauling over the fuel line to allow transfer of fuel to begin. While this system worked, it was clumsy, and Boeing designed the alternative Flying Boom method to refuel SAC's bombers, with most B-50Ds being fitted with receptacles for Flying Boom refueling.[15][16][17]
Revisions to the B-50 (from its predecessor B-29) would boost top speed to just under 400 mph (644 km/h). Changes included:
Redesigned with a large upper fuselage grafted on, the B-50 design would form the basis for the Boeing 377 series of airliners and C-97/KC-97 military transports, with 816 of the KC-97 built. The B-29 and B-50 were phased out with introduction of the jet-powered B-47 Stratojet. [18]
The B-50 was nicknamed "Andy Gump" because the redesigned engine nacelles reminded aircrew of the chinless newspaper comic character popular at the time.
The Boeing KB-50 was a modified Boeing B-50 Superfortress for air refueling needs by the United States Air Force. Two primary tanker versions were developed and produced, the KB-50J and the KB-50K.
After the promising results from the KB-29 conversions the USAF recognized the need for a tanker with higher performance and more room for off-loading fuel. Soon after entering service as strategic bombers plans were made for converting 134 B-50s, made up of B-50As, RB-50s, and B-50Ds, into aerial refueling tankers when no longer needed by Strategic Air Command bomber forces. As tankers, KB-50s would feature extensively reinforced outer wing panels, as well as the necessary equipment to air refuel simultaneously three fighter-type aircraft by the probe and drogue method. The modifications, assigned to the Hayes Aircraft Corporation, also included deletion of the B-50 defensive armament and replacement of the aircraft's tail section. Although the completion date of the Hayes modification was tentatively set for December 1957, the project (ordered in the mid-1950s) proceeded so well that it was ended ahead of schedule.
The first KB-50 flew in December 1955 and was accepted by the Air Force in January 1956. The tankers steadily entered the operational inventory of Tactical Air Command (TAC) supplanting TACs KB-29s. By the end of 1957 all of the command's aerial refuling squadrons had their full complement of KB-50s. TAC had nothing but praise for the new tankers; the KB-50s presented no serious problems, and their reliability was such that the command considered asking for more of them. Extra KB-50s would come "cheap," TAC calculated, if additional numbers of B-50s were added to the Hayes modification line. Nevertheless, the recommendation remained in limbo, which was just as well since the modification line had already been closed and the superior KB-50J was on the way.
Boeing built 370 of the various B-50 models and variants between 1947 and 1953, the tanker and weather reconnaissance versions remaining in service until 1965.
The first B-50As were delivered in June 1948 to the Strategic Air Command's 43d Bombardment Wing, based at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. The 2d Bombardment Wing at Chatham AFB, Georgia also received B-50As; the 93d Bombardment Wing at Castle AFB, California and the 509th Bombardment Wing at Walker AFB, New Mexico received B-50Ds in 1949. The fifth and last SAC wing to receive B-50Ds was the 97th Bombardment Wing at Biggs AFB, Texas in December 1950. The mission of these wings was to be nuclear capable and in wartime to be able to deliver the Atomic Bomb on enemy targets if ordered by the President.[19]
The 301st Bombardment Wing at MacDill AFB, Florida received some B-50As reassigned from Davis-Monthan in early 1951, but used them for non-operational training pending the delivery of B-47A Stratojets in June 1951. It had always been intended that the B-50 would be only an interim strategic bomber, pending the availability of the B-47 Stratojet. However, delays in the Stratojet program forced the B-50 to soldier on in SAC service until well into the 1950s.[19]
A strategic reconnaissance version of the B-50B, the RB-50 was developed in 1949 to replace the aging RB-29s used by SAC in its intelligence gathering operations against the Soviet Union. There were three different configurations produced, which were later redesignated RB-50E, RB-50F, and RG-50G respectively. The RB-50E was earmarked for photographic reconnaissance and observation missions; The RB-50F resembled the RB-50E but carried the SHORAN radar navigation system designed to conduct mapping, charting, and geodetic surveys, and the mission of the RB-50G was electronic reconnaissance. These aircraft were operated primarily by the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. RB-50Es were also operated by the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing as a replacement for RB-29 photographic reconnaissance aircraft flown over North Korea during the Korean War.[20]
The vast northern borders of the Soviet Union were wide open in many places during the early Cold War years with little defensive radar coverage, with limited detection capability. RB-50 aircraft of the 55th SRW flew many sorties along the periphery, and where necessary into the interior. Initially there was little opposition from the Soviet forces as radar coverage was very limited and, if the overflying aircraft were detected, the World War II era Soviet fighters could not intercept the RB-50s at their high operating altitude.[21]
The deployment of the MiG-15 interceptor in the early 1950s meant these operations became exceedingly hazardous to the crews of these aircraft, with several being shot down by Soviet air defenses and the wreckage being examined by intelligence personnel. RB-50 missions over Soviet territory ended by 1954, being replaced by RB-47 Stratojet intelligence aircraft which could fly at even higher altitudes and at near supersonic speed.[21]
The B-47 Stratojet was manufactured in large numbers beginning in 1953 and eventually replaced the B-50Ds in SAC service; the last being retired in 1955. With its retirement from the nuclear bomber mission, large numbers of B-50 airframes were modified into aerial refueling tankers. The B-50, with its more powerful engines than the KB-29s in use by Tactical Air Command, were much more suitable to refuel tactical jet fighter aircraft, such as the F-100 Super Sabre. KB-50s, and later KB-50Js with J-47 jet engines were used by TAC, and also by USAFE and PACAF overseas as aerial tankers. Some were deployed to Thailand and flew aerial refueling missions over the skies of Indochina in the early years of the Vietnam War until being retired in March 1965 due to metal fatigue and corrosion.[22][23]
In addition to the aerial tanker conversion, the Air Weather Service by 1955 had basically worn out the WB-29s used for hurricane hunting and other weather reconnaissance missions. Thirty-six former SAC B-50Ds were stripped of their armament and equipped for long-range weather reconnaissance missions. The WB-50 could fly higher and faster and longer than the WB-29. The WB-50 had an important role during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when it monitored the weather around Cuba to plan photo-reconnaissance flights. Although weather flying was considered a "peacetime" mission, the hazardous flying in hurricanes took their toll, and claimed 66 lives in 13 WB-50 accidents over their 10-year history in weather, also being retired in 1965 due to metal fatigue and corrosion.[24][25]
From the 370 produced only five B-50 aircraft survive today, :
Data from Encyclopedia of U.S. Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems: Volume II: Post-World War II Bombers, 1945–1973[55]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
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