Boeing B-47 Stratojet

what is it?

The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber that was designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft. The primary mission of the B-47 was as a nuclear bomber capable of striking targets within the Soviet Union. Development of the B-47 can be traced back to a requirement expressed by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in 1943 for a reconnaissance bomber that harnessed newly developed jet propulsion.

🔎How to recognise it: 6 jet engines · 35.4 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 977 km/htop speed
• range 7,478 kmwithout refuelling
• size 100.2 tmax take-off weight
• built 2,032made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 79 years ago, in 1947.
• 🏎️Top speed is 7.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 35.4 m: about 8 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 17 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 7,478 km: Amsterdam to New York (≈5,850 km) without stopping.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.4× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1947-12-17

introduced

1951

retired

1969

status

retired

number built

2,032

role

strategic bomber/reconnaissance

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Boeing

engines

6× General Electric J47-GE-25 / JATO bottles

crew

3

length

32.6 m

wingspan

35.4 m

height

8.5 m

max take-off weight

100.2 t

top speed

977 km/h

cruise speed

896 km/h

range

7,478 km

ceiling

12,344 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.