Boeing's B-47 Stratojet [Hardcover]

Alwyn T. Lloyd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2005

The B-47 was the United States Air Force's first strategic jet bomber. When the US Army Air Forces issued a requirement for a jet bomber in 1944, four manufacturers presented proposals. It was Boeing's 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 America's nuclear deterrent force until the B-52 came into the inventory. At the peak of its career in 1956, 1,367 B-47s were in Strategic Air Command's (SAC) inventory of 1,650 bombers. The B-47 proved to be as fast as many of the jet fighters of the day, and its operational altitude was as high as 40,000 feet. The design for the B-47 was extremely successful, and was later adapted to the B-52 bomber and the KC-135 tanker, which later formed the basis for the Boeing 707. In fact, almost all jet-powered passenger airliners today can trace their design ancestry back to the B-47. This book covers the B-47's entire history in deep technical detail, with more than 400 photographs, many never before seen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

AAHS Newsletter, 2nd & 3rd Quarter 2006, reviewed by Terry Panopalis
"Author Alwyn T. Lloyd, a career Boeing employee and leading historian/writer on Boeing aircraft and the Strategic Air Command, has written what is perhaps the best book ever to appear on this remarkable aircraft. His access to Boeing's archives and many official sources has allowed him to present the B-47's development and operational history in unprecedented scope and detail."

IPMS, 2006, reviewed by Art Silen
"My take on the book — Aviation historians will love it; modelers will love it.  You will love it.  Buy it."

Modeling Madness, December 2005, reviewed by Scott Van Aken
"There are times each year when I read a book and am completely blown away with the depth of the material, the quality of the images and its ability to hold my interest beyond where other books tend to 'fall off'. This is one of them. It is a book that you absolutely must have on your shelves."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Spcialty Press (November 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158007071X
• ISBN-13: 978-1580070713
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,476,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breakthrough, December 7, 2005

By 

R. J. Stokes (Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Boeing's B-47 Stratojet (Hardcover)

As a child, my family often drove through Plattsburgh and once stopped at the former SAC base. There sat "The Pride of the Adirondacks", a B-47 on permanent display at a quiet park by Lake Champlain. It was striking. Its sleek, graceful lines and shiney aluminum marked it as thoroughly modern. Decades after its last flight, it was still poised to take-off.

Lloyd's book underscores the immensely vital deterrent and other roles the plane filled during the tense, early days of the Cold War. But that part of the B-47 story (thankfully) does not dominate the book. The hero of the book is the B-47 itself. Lloyd's work traces the development of this revolutionary plane in brisk, compelling detail. The chapters establish its seminal, technological accomplishments. The accompanying pictures perfectly complement the text. Lloyd's picture compilation is absolutely second-to-none. Perhaps the best way to describe the book is "enjoyable biography" for it very much is a biography of a remarkable airplane.

A few extant B-47s dot the American landscape today. They sit. Like the "Pride of the Adirondacks", not one of them will ever fly again. But Lloyd's book lets them soar.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent complete portrail of a huge leap forward in aviation, November 27, 2005

By 

James Diamond (Lees Summit, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Boeing's B-47 Stratojet (Hardcover)

Al Lloyd has done another outstanding job of portraying the aviation history of Boeing and the USAF in this coverage of the Boeing B-47. This airplane was so far ahead of its time that even its flight and ground crews had a hard time getting up to speed and understanding its then complex systems. Even now over some 50 years later we are still benefiting from those advances in this planes design. As a former Air Force Crew Chief on this plane I find many interesting items in this book reminding me of our difficulties in learning and keeping up with this emerging technology. Its coverage is a hallmark of Lloyd's attention to detail. If you have an interest in the cold war years and a like interest in the change over from prop to jet multi engine aircraft, this book is a must.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stratojet Redux, January 9, 2007

By 

C. A. Stidsen (Tolland, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Boeing's B-47 Stratojet (Hardcover)

When I was a young Second LT back in the mid-60's, I was assigned to Davis-Monthan AFB. Besides SAC and TAC operations , D-M was the site of MASDC (now AMARC) ,AKA the "Boneyard". Back then,nearly 5,000 airplanes were stored there. Every morning, from my apartment, I would look out over 1500 B-47's lined up in rows, gleaming in the morning sun. I often wondered where they had come from and what their various stories were.

By 1969, the "Great Silver Fleet"(as it were) of B-47's was largely gonefrom the Arizona landscape - cut up and melted down on site (this was before EPA forbade such things) and the scrap sold. Only two were left on base by 1970, and others were scattered around the US in museums. I hoped then that someday I would see a good reference text, memorializing and defining the service of this Proud silver bird. Alwyn Lloyd had done just that.

The B-47 has been out of the USAF Inventory for nearly 40 years now, and has been largely forgotten by today's crop of kids,who prefer to see yet another book on the F-15, F-16, F-18. etc. It's a shame , because the 47 was a precedent-breaking and trend setting machine, whose lines can still be seen in many products of the Boeing Company and others.

While it wasn't the sleekest of the four machines in the 1945 Jet Bomber competition (the Convair XB-46 holds that distinction), it certainly had the greatest range,payload and development potential of the four Contenders (XB-45,XB-46,XB-47,XB-48). We'll never see 2,000 unit production runs for a U.S.Bomber again, nor see the number of conversions that the 47 underwent during its 15 year operational life. Alwyn Lloyd does a marvelous job of bringing the varied history of the Aircraft back to life. Earlier works, such as Lindsey Peacock's 1987 opus on the 47, were handicapped by security restrictions that have since been lifted.

The appendices on Production, Model Numbers, Units assigned, etc alone are worth the purchase price. The numerous photos, diagrams, etc. in the text make this work an outstanding value - even more so with the 30% markdown normally offered by Amazon. Highly recommended !