A table model of a Boeing B-47 Stratojet made in aluminum. The Stratojet was introduced after World War II by the United States Air Force as the Iron Curtain fell, and the Cold War began. Its purpose was to be a high altitude, long range nuclear bomber traveling at subsonic speed, with the capability to hit targets in the Soviet Union. The USAF Strategic Air Command operated B-47 Stratojets (B-47s, EB-47s, RB-47s and YRB-47s) from 1951 through 1965. By 1956, the U.S. Air Force had 28 wings of B-47 bombers and five wings of RB-47 reconnaissance aircraft. The bombers were the first line of America's strategic nuclear deterrent, often operating from forward bases in the UK, Morocco, Spain, Alaska, Greenland and Guam. B-47s were often set up on "one-third" alert, with a third of the operational aircraft available sitting on hardstands or an alert ramp adjacent to the runway, loaded with fuel and nuclear weapons, crews on standby, ready to attack the Soviet Union at short notice. This plane was revolutionary in design. The six newly developed General Electric TG-180 turbojet engines were fitted to a swept wing. This was a last minute change to the original plans drawn up in 1944. A May 1945 von Kármán mission of the Army Air Forces inspected the secret German aeronautics laboratory near Braunschweig. von Kármán's team included the chief of the technical staff at Boeing, George S. Schairer. He had heard about the controversial swept-wing theory of R. T. Jones at Langley, but seeing models of swept-wing aircraft and extensive supersonic wind-tunnel data generated by the Germans, the concept was decisively confirmed. He wired his home office: "Stop the bomber design", and changed the design of the B-47 wing. After a number of changes in design of the engine layout, wheel placement and technical details throughout, the aircraft undertook its first flight on 17th December 1947, the anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight, with no issues. In February 1949, Russ Schleeh and Joe Howell "broke all coast-to-coast speed records" flying from Moses Lake Air Force Base to Andrews Air Force Base. They averaged 607.8 miles per hour. A few iterations later into the plane saw the XB-47. The Boeing test pilot Rob Robbins had originally been skeptical about the XB-47, saying that before the initial flight he had prayed, "Oh God, please help me through the next two hours." The aircraft was "considered to be a radical airplane". Robbins soon realised that he had an extraordinary aircraft. Chuck Yeager flew the XB-47 later in its development cycle and years later noted that the aircraft was so aerodynamically clean that he had difficulty putting it down on the Edwards lakebed. Both XB-47 prototypes were test flown at Edwards AFB; however, the number one XB-47 (46-065) was disassembled and eventually scrapped by the Air Force in 1954, thus making the number two prototype (46-066) the sole surviving XB-47. Upon retirement, XB-47 (46-066) was restored and placed on display at the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum in Rantoul, Illinois where it remained on display until the museum announced it was closing its doors due to financial difficulties in April 2015. In late 2015, the Flight Test Historical Foundation began fundraising efforts to purchase XB-47 (46-066) for relocation to the Flight Test Museum at Edwards AFB. The purchase was completed in August 2016 and on September 21, 2016 the aircraft arrived at Edwards AFB for reassembly, restoration and eventual display at the Flight Test Museum. The 35-degree swept wings were shoulder-mounted, with the twin inboard turbojet engines mounted in neat pods, and the outboard engines tacked under the wings short of the wingtips. With the exception of a change from the shoulder wing configuration to being under the fuselage and cockpit seating to side-by-side, most future commercial airliners would use a similar configuration, with the engines mounted in underwing pylons. This is a fine model of the "fastest bomber in the world", complete with original decals. This type of model was not a 'toy', and were made to sit in the mess halls of the pilots and crew that flew them as a proud reminder of the power and prestige of the state of the art aircraft that were under their control. The model sits on a detachable, original base, that features a ball joint that allows the bomber to be arranged in any number of positions. Made circa 1950's. Condition is excellent.
