The Navy's "Heavies"
When the subject of big naval aircraft is raised, one usually thinks of the A3D Skywarrior, the largest aircraft to regularly operate from aircraft carriers, or the giant JRM-series Mars flying boats or the Navy's large land-based transports of the R6O Constellation series. Far less known are three Air Force "heavies" that flew in Navy markings: the B-29 Superfortress, B-47 Stratojet, and KC-135 Stratotanker.
B-29 Superfortress
Shortly after World War II the Navy acquired four Boeing B-29s, ostensibly to evaluate the role of these long-range aircraft in maritime patrol. The four-engine B-29 was the most advanced bomber flown by the Army Air Forces in World War II.
They carried out intensive attacks against the Japanese home islands beginning in 1944, including devastating incendiary raids that started in March 1945. And, of course, the B-29s Enola Gay and Bockscar brought an end to the Pacific war when they dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
When the war ended the AAF had almost 1,500 B-29s flying from advanced bases in the Pacific. Total production was 3,996 aircraft, and Superfortresses served as strategic bombers until 1954 and as reconnaissance aircraft and tankers until 1957. (The Royal Air Force also flew 88 of the bombers, dubbed Washingtons.)
The four B-29s taken over by the Navy were designated P2B, indicating the second patrol aircraft built by Boeing.1 Three of the Navy planes were employed in antisubmarine-warfare research for the Bureau of Aeronautics?one as P2B-1S and two as P2B-2S. The fourth aircraft, a P2B-1S, was used as a launch platform for the Navy's D-558-II Skyrocket, with a modified bomb bay to accommodate the research aircraft.2
The first P2B-1/D-558-II launch occurred on 8 September 1950. These flights continued until December 1956, and included the 20 November 1953 launch of the first manned flight to exceed Mach 2.
B-47 Stratojet
The Navy first employed two Boeing B-47 strategic bombers to provide electronic warfare training and evaluation for fleet air defenses. These were also the last Stratojets flown by the U.S. military.
The sleek, swept-wing, six-engine B-47 was the first turbojet bomber to enter service with the U.S. Strategic Air Command as a "medium" bomber, replacing the B-29s and B-50s. It also flew in large numbers in specialized reconnaissance configurations, with some making spy flights over the Soviet Union. Total B-47 production for the Air Force was 2,042 aircraft, which served from 1951 until 1969.
During the 1970s two B-47Es reactivated from storage were transferred to the Navy and flown by McDonnell Douglas contractor crews. They operated against U.S. warships as electronic aggressors to test and evaluate warship defenses. While often referred to as EB-47Es, in fact they were straight bomber-type aircraft fitted with electronic warfare pods as well as internal equipment.
A third B-47E also flew with Navy markings to test the General Electric TF-34 turbofan engine for the Lockheed S-3 Viking antisubmarine aircraft. Designated NB-47E, this "seven-engine" aircraft flew in the engine test role from 1969 into the summer of 1975.3
The last operational flight of a B-47 was on 20 December 1977, and the final recorded flight of a B-47 occurred on 17 June 1986, when a Navy B-47E flew from the Naval Weapons Center at China Lake, California, to Castle Air Force Base, California.
KC-135 Stratotankers
The Navy replaced its two electronic warfare B-47E Stratojets with Boeing KC-135A Stratotankers. These aircraft provided more capability for this function as well as for other research and development efforts.
The four-turbojet KC-135 has been the Air Force's principal tanker for more than 50 years, having first entered service with the Strategic Air Command in 1957. The KC-135 resembles the Boeing 707 airliner but is structurally a discrete design with the model number 717. In the tanker configuration the aircraft can also carry 83,000 pounds of cargo or 80 passengers.
Boeing produced 820 C-135 variants, consisting of 732 Air Force tankers, 12 tankers for the French Air Force, and 76 cargo and electronic-reconnaissance aircraft, aerial mapping planes, and airborne command posts. The last aircraft were delivered in 1965. (The 707 also served as the basis for several other military planes, including the Navy's E-6 Mercury strategic communications-relay aircraft.)
The two KC-135s that went to the Navy in 1977-78 had already been modified by the Air Force—including removal of their air-refueling equipment—for use in various research and development programs. In R&D configuration they were designated NKC-135A.
Further modifications by the Navy included removal of some of the fuselage fuel cells for equipment bays, replacement of the weather radar with a surface-search radar, installation of wing pylons for electronic pods, and an electronic warfare/navigator station in the cargo cabin. (The flight crew also consisted of two pilots and, at times, a crew chief.) The total payload was some 12,500 pounds of electronic equipment.
Except for the E-6 Mercury, the Stratotankers were the largest aircraft to fly in Navy markings during the 1970s and 1980s. Their crews, like those of the Navy B-47s, were McDonnell Douglas contract personnel.
In the early 1990s the Navy modified two P-3B Orion maritime patrol aircraft to take over the electronic warfare/aggressor role. Flying with the designation EP-3J, these aircraft were manned by Naval Reserve and active Navy personnel. Thus ended the appearance of traditionally Air Force aircraft with "United States Navy" emblazoned on their fuselages.
1. The PB was the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, flown by the Navy as the PB-1W, an experimental airborne early warning aircraft.
2. The Air Force similarly used B-29s as launch platforms for the X-1/XS-1 rocket research aircraft.
3. Of the 21 B-47s that remain intact—most at museums and air bases—two are former naval aircraft: 52-412 at Abilene, Texas, and 53-2104 at Pueblo, Colorado. One of the B-29s—45-21787 named Fertile Myrtle—is preserved disassembled at Tamiami, Florida.