Warbird Information Exchange

Yes / No .. please please

No, is the short answer.

None of the survivors, AFAIK, are in private ownership, almost all have been kept outdoors for many years, the spares holdings will probably have been junked aeons ago.

Oh, and SIX engines!

Not really a serious proposition to restore one to fly, even if the name you sign your checks with is 'Paul Allen'

You know, I thought i read about a private owner that was going to fly his B-47 just once to Oshkosh, and then donate it to a museum.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

A list of survivors, for those interested.

http://www.visi.com/~jweeks/b47/index.html

Not quite true.

The majority of the fuselage of the former Pease AFB B-47 is privately owned.

Corsair freak's picture:



Now if someone were able to purchase the wings and fuselage they could with enough finacial backing, reassemble the bird. There is also B-47 on a target range that possibly be used as a parts source.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

The B-47 at the Castle Air Museum near Merced/Atwater in California was the last Stratojet to fly.

Chief Master Sergeant Russell Morrison was the driving force behind the development and aircraft acquisition early in the Castle AFB museum's history. This guy was awesome and he sure knew how to work the system. He found every aircraft that wasn't tied down (and many that were) in the Air Force inventory and had them hauled or flown to Castle. He came up with some amazing and rare aircraft.

The B-47 was a target on one of the bombing ranges at China Lake and he sent a crew down to evaluate it. They figured the best way to get her home was to fly her out. They worked on her for a while and made her ready for the ferry flight but who would they get to fly her? He searched through the Air Force records and found a current officer who still flew B-52's and he had also flown the B-47 early in his career. Somehow he talked this Gentleman into flying his B-47 from China Lake to Castle a short distance of around 170 miles as the Stratojet flies.

China Lake has a policy that seems to be long standing about flying old aircraft out of their facility. It was the same policy when the B-29 (Hawg Wild 44-61748) that we flew on came out of there in 1980. They make it clear, in no uncertain terms; that once your aircraft leaves the runway at China Lake you are not to return under any circumstances. As I recall it was something like ' I don't care if your ass is on fire and your engines are flinging metal through the cowling you will not land back here. You will make your smoking hole outside of our perimeter fence...Do you understand? '

I wish I could remember the pilots name and I would love to hear his story first hand as it certainly must be a good one. As I recall the story goes that shortly after he broke ground he lost electrical and then hydraulic power. Imagine trying to muscle a B-47 without hydraulic assist on the controls. The engines were running good so he pointed the nose toward Castle and made a 100 mile straight in approach and was able to get her down on the runway again using all of his strength to man handle the old gal. He drug an outer engine nacelle and a wing tip on the runway during the battle but he made it. Thankfully the runway was long enough to stretch over the horizon and he was able to eventually stop without any brakes.

The Chief said that he went up to the pilot as he was getting out of the aircraft and he was drenched in sweat and still shaking from his ordeal. The Chief then gave him a hearty slap on the back and a congratulations and in the next breath he said '...job well done, now I need your help to fly my B-36 back here!’ I guess the pilot told the Chief what he could do with his B-36 and they went off to the O club for a well deserved drink.

Here is a photo of the the old gal as she appears today:



Here is a link to some more information about her:

http://www.elite.net/castle-air/b47.htm

Awesome story about the last flight of the Stratojet!

I just did a search and I found out who the pilot was. He was Maj. Gen John (JD) Moore who sadly passed away in 2005.

Here is a photo of him from the web site below.



Here is a web page about what happened. Scroll down toward the bottom.

http://www.b-47.com/Robbins/First-last.htm

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To donate to the PV-2D project via PayPal click here http://www.twinbeech.com/84062restoration.htm

We brought her from: to this in 3 months: Help us get her all the way back

All donations are tax deductible as the Stockton Field Aviation Museum is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Tell a friend as the Harpoon needs all the help she can get.

Thank you!

Taigh Ramey
Vintage Aircraft, Stockton, California
http://www.twinbeech.com
'KEEP ‘EM FLYING…FOR HISTORY!'

Excellent story Taigh!

Gary

Russell Morrison was amazing! Thanks for posting. I remember his first name but had forgotten his last. I spoke to him on the phone once in the fall of 1990 about the B-36 for an article, he was a great guy. Sadly he had to give up running the museum due to health issues not long after I spoke with him.

JH

You know, mentioning a flyable civilian F-4 and F-105 is a lot like kickin' an anthill in certain circles.

Mentioning a flyable civilian B-47 would send those same folks into apoplectic fits the like of which has never been seen !

Now THERE'S an idea, just for a bit of fun someone ought to start a rumour!

Taigh,
This weekend I will call my old company and get a hold of dale wolfe. He was the back seat on that B-47 flight. If he is up on computers, I will get him to join up and give us a story about it.

I was at our company picnic a few yrs ago. Dale flew 1900's for us. I was talking to him asking questions about his AF career and what he flew. He told me that he was in the B-47 and I told him how I would have loved to see a RATO take off. He smiled a bit and said "Fun".
Then I got to telling HIM about the B-47 flight that I remembered reading about it AIR Classics in the early 80's. He said "Yeah I remember that one, I was in the back seat!" He was chosen cause he was one of the last current pilots in the B-47.

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Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

This si a little off topic, but along the same lines. There was one B-36 left that was under restoration (it is now at Pima, but was at DFW). The group wanted to fly it just once to Oshkosh and then retire it to their museum. Gulf Oil Company donated a couple of tank cars full of fuel to see them do it, but the Air Force Museum said "No way". The plane was then transferred to Pima. Kind of sad as it would have been cool to see one fly. Currently the last B-36 to fly is the one that is in the NMUSAF.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

In the Air Force Instructions dealing with the NMUSAF there is a section prohibiting ANY aircraft that has EVER been on static display from flying.

The reg is AFI 84-103 US Air Force Heritage Program

Correct, and for the most part I agree with it, just sometimes you think, man it would be cool if they flew that B-36 that was in Texas to Oshkosh. I actually agree with both types of museums. I think that both the static and flying musuems are needed.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Another thing that would hold back a B-47 would be the cost. I would have to assume that even if you had one in flying condition, that it would take a good deal of many to feed those jets, along with maint., a hangar big enough, and let's not forget insurance. It still would be cool to see one in the air. I would pay $350.00 for a ride in one.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager