B-47E last flight photo

JohnH · **Posted:** Fri Oct 13, 2006 1:56 am

I completely forgot until now. My friend I mentioned earlier, Lt Col USAf Ret Chuck Fink got to taxi the airplane at China Lake (I saw the video of this) and was going to be one of the pilots until the USAF decided they didn't want a civilian involved. I'm sure he was bummed out. He flew B-24s, B-47s then the B-52 out of Castle before retiring in 68. He was the commander of the Lonesome George B-52 during Operation Power Flight, the around the world B-52 flight in Jan, 1957. I just happened to be taping a History Ch show last year and was stunned to see him in some footage of that flight.

John

Don Martin · **Posted:** Sat Oct 14, 2006 12:26 am

SOP for landing a B-47 was to lower the rear landing gear and deploy the drag chute before landing. She was VERY CLEAN, VERY SLICK aerodynamiclly and took a lot to slow down for landing.

Abad47 · **Joined:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 7:48 am **Posts:** 1

Re: B-47E last flight photo why the chute on landing ?
One post noted : ..SOP for landing a B-47 was to lower the rear landing gear and deploy the drag chute before landing. She was VERY CLEAN, VERY SLICK aerodynamiclly and took a lot to slow down for landing.
The B47 has a Bicycle landing gear and 2 chutes. The "She was VERY CLEAN, VERY SLICK.." aerodynamically is true but ALL the Landing Gear Wheels (including the outrigger wheels) go down with the Landing Gear Handle at one time (ie : Bicycle Landing Gear.
When the acft. got light after a mission (and the fuel load was mostly diminished) the throttles were at "flight idle" (at the min. throttle stops) to keep the acft. slow enough to put down the gear and land. The drag from the gear now being down was not enough to slow it down because of its Slippery Aerodynamic Design. Because the engines were at idle and when power was needed in this flight regime, the "fuel controller" (the unit delivering the fuel to the injector nozzles in the combustion section of the engines) were slow to react when instant power was needed to keep the desired precise airspeed until the 3-6 seconds it took to react to "the request for power" was established.
SOOOOOO ! A small "drag chute" was added for normal ops for landing to provide "needed drag that kept the engines spooled-up" so that the fuel controller at "this now higher rpm and thrust" acted faster (no or little time lag from "request to the power requested" was instant or close to instant.
THEN : when in the landing and the small drag chute was doing its job of "dragging" - an additional amount of drag was required to slow the B47 upon touchdown to brake use speed - the other of the 2 chutes I mentioned was gigantic in in respect to the "drag chute" and was named and is "the Brake Chute" - WHICH after the Bicycle Gear Trucks were on the runway "and or" called for by the pilot this Drag Chute was activated by a mechanical "T" by the co-pilot. "The Drag Chute" was activated by an Electrically Activated Switch - "The Brake Chute" activated by the mentioned Mechanically Activated "T" Handle.
At First the Drag Chute was also activated by a smaller "T" handle and resulted in "the fatal error" of "Brake Chute Deployment in Flight" . "IF" - YOU DID NOT GRAB AND PULL THE "BRAKE CHUTE RELEASE HANDLE" FAST ENOUGH YOU COULD THEN CLASSIFY YOURSELF AS "DEAD".
A Fellow B47 Pilot and I, while walking to the Officers Club for dinner one night, witnessed the deployment of the Brake Chute of a B47 on a wide down-wind leg (even though the above changes were in place). The B47 immediately slowed well below flight speed, nosed down and disappeared behind the treeline at McConnell AFB, KN. We ran to the OClub and called the Control Tower - they informed me that the Brake Chute Release Handle was pulled and the B47 came within 50 or so feet of being "permanently retired from service".
I have 2,400 hours in the B47 and my last flight was in Dec 1965 - it was a great Bird to Fly and one of the ones I flew now sits at the Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle ,WA. Carl J. Mollnow 10 mar 12

51fixer · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 9:53 am

Abad47 wrote:

Re: B-47E last flight photo why the chute on landing ?
One post noted : ..SOP for landing a B-47 was to lower the rear landing gear and deploy the drag chute before landing. She was VERY CLEAN, VERY SLICK aerodynamiclly and took a lot to slow down for landing.
The B47 has a Bicycle landing gear and 2 chutes. The "She was VERY CLEAN, VERY SLICK.." aerodynamically is true but ALL the Landing Gear Wheels (including the outrigger wheels) go down with the Landing Gear Handle at one time (ie : Bicycle Landing Gear.
When the acft. got light after a mission (and the fuel load was mostly diminished) the throttles were at "flight idle" (at the min. throttle stops) to keep the acft. slow enough to put down the gear and land. The drag from the gear now being down was not enough to slow it down because of its Slippery Aerodynamic Design. Because the engines were at idle and when power was needed in this flight regime, the "fuel controller" (the unit delivering the fuel to the injector nozzles in the combustion section of the engines) were slow to react when instant power was needed to keep the desired precise airspeed until the 3-6 seconds it took to react to "the request for power" was established.
SOOOOOO ! A small "drag chute" was added for normal ops for landing to provide "needed drag that kept the engines spooled-up" so that the fuel controller at "this now higher rpm and thrust" acted faster (no or little time lag from "request to the power requested" was instant or close to instant.
THEN : when in the landing and the small drag chute was doing its job of "dragging" - an additional amount of drag was required to slow the B47 upon touchdown to brake use speed - the other of the 2 chutes I mentioned was gigantic in in respect to the "drag chute" and was named and is "the Brake Chute" - WHICH after the Bicycle Gear Trucks were on the runway "and or" called for by the pilot this Drag Chute was activated by a mechanical "T" by the co-pilot. "The Drag Chute" was activated by an Electrically Activated Switch - "The Brake Chute" activated by the mentioned Mechanically Activated "T" Handle.
At First the Drag Chute was also activated by a smaller "T" handle and resulted in "the fatal error" of "Brake Chute Deployment in Flight" . "IF" - YOU DID NOT GRAB AND PULL THE "BRAKE CHUTE RELEASE HANDLE" FAST ENOUGH YOU COULD THEN CLASSIFY YOURSELF AS "DEAD".
A Fellow B47 Pilot and I, while walking to the Officers Club for dinner one night, witnessed the deployment of the Brake Chute of a B47 on a wide down-wind leg (even though the above changes were in place). The B47 immediately slowed well below flight speed, nosed down and disappeared behind the treeline at McConnell AFB, KN. We ran to the OClub and called the Control Tower - they informed me that the Brake Chute Release Handle was pulled and the B47 came within 50 or so feet of being "permanently retired from service".
I have 2,400 hours in the B47 and my last flight was in Dec 1965 - it was a great Bird to Fly and one of the ones I flew now sits at the Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle ,WA. Carl J. Mollnow 10 mar 12

Awesome 1st post. Thanks for your insights.

The Inspector · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2012 8:48 pm

I was under the impression that you could pull the breakers for the front body gear and use the aft gear and outriggers as speedbrakes since the airplane did not have airbrakes. You can see that gear technique in STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND where Jimmy Stewart makes his approach to Kadena, never mind that it was night on the runway and raining while the sun was still up @ altitude.

I've been told that you can turn a B-52 around in it's own wingspan by pulling and resetting circuit breakers in conjunction with adjusting the crosswind crab wheel, with hydraulics on, pull breakers for front gear, crank crosswind to full right on aft gear, pull breakers on aft gear, reenergize nose gear and turn the nose crosswind to full left, hook up tow bar and tug and around she goes.
True or old wives tale? geek

Ken · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:47 pm

The Inspector wrote:

never mind that it was night on the runway and raining while the sun was still up @ altitude

I always assumed that it was near sunup/sunset and dark down low due to the typhoon/rain/IMC.

If they loaded up that morning and blasted off by noon, MacDill time, cruised the 7100nm at an average speed of 400KTAS, they'd have had an 18 hour ride. Of course I have no idea what the winds aloft were or how much time they lost conducting AR. Kadena runs about 13 hours ahead of Tampa, so it could have been 1900 local when he started down on the PAR penetration .... :wink:

Only Leo knows.

Cking · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2012 4:22 pm

Abad47 wrote:

Re: B-47E last flight photo why the chute on landing ?
One post noted : ..SOP for landing a B-47 was to lower the rear landing gear and deploy the drag chute before landing. She was VERY CLEAN, VERY SLICK aerodynamiclly and took a lot to slow down for landing.
The B47 has a Bicycle landing gear and 2 chutes. The "She was VERY CLEAN, VERY SLICK.." aerodynamically is true but ALL the Landing Gear Wheels (including the outrigger wheels) go down with the Landing Gear Handle at one time (ie : Bicycle Landing Gear.
When the acft. got light after a mission (and the fuel load was mostly diminished) the throttles were at "flight idle" (at the min. throttle stops) to keep the acft. slow enough to put down the gear and land. The drag from the gear now being down was not enough to slow it down because of its Slippery Aerodynamic Design. Because the engines were at idle and when power was needed in this flight regime, the "fuel controller" (the unit delivering the fuel to the injector nozzles in the combustion section of the engines) were slow to react when instant power was needed to keep the desired precise airspeed until the 3-6 seconds it took to react to "the request for power" was established.
SOOOOOO ! A small "drag chute" was added for normal ops for landing to provide "needed drag that kept the engines spooled-up" so that the fuel controller at "this now higher rpm and thrust" acted faster (no or little time lag from "request to the power requested" was instant or close to instant.
THEN : when in the landing and the small drag chute was doing its job of "dragging" - an additional amount of drag was required to slow the B47 upon touchdown to brake use speed - the other of the 2 chutes I mentioned was gigantic in in respect to the "drag chute" and was named and is "the Brake Chute" - WHICH after the Bicycle Gear Trucks were on the runway "and or" called for by the pilot this Drag Chute was activated by a mechanical "T" by the co-pilot. "The Drag Chute" was activated by an Electrically Activated Switch - "The Brake Chute" activated by the mentioned Mechanically Activated "T" Handle.
At First the Drag Chute was also activated by a smaller "T" handle and resulted in "the fatal error" of "Brake Chute Deployment in Flight" . "IF" - YOU DID NOT GRAB AND PULL THE "BRAKE CHUTE RELEASE HANDLE" FAST ENOUGH YOU COULD THEN CLASSIFY YOURSELF AS "DEAD".
A Fellow B47 Pilot and I, while walking to the Officers Club for dinner one night, witnessed the deployment of the Brake Chute of a B47 on a wide down-wind leg (even though the above changes were in place). The B47 immediately slowed well below flight speed, nosed down and disappeared behind the treeline at McConnell AFB, KN. We ran to the OClub and called the Control Tower - they informed me that the Brake Chute Release Handle was pulled and the B47 came within 50 or so feet of being "permanently retired from service".
I have 2,400 hours in the B47 and my last flight was in Dec 1965 - it was a great Bird to Fly and one of the ones I flew now sits at the Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle ,WA. Carl J. Mollnow 10 mar 12

Welcome to the group Carl and thanks for the "Real" story. If you have any more stories or pictures of your time on the B-47, I for one, would love to hear them. As a person that has been fed and watered by Boeing products for the past forty years (Dad fixed 'em and now I do) I have a very soft spot for Seattle's finest!

Rgds Cking

Xray · **Joined:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 1:25 am **Posts:** 534

Cking wrote:

Abad47 wrote:

Re: B-47E last flight photo why the chute on landing ?
One post noted : ..SOP for landing a B-47 was to lower the rear landing gear and deploy the drag chute before landing. She was VERY CLEAN, VERY SLICK aerodynamiclly and took a lot to slow down for landing.
The B47 has a Bicycle landing gear and 2 chutes. The "She was VERY CLEAN, VERY SLICK.." aerodynamically is true but ALL the Landing Gear Wheels (including the outrigger wheels) go down with the Landing Gear Handle at one time (ie : Bicycle Landing Gear.
When the acft. got light after a mission (and the fuel load was mostly diminished) the throttles were at "flight idle" (at the min. throttle stops) to keep the acft. slow enough to put down the gear and land. The drag from the gear now being down was not enough to slow it down because of its Slippery Aerodynamic Design. Because the engines were at idle and when power was needed in this flight regime, the "fuel controller" (the unit delivering the fuel to the injector nozzles in the combustion section of the engines) were slow to react when instant power was needed to keep the desired precise airspeed until the 3-6 seconds it took to react to "the request for power" was established.
SOOOOOO ! A small "drag chute" was added for normal ops for landing to provide "needed drag that kept the engines spooled-up" so that the fuel controller at "this now higher rpm and thrust" acted faster (no or little time lag from "request to the power requested" was instant or close to instant.
THEN : when in the landing and the small drag chute was doing its job of "dragging" - an additional amount of drag was required to slow the B47 upon touchdown to brake use speed - the other of the 2 chutes I mentioned was gigantic in in respect to the "drag chute" and was named and is "the Brake Chute" - WHICH after the Bicycle Gear Trucks were on the runway "and or" called for by the pilot this Drag Chute was activated by a mechanical "T" by the co-pilot. "The Drag Chute" was activated by an Electrically Activated Switch - "The Brake Chute" activated by the mentioned Mechanically Activated "T" Handle.
At First the Drag Chute was also activated by a smaller "T" handle and resulted in "the fatal error" of "Brake Chute Deployment in Flight" . "IF" - YOU DID NOT GRAB AND PULL THE "BRAKE CHUTE RELEASE HANDLE" FAST ENOUGH YOU COULD THEN CLASSIFY YOURSELF AS "DEAD".
A Fellow B47 Pilot and I, while walking to the Officers Club for dinner one night, witnessed the deployment of the Brake Chute of a B47 on a wide down-wind leg (even though the above changes were in place). The B47 immediately slowed well below flight speed, nosed down and disappeared behind the treeline at McConnell AFB, KN. We ran to the OClub and called the Control Tower - they informed me that the Brake Chute Release Handle was pulled and the B47 came within 50 or so feet of being "permanently retired from service".
I have 2,400 hours in the B47 and my last flight was in Dec 1965 - it was a great Bird to Fly and one of the ones I flew now sits at the Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle ,WA. Carl J. Mollnow 10 mar 12

Welcome to the group Carl and thanks for the "Real" story. If you have any more stories or pictures of your time on the B-47, I for one, would love to hear them. As a person that has been fed and watered by Boeing products for the past forty years (Dad fixed 'em and now I do) I have a very soft spot for Seattle's finest!

Rgds Cking

I 2nd that, thanks for the post Carl, hope you add some more insights.

JohnH · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 12:10 am

Here's some info on the first and last B-47 pilots , including JD Moore, pilot of the Castle B-47. Sadly both passed away in 2005 . It's amazing they didn't lose the crew and airplane on that last flight.

http://b-47.com/wp-content/uploads/2012 ... d-Last.pdf

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B-47E last flight photo

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