You’d
have to be a communist not to like the B-47 Stratojet. Developed in a time when
the fear was so great and the defence spending budget so unlimited that some of
the best looking heavy bombers took to the sky – the Cold War. Now in warmer
times we can admire the hardware. Specialty Press have a track record of
producing excellent books characterised by a combination of newly published
photographs, technical drawings and diagrams providing a comprehensive
description of the subject.
In
this 276 page book, author Alwyn T Lloyd, covers the design of the B-47 in
eleven chapters through prototypes into production, crew training, operation,
modification and experimentation. He concludes with Appendices A through F which
provide additional colour photographs and data concerning production numbers,
units and markings, model numbers and accident rates.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The
book contains a wealth of images such as production facilities, shots of crews,
engine maintenance scenes, wind tunnel testing, payloads, transportation,
crashes, refuelling and of course many shots of experimental versions and its
use as a test bed. The shots of the B-47 within production facilities would have
to be my favourites as so many secrets of the aircraft’s structure, not
apparent in operational photos, are given away in these images. The scale of
these manufacturing operations is also always impressive to observe.
The
written history in the book is equally fascinating and highlights the perils of
operational flying in so called “peacetime”. The author has tapped into the
knowledge and experience of the people who built, flew and maintained these
planes. One anecdote tells of manoeuvrability tests using a defector’s Mig-15
versus the B-47 to see if the big plane could shake the little fighter – the
answer was no but not for want of effort from the B-47 driver.
This
book would seem to be an indispensable resource to modellers of the B-47 in that
it provides that dimension in detail and insights into the wear on the body of
the plane not apparent in the many glamour shots from the era. The technical
drawings provide further accountability for serious scratch builders and some
fascinating history provides inspiration for modellers wanting to tackle a
particular plane. Finally the colour images of Appendix A give you
some great bare metal finish shots.
Very
much recommend.
Boeing’s
B-47 Stratojet by Alwyn T. Lloyd 2005
Published
by Specialty Press
ISBN-13
978-1-58007-071-3
ISBN-10
1-58007-071-X
This
book is available here: http://www.hlj.com/product/SPR07071
My
thanks to HobbyLink
Japan
(http://www.hlj.com/)
for supplying this review sample. Dave
Johnson
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