The Most Secret Airplane to Ever Fly Over America?

The Boeing B-47 Stratojet was the world's first swept-wing bomber, a pioneer that revolutionized aviation design. When it first took to the skies in 1947, it looked like nothing else on Earth - with its six engines suspended under razor-thin wings, it seemed to have arrived from the future. The B-47 was not just a looker; it was also blindingly fast. In 1949, it smashed the cross-country speed record, flying from Washington state to Washington D.C., averaging over 600 miles per hour - faster than any previous bomber could dream of flying.

This extraordinary aircraft played a crucial role during one of the most dangerous moments in human history. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, B-47 reconnaissance variants assisted U-2 spy planes in providing photographic evidence of Soviet missiles in Cuba, directly influencing President Kennedy's decisions as the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war.

The B-47's innovations weren't confined to military use. Its revolutionary design - those swept wings and podded engines - became the template for virtually every large jet aircraft that followed, including the Boeing 707 that ushered in the age of mass air travel. From its record-breaking speeds to its Cold War espionage, from its nuclear deterrence role to its lasting impact on commercial aviation, the B-47 Stratojet didn't just push the boundaries of flight - it redefined them entirely.

[skooterk]

No. The most secret aircraft flying is the one we don’t know about

[myplane]

I didn't mark the times but the narrator pronounced Stratojet 3 or 4 different ways throughout the video. 😁

[stephenwalton]

I had the privilege of listening to a lecture by the test pilot who conducted the initial flight of the. B-47. They flew the VFR only bird to Mose Lake on top of a solid undercast. At the lake there was a five mile wide, ”Sucker hole, ”(Break in the undercast.) They landed and were towed into a hangar where they exited the aircraft only to find the field had totally fogged in. Much of Boeing’s financial future rode on that flight that almost ended in catastrophe.

The early jet engines spooled up so inconsistently that in flight drag chutes had to be implemented to maintain lateral control doing pattern work (takeoffs and landings.) The drag allowed the engines to be operated above idle rpms to allow symmetric acceleration and control. The use of the chutes did lead to panicked phone calls from residents in proximity to SAC bases until it became generally known.

What the video failed to cover was the tremendous losses of the aircraft due to, ”Toss bombing, ” over stressing the center sections. The video alluded to the strengthening of the wing in late models but failed to mention the loss of over three hundred aircraft due to this self induced failure mode. Yes, the Air Force kept that loss rate quiet.

[edwardpate]

One of the best looking aircraft ever!

[Shannon-ijpm]

It maybe pedantic but mispronunciation that are easily fact checked irritate me. Strat-O-jet Thule Air Base is pronounced Too-Lee.

[hairy-one]

the B-47 would throw a bomb. It'd pull up hard into an Immelmann and release the bomb in a nose vertical attitude under a few Gs. The plane would complete the turn inverted, then roll upright and get the hell outa there cuz nukes are unhealthy to be near...

[StevenPine-st]

SAY STRATOSPHERE SAY STRATOJET If your about ONLY PLANES, I'd think you would know better

[robertmurray]

I was in THE US NAVY STATIONED AT PT. MUGU CA. THE-PACIFIC MISSLE RANGE HAD A B-47it was flown a lot.

[marckyle]

10:19 That's "sack", NOT "S. A. C". No one I knew when I was a service dependent living on base said the letters individually. "SAC", okay? I can tell by the cadence and the way pauses that should happen didn't that this is a bot. I only subscribe to channels with human voices.

[jimoliver]

My grade school was used by B-47's to practice low level bombing. They flew right over the school in a small town in Iowa. We all would run to the window to watch when we heard them. Not so secret.

[BMF]

My dad was a B-17 pilot during WW II and was shot down over Germany in 1943, spending the rest of the war as a POW. After the war, he remained in the Air Force and flew the B-47 for part of the cold war but transitioned to the B-52.

I don't know if this is true or not because I've never seen it mentioned in any of the histories of the B-47. My dad never talked about the missions of the B-47 alert crews as they were obviously classified. But there was one time my dad mentioned that some of the crews were on "dry tanks alert", and unofficial term that meant certain B-47 targets were so far inside Russia that after their final aerial refueling, certain B-47's would only have enough fuel to get to a deep target but not enough to make it back to an aerial refueler. In other words, it was a one way mission.

If true, I wondered were we found such crews that knew they were likely never to make it home.

I found the answer years later when I was a Marine platoon commander in Vietnam 1968-69 in combat. Every day you never knew if you would see the Sunset and every night you never knew if you would see the Sunrise. Yet everyday we did our daytime missions and every night we did our nighttime patrols. Every one of us knew that each day may be our last as either killed or wounded, but we saddled up and did the job regardless of the threats. I then felt I had a glimpse of what the mindset might have been for those B-47 crews on dry tanks alert--if such an alert were actually true. Even flying the polar routes from the last likely aerial refueling just to the center of Russia and back was at the max range of the B-47 and any deeper than that was beyond getting back to a refueler. It's possible that there were options to fly to some allied base, but if you look at the map, that would be unlikely in many cases and if it were a nuclear war, most if not all of those bases would be destroyed.

In 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis, we were stationed at Homestead AFB, Florida which is south of Miami. We lived on base and I clearly remember my dad getting a phone call at night. He listened on the phone but didn't say anything. He put the phone down, put on his flight suit, grabbed his flight gear and left without saying anything. A short time later, we could here the B-52's starting engines and taking off.

The next night I was with several friends and one of their parents was driving us to the high school football game. En route, we were stopped at a train crossing and waited for the train to pass. To our surprise, it was a very long train with Army equipment such as tanks, trucks, supplies, ammunition, etc. And then there was another train, and another, and another until it was too late to go to the game and once the traffic jam cleared, we went home.

The next morning, Homestead AFB was little more than a massive Army camp with thousands of soldiers, vehicles, tanks, etc. and all of the B-52's had been replaced with seemingly countless fighter jets.

We didn't hear from our dad until will after the crisis was over when he returned home as unexpectedly as he left. He never said where he went, but it was obvious that the nuclear bombers were dispersed outside of the range of the Cuban nuclear missiles.

One thing that was obvious to my mom, me, and my brother during the Cold War was that in the event of a nuclear war, the aircrews on alert would be able to takeoff before the Russian missiles hit their targets of which all of the bomber and US ICBM bases were primary. That meant that in the event of a nuclear war, all of the families of the air crews that managed to takeoff would be vaporized. We knew it and all the air crews knew it. In a way, it was kind of surreal experience. No one ever talked about it, but it was always in the back of our minds.


It was an interesting life. My dad was my role model and I had the best mom any kid could have hoped for. I'm 78 now and I still miss them.

[RePeteAndMe]

The most secret aircraft were Rivet Amber and Rivet Ball, two RC135 spy planes that documented Soviet nuclear missile tech development. At one point these individual planes were two of the top five top secret military projects.

[wilburfinnigan]

Bull$hit title as the B2 or the new secret plane we do not know about !!! Thats a lot more secret 1! !

[Idahoguy]

Beautiful aircraft. Excellent even if it wants to kill it’s crews

[ditzydoo]

(sigh) back when Boeing was ahead of everyone and had scientist and technicians that knew their business with a slide rule... not like today, hope the new CEO turns it around.

[jb]

Never did get around to explain the photo with the red circled orange pod. Nothing new to see here.

[PaulRivne]

Коммент на підтримку каналу. Дякуємо Збройним Силам України за захист від орків!

[bryanhFBH]

How is it even possible that Boeing designed such an advanced airplane with only captured German engineering data, middle aged men and absolutely no DEI hires whatsoever?

[kpadmirer]

The pilots had to be specially trained to fly these planes. The wings had a tendency to come off when landing.

[briancooper]

RB-47 flew over and near Russia. Some shotdown.