0133 Boeing WB-50D Superfortress

The Boeing B-50 Superfortress,the last propeller-driven bomber delivered to the U.S.Air Force,made its initial flight on June 25,1947.Basically an improved version of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress,this aircraft's large number of modifications caused its redesignatin as the Boeing B-50 Superfortress.Between 1948 and 1954,Boeing B-50 Superfortress served with the Strategic Air Command (SAC) as medium bomber,and they were replaced by jet-powered Boeing B-47 Stratojets.Manyy were modified for support rols such as weather reconnaissance,crew training,photo-mapping,and aeria refueling.

 

In 1953 the U.S.Air Force decided to replace its aging Boeing WB-29 Superfortress wather reconnaissance aircraft with modified Boeing B-50D Superfortresses.Stripped of their defensive armament,36 Boeing B-50D Superfortresses were equipped for long-range weather reconnaissance missions with high-altitue atmospheric samplers,Dopper radar,weather radar,and bomb-bay fuel tank for extended range.Some Boeing WB-50 Superfortress aircraft also flew missions to sample the air for radioactive particles indicating that Soviet Union (USSR) had detonated a nuclear weapon.The Boeing WB-50D Superfortress aircraft accompished special weather reconnaissance missions with Strategic Air Command's (SAC) 97th Bomb Wing until April 1955,when all Boeing WB-50 Superfortresses went to the Air Weather Service.

 

In 1963 the U.S.Air Force started phasing out the Boeing WB-50D Superfortresses,and in 1965 the last Boeing WB-50D Superfortress to be retired.

Done