B 47 Question.

It depends. They were finished both ways depending upon the period of service.

I don't think there ever were any.

I recall seeing the B-47's that use to be stationed at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque during the 50' early 60's.

All were NMF, no paint except for one that was painted glossy black!! I have no idea what it was used for and I never saw it fly, it was always parked.

I wish I'd taken a picture or two, but I didn't.

F Marion

I know that for a while, some were painted anti-flash white underneath and natural metal on top.

Regards

Pat Macguire>

I believe there was a B-47 test plane that had some areas painted red. Check out the Squadron series books on the B-47 in Action.

Gary

There were the QB-47E's assigned to the 3205th Drone Group at Eglin that had a lot of dayglo panels. There's a color photo of one in the B-47 Stratojet book by Lindsay Peacock (Osprey press). Here's an online photo (along with a great looking 104)

Allen Catonsville, MD

Of course I meant you're out of luck. Picked a bad week to quit drinking diet sprite. Allen

The aircraft used to test and validate the toss-bombing tactics had several areas of red/white striping on the fuselage and wings, as well as large photo calibration markings on the fuselage. It was quite colourful. There is a good series of photos in the Detail and Scale book.

Craig

I don't know of a single instance of a camo version, but I Seem To Recall that ASD had one that was overal gloss aircraft grey. I remember reading that some- where and seeing a b/w photo that went along with the article.

Does anyone else remember anything like that? I might be thinking of something else, and no it wasn't the B-57, I remember the podded engines and the fuel tank being between engine pods.

A B-47 was painted olive drab over gloss white in August 1959 as part of a test called "Sleeping Beauty II." A test report was written and it was referenced in the text and bibliography of the USAF Camouflage Handbook, but the report has disappeared in the multitude of functional reorganizations that have occurred in the last 45 years. That said, it's possible photos from "Sleeping Beauty" may one day turn up, just as they have with several experimental B-52 schemes from the 1960s and '70s. The only information the handbook gives is there was no special scheme, just DO on top and gloss white below.

"TomGAJ" wrote in

Tom: Where can these B-52 schemes be seen?

KL

It was sort of evolutionary. The partial white was generally applied to earlier aircraft, and the full white to later ones. I could be wrong, but I think that as aircraft went into major maintenance, they were repainted in the scheme that was in fashion at the time, and then stayed that way until the next major overhaul...

how many re-wings did they get?

I wonder how the RAAF machines would have looked if Australia had gone ahead and borrowed some?

Nick

Kurt, I placed a photo of an unidentified B-52G with it's undersurfaces and vertical stab painted gloss black, much like the D-model SEA anti-searchlight scheme, on the B-52 Stratofortress Association web site, but it was apparently dropped when the site was redone. Since it was attached to a request for info I have to get it back up there. Jenkins & Rogers Boeing B-52G/H datafile has a color picture of 57-6480 when it rolled out of depot as the first camouflaged G on a one off variation of the SIOP 3 greens over white pattern. Subsequent photos from the Douglas archives dating to 1965 show the white undersides overpainted with the topside greens in what was called the "potato bug" pattern. I've had queries in to the Boeing archives (which now also include the Douglas, McDonnell, and North American archives as well) looking for more info on both the B-52 and B-47 camouflage tests, but most of the stuff from the '60s and '50s appears to be sliding of into a black hole. They can't dig it up even when I provide the photos.