"Charles Lindbergh" wrote in message
news:98vogalio68ltlpb9krbh2okn74lohsdk4@4ax.com...
>
> I certainly do not have a definitive answer, but I do remember reading
> that Boeing designed the B-47 with tandem seating as a way of pandering to
> bomber pilots, making them feel more like fighter pilots.
And handling them like fighters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqIJL8lx00o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cIgTAtj4E4
soon took its toll. In 1958 alone, six B-47s crashed after wings fell off
due to metal fatigue. At that time SAC was losing two of the Boeing-designed
bombers a month to accidents of all kinds, including pilot error. A year
later flight operations were reduced by 75% while investigations of wing
failures were investigated. Stress and fatigue incurred in low-altitude
operations, not what the B-47 was designed for, literally wore the
Stratojets out. By 1965 they were out of service. The very last USAF
operational aircraft was flown to Davis-Monthan AFB in 1969.
Also, the B-47 introduced the term "coffin corner" to the aviation world.
This was one part of the flight envelope where there was only a few knots'
difference between uncontrollable Mach buffeting and a high-speed stall.
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