JATO - B-47 Jato 02.jpg (1/1)

WOW! Those shots with the "horsecollar" (external) JATO and
water/alcohol injection
were obviously taken with a lightweight fuel load, no?
I was awestruck during "bomber stream" launchs, after dusk at Davis
Monthan AFB. The
max gross weight of a fully loaded "E" model was many thousand pounds over
design max gross
take-off weight. After the first one or two had left a heavy black
smokescreen on the runway,
one could watch the next one thunder along, and see the wing tip navigation
lights rise well
up above the runway, while the tail position light maintained it's altitude
all the way down the
runway. (B-47 wings flew higher than the fuselage when at or near max gross
weight)
I think complete emptying (and lightening) of the water/alcohol tanks
(de-ionized water in warm weather)
kept them from flying down mainstreet of Nogales, Mexico.
I was told, and I think it must have be true, that that aircraft, so
configured, would not
lift off in the runway length available, during a hot day, at Davis Monthan
AFB. The reason that practice
"bomber streams" were exercised AFTER the heat of the day.
Thanks for the pics, those were the days, no?

Old Chief Lynn