[Milsurplus] [Army-Radios] RS-6 Manual supplement ?

[Jim Whartenby]

FrancescoI hear what you are saying but what the B-47 was designed to do was not what it actually did.  The Toss-bombing maneuver was well beyond what the airframe was capable of doing.  That and low level flight penetration was not in the original specs.  The end result was that the wings separated from the fuselage due to metal fatigue.  
The thin wings with no fuel storage capability was another issue that made most of the airframe serve as fuel storage.  That the engines were slow to respond to throttle settings just added to the issues.  Do you know of any other aircraft where a few knots of airspeed was the only difference between flying and stalling?
Just found this film which makes some of the same points:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Rj6kkyX9Y
Regards,Jim

Too much agreement kills a chat.  E. Cleaver

-----Original Message-----
From: Francesco Ledda <frledda at att.net>
To: Jim Whartenby <old_radio at aol.com>
Cc: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Fri, Oct 22, 2021 3:17 pm
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] [Army-Radios] RS-6 Manual supplement ?

Due to the early jet technology, the B-47 was underpowered, and the long spool time required the pilot to be ahead of the plane. A power failure on take off was something to be feared. Getting slow on landing was troublesome. Also, the swept wing was not well understood at that time The transition from B-29 and B-50 to the B-47 was very hard, as old habits developed with straight wings and reciprocating engines were just dangerous on the B-47.  
I believe that the B-47 was a good innovative airplane. Some of the issues were part of the learning curve of flying modern jets and new engine technology.
Best, Francesco K5URG

Sent from my iPad

On Oct 22, 2021, at 14:01, Jim Whartenby via Milsurplus <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net> wrote:



RobertI'm not sure that the RS-6 was part of every B-47 survival kit.  Looking at B-47 flight Manual, T.O. 1B-47E-1, there evidently was no standard survival kit, it was mission specific.  Interesting that the survival kit was what the crewman sat on and it had to be purposely attached to the crewman before bailing out.
I put together a three page copy of the above Flight Manual which referenced the survival kit and locations of where other survival gear was stowed aboard the B-47.  This attachment was too big and was rejected.  If anyone wants a copy, contact me off list.  
Also have the Erection and Maintenance manual, T.O. 1B47B-2, which makes no mention of the emergency / survival kits, at least what I could find in the extensive index.  This is a large 3875 page manual to help you keep your B-47 in tip-top shape!
There were many other emergency items located throughout the crew area but unless one was able to stay with the aircraft, I don't see how one could take it all with you.  As for crew survival, it seems that the B-47 had a dismal record.  
Doing a quick calculation, one had perhaps a 25% chance of surviving an accident in a B-47.  There were 203 crashes (about 10% of all of the B-47s made).  There were 464 deaths due to crashes.  The standard mission had a crew of three.  
The B-47 aircrews were certainly a group of very brave men, IMHO.
Jim

Too much agreement kills a chat.  E. Cleaver

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Downs via Milsurplus <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
To: main at Army-Radios.groups.io; milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Tue, Oct 19, 2021 3:49 pm
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] [Army-Radios] RS-6 Manual supplement ?

It's around.  I think that NJ7P may be the source of the copies that are
around.

BTW, the supplement applies only to the RS-6.  The RS-6A has a later manual.
I make hard copy reprints of both.

The source of the RS-6 and RS-6A was 8th AF  Either was on the standard
manifest of B-47's in case the crews had to walk back from Moscow.

Robert Downs

-----Original Message-----
From: main at Army-Radios.groups.io [mailto:main at Army-Radios.groups.io] On
Behalf Of Hue Miller
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2021 18:12
To: main at Army-Radios.groups.io; milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Army-Radios] RS-6 Manual supplement ?

Is this manual supplement already known?
"Addenda to the Instruction Book for Radio Station RS-6  15 May 1953  10
pages"

-Hue Miller 

______________________________________________________________
Milsurplus mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/milsurplus
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/milsurplus/attachments/20211022/83ebf0c0/attachment-0001.html>