| Boeing | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
KB-50 Superfortress
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
%20(8X4).jpg) |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Photo: Robert Deering 1985 National Museum of the USAF Wright-Patterson AFB (FFO) Dayton, Ohio |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
KB-50s were B-50
bombers modified as aerial tankers,
generally after they had become surplus to
Strategic Air Command requirements. These
alterations involved the removal of armament
and the installation of additional fuel
tanks and probe-and-drogue equipment to
permit the aerial refueling by hose of up to
three fighter-type aircraft at one time.
KB-50s went into service with the Tactical
Air Command in 1957. As the performance of
operational jet fighters increased, a J47
jet engine was installed under each wing on
some KB-50s to boost speed while refueling
and to increase altitude capability. Hayes
Aircraft Corp. converted 136 tankers in this
manner (KB-50Js and Ks). Deliveries of these
improved tankers to TAC began in early 1958.
They were replaced by jet KC-135 tankers in
the mid-1960s, but a few were still
available in 1965 for use in Southeast Asia
for emergency refueling of fighters over
hostile territory.
The KB-50Js were all converted B-50Ds and were originally designated KB-50. These aircraft had the refueling hose assemblies installed, but not the jet engines. When Hayes Aircraft Corp. fitted the J47 jet engines, the designation was changed to KB-50J for all ex-B-50Ds. The K models were modified TB-50Hs. The National Museum of the United States Air Force had at one time a KB-50J (S/N 49-0389), but it was transferred to another museum in 1996. |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
VARIANTS:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
%20(7.4X4).jpg)
