... do you say RATO ot JATO?


... close-up view of the JATO internal installment on a B-47 jet bomber. With a complete fuel load and heavy H-bombs onboard a B-47 'Stratojet' needed an extra kick from these small solid-fuel rackets to get it off the runway. Didn't take long before some bright designer moved them out of the fuselage (away from the fuel tanks) and mounted them in a jettisionable 'saddle' under the aircraft. Always made sense in not having to haul eighteen empty rocket tanks to Moscow and back. (think of how much the empty tank for your outdoor grill weighs!). 





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