above: crew compartment, cutaway, Boeing B-47 bomber.
photo: pilot and co-pilot
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"Which one of us ejects DOWN?!?"
Although from the outside the nose of the B-47 resembles a jet fighter- on the inside it's your typical Jules Verne nightmare! The pilot and co-pilot sat in ejection seats on top of a big central pedestal. The navigator-bombadier was wedged up forward in the nose on a lower platform. A narrow catwalk ran on either side below the pilots and to port there was a hatch and ladder down to the ground. Got that straight?
In the event that it was time to leave the aircraft in a big hurry the pilots could be ejected out the top after the very big and heavy canopy was blown off. But because of his position in the nose the navigator-bombadier had to be blasted out of the aircraft downward through an explosive trap-door. All of this while you're going 600mph, on fire, upside down..... a walk in the park!
"Which one of us ejects DOWN?!?"
Although from the outside the nose of the B-47 resembles a jet fighter- on the inside it's your typical Jules Verne nightmare! The pilot and co-pilot sat in ejection seats on top of a big central pedestal. The navigator-bombadier was wedged up forward in the nose on a lower platform. A narrow catwalk ran on either side below the pilots and to port there was a hatch and ladder down to the ground. Got that straight?
In the event that it was time to leave the aircraft in a big hurry the pilots could be ejected out the top after the very big and heavy canopy was blown off. But because of his position in the nose the navigator-bombadier had to be blasted out of the aircraft downward through an explosive trap-door. All of this while you're going 600mph, on fire, upside down..... a walk in the park!
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for a better view send out for "Strategic Air Command" with Jimmy Stewart- and watch out for that tomato soup, it's hot!
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