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Q: B-47E navigator's windows?


Sten Ekedahl

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Recently picked up the Pavla resin cockpit set for the Hasegawa 1/72 B-47E at my LHS.This prompted me to dig out said kit from my stash where it had been lingering for decades. The price tag actually revealed its age; bought at W.J. Walker's in Hackney (now long gone) for £6.95! Apart from rescribing it and correcting a few inaccuracies, there remains one question: Did the B-47E retain those two windows for the nav on either side of the nose? I've looked at numerous photos on the net and in the Squadron "In action" book. Seems some aircraft had them and some didn't. At least they're not visible on some aircraft. Or did those windows have metal shutters like the camera openings on the nose of the Swift FR.5? Any help to clarify this would be appreciated.

 

TIA

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From what I have read, B-47E's underwent four modification stages during their service lifetime, with removal of all the windows in the nose excepting one on each side being a part of the 4th change block. Each time a B-47 went through a change block, all of the modifications pertaining to that block were to be incorporated. I am guessing that if that is indeed correct, it would depend upon what stage an individual B-47E was in as to how it looked externally, so depending upon the date, a photo could show all of the windows or only two if the airplane had been through the 4th change block. Soooo, do whatever you see in the photos of the Stratojet you plan to model, would be my suggestion. Any Stratojet  experts out there? IMHO, it and the Canberra were the prettiest of the Cold War jet bombers.

Mike

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I've settled for 52-609, the 1000th Witchita-built B-47, completed on 14 October 1954.From the photos I've seen it looks like it has a small square window on the nose just below the black anti-glare panel, at least on the starboard side. So I guess it's time for some plastic surgery since these windows are missing in the kit, just like the landing lights under the intakes on the inner twin engine pods.

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13 hours ago, Sten Ekedahl said:

The price tag actually revealed its age; bought at W.J. Walker's in Hackney (now long gone) for £6.95!

 

Let me guess - the Pavla set was more than double this amount.?  ;)

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

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17 hours ago, Hook said:

 

Let me guess - the Pavla set was more than double this amount.?  ;)

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

Not to mention the two decal sheets by Warbird decals, needed to replace the useless kit decals. Especially since I had to order them from two different shops in the US, i.e. I've had to pay postage twice. :angry:

Edited by Sten Ekedahl
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14 hours ago, Sten Ekedahl said:

I've settled for 52-609, the 1000th Witchita-built B-47, completed on 14 October 1954.From the photos I've seen it looks like it has a small square window on the nose just below the black anti-glare panel, at least on the starboard side. So I guess it's time for some plastic surgery since these windows are missing in the kit, just like the landing lights under the intakes on the inner twin engine pods.

Sten,

 

I found some photos of your B-47E; hopefully they are new to you and will be helpful. Looks like she had just the two windows at the navigator's station.

http://www.strategic-air-command.com/aircraft/B-47/b47-gallery-photo-refueling.htm

 

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60561&page=8

 

https://www.fiddlersgreen.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=24992

 

BTW Warbirds does the decals for 52-609 in 1/72 scale- it's WB72007!

 

Happy modeling, Sten!

 

Mike

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10 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Sten,

 

I found some photos of your B-47E; hopefully they are new to you and will be helpful. Looks like she had just the two windows at the navigator's station.

http://www.strategic-air-command.com/aircraft/B-47/b47-gallery-photo-refueling.htm

 

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60561&page=8

 

https://www.fiddlersgreen.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=24992

 

BTW Warbirds does the decals for 52-609 in 1/72 scale- it's WB72007!

 

Happy modeling, Sten!

 

Mike

Thanks! Seen most of those photos, but the close-up of the nose of 52-609 was new to me. Now saved on my hard disk. The Warbird decal sheet arrived in the mail two days ago from Sprue brothers. Now only waiting for the Warbird sheet with B-47 stencilling and wing walk ways. Had to order it directly from Warbirds since Sprue bros were out of them. BTW Warbirds themselves were out of sheet WB72007.

Edited by Sten Ekedahl
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ALL the good answers in this thread prompted me to start new a thread about this subject in the WIP section. So no more inputs on the B-47 from me here.

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