Warplanes of the USA: North American B-45 Tornado

North American B-45 Tornado

(USAF Photo)

North American B-45A-5-NA Tornado (Serial No. 47-025) on a bomb run.

The North AmericanB-45 Tornado is an early American jet bomber designed and manufactured byaircraft company North American Aviation. It has the distinction of being thefirst operational jet bomber to enter service with the United States Air Force(USAF), as well as the first multiengine jet bomber to be refueled in midair.

The B-45originated from a wartime initiative launched by the U.S. War Department, whichsought a company to develop a jet-propelled bomber to equal those being fieldedby Nazi Germany, such as the Arado Ar 234. Following a competitive review ofthe submissions, the War Department issued a contract to North American todevelop its NA-130 proposal; on 8 September 1944, work commenced on theassembly of three prototypes. Progress on the program was stalled by post-warcutbacks in defense expenditure but regained importance due to growing tensionsbetween America and the Soviet Union. On 2 January 1947, North Americanreceived a production contract for the bomber, designated B-45A, from the USAF.On 24 February 1947, the prototype performed its maiden flight.

Soon after itsentry to service on 22 April 1948, B-45 operations were troubled by technicalproblems, in particular poor engine reliability. The USAF found the plane to beuseful during the Korean War performing both conventional bombing and aerialreconnaissance missions. On 4 December 1950, the first successful interceptionof a jet bomber by a jet fighter occurred when a B-45 was shot down by aSoviet-built MiG-15 inside Chinese airspace. During the early 1950s, 40 B-45swere extensively modified so that they could be equipped with nuclear weapons.Improvements were made to their defensive systems and the fuel tankage wasexpanded to increase their survivability and range.

In its heyday, theB-45 was important to United States defense strategy, performing thestrategically critical deterrence mission for several years during the early1950s, after which the Tornado was superseded by the larger and more capableBoeing B-47 Stratojet. Both B-45 bombers and reconnaissance RB-45s served inthe USAF's Strategic Air Command from 1950 until 1959, when the USAF withdrewthe last ones in favor of the Convair B-58 Hustler, an early supersonic bomber.The Tornado was also adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and operated frombases in United Kingdom, where it was used to overfly the Soviet Union onintelligence-related missions. Despite being painted with RAF markings andflown by RAF crew, they did not belong to the RAF; the RAF merely operated themon behalf of the United States.

Early operationsof the B-45 were plagued by engine problems which, along with numerous otherminor flaws, undermined its usefulness. However, the aircraft regainedimportance when the United States entered the Korean War in 1950. In thistheatre, the B-45 proved its value both as a bomber and as a reconnaissanceaircraft. The mass deployment of U.S. forces to the war on the Korean peninsulaexposed the vulnerability of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forcesin Europe to a potential Soviet attack. This realization was a major factorcontributing to the USAF's decision regarding the future of the B-45. The B-45,like most post-World War II American bombers, could carry both nuclear andconventional bombs. The progress of weapons technology had led to a greatreduction in both the weight and size of nuclear weapons in the U.S. inventory,which enabled smaller aircraft such as the B-45 to carry out nuclear strikes, amission which had previously been confined to heavy bombers. Suddenly, thesmall fleet of B-45s once again possessed considerable value as a nucleardeterrent.

On 4 December1950, the first successful interception of a jet bomber by a jet fighteroccurred when MiG-15 pilot Aleksandr F. Andrianov shot down an RB-45C overChina. Captain Charles McDonough was the only member of the four-man crew toparachute from the plane, although he is believed to have died while being heldby either the Chinese or the Soviet Union. Because of the sensitivity typicallysurrounding such missions, much of the information surrounding this flight andsimilar intelligence activities has remained classified.

OperationFandango, sometimes called Operation Backbreaker, modified the aircraft fornuclear missions. The 40 B-45s allocated to the program were equipped with anew defensive system and additional fuel tankage. Despite the magnitude of themodifications project, plus ongoing problems with the jet engines,nuclear-capable B-45s began reaching the United Kingdom in May 1952, anddeployment of the 40 aircraft was completed in mid-June. It was at about thesame time that RB-45s of the 323rd Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron began toarrive in Japan to fly alongside the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron,supplementing the Second World War-era piston-engine RB-29s which had been easytargets for North Korean MiGs.[8] The RB-45s provided valuable intelligencethroughout the remainder of the Korean War, despite the limited numberavailable. RB-45Cs flew many daylight missions until early 1952, when theychanged to night operations after an RB-45 was almost lost to a MiG-15.

All 33 RB-45Csbuilt were assigned to the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing's 322nd, 323rdand 324th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons. The RB-45C also flew severallong-range reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union during the mid-1950s.On July 29, 1952, an RB-45C made the first non-stop trans-Pacific flight,having been refueled twice by KB-29s along the way. Maj. Lou Carrington and hiscrew of the 91st Reconnaissance Wing flew from Alaska to Japan in 9 hrs 50mins, winning the MacKay Trophy for their achievement. Within the 91st SRW, by1954 the RB-45C had been replaced by the RB-47E. The phased-out RB-45Cs thenwent to the 19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, which operated them untilthey were withdrawn from operational use in the spring of 1958. By the end ofthe 1950s, all B-45s had been removed from active service. However, a fewcontinued to act as test aircraft into the early 1970s.

The only othernation to use the RB-45C was the United Kingdom, where it was operated by an adhoc unit of crews largely drawn from Nos. 35 and 115 Squadrons RAF. Whilst theDepartment of Defense was prohibited by the President of the United States fromoverflying the Soviet Union at the time, US allies closer to the Europeantheatre of war could. In the United Kingdom, whilst successive Labourgovernments had refused, the return of Winston Churchill and a Conservativeadministration to Downing Street in 1951 brought a more co-operative atmosphereto joint intelligence initiatives.

As a result, underOperation Ju-jitsu, in July 1951 four aircraft were leased to Britain from the91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing to form 'Special Duties Flight, Sculthorpe',commanded by Squadron Leader John Crampton. Stripped of USAF markings and thenapplied with RAF markings, the four aircraft were attached to a USAF squadronbased at RAF Sculthorpe, Norfolk in eastern England. The aircraft were taskedwith flying deep-level reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union to gatherelectronic and photographic intelligence. The Special Duties Flight conductedmissions during the period 1952–54.

On April 17, 1952, three aircraft were assigned to head for Kyiv from WestGermany, scheduled to return to Sculthorpe ten hours later. Flying at 36,000feet (11,000 m), Crampton's aircraft was tracked by ground radar and came underantiaircraft fire. Applying full power, he immediately turned and headed forGermany, none too soon, as Soviet night fighters had been dispatched to huntdown his aircraft.

Subsequent flightsover Ukraine were carried out using English Electric Canberras under thecodename Project Robin, operating at higher altitudes of around 54,000 ft(16,000 m). It was not until 1994 (under the "fifty-year rule" of thePublic Records Act 1958) that the existence of the spy missions became publicknowledge.

Variants

XB-45

The first flightof the XB-45 was on 24 Feb 1947, from Muroc Army Air Field. A total of 131 testflights were flown by the three prototype aircraft, one being destroyed earlyon, killing two pilots. The USAF accepted one of the two surviving aircraft on 30July 1948, the other on 31 Aug. One was damaged beyond repair in an accident.The last XB-45 was delivered to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1949. Itproved excessively difficult to maintain and was relegated to being used as aground trainer.

3 aircraft (Serial Nos. 45-59479 – 45-59481)

B-45A

The B-45A differedfrom the XB-45 in having improved ejection seats and communications equipment,an E-4 automatic pilot and bombing navigation radar. The first production B-45flew in February 1948, and the Air Force took delivery of 22 B-45s in April1948. Powered by J35 turbojets and not considered combat-ready, they wereassigned to training duties and to conduct various test programs. The next batchwere powered by the more powerful J47 turbojets. The first B-45As enteredservice in November 1948 with the 47th Bombardment Group, and the initial orderof 96 was completed in March 1950.

The first B-45Aswere not equipped with bomb fire control systems or bombsights. They sufferedfrom gyrocompass failures at high speeds, unhooked bomb shackles, engine fires,and inaccurate cockpit gauges. The AN/APQ-24 bombing and navigation radar on someB-45s was maintenance heavy, and malfunctions in the pressurization limited thealtitude at which the aircraft could operate.

Fifty-fivenuclear-capable B-45s arrived in the United Kingdom in 1952. These weremodified with a 1,200 gal (4,542 L) fuel tank in the aft bomb bay. Despitetechnical problems, these were Tactical Air Command's first-line deterrent inEurope.

96 aircraft (Serial Nos. 47-001 – 47-097)
B-45A-1 (Serial Nos. 47-001 – 47-022), 22 aircraft
B-45A-5 (Serial Nos. 47-023 – 47-096), 74 aircraft
B-45A (Serial No. 47-097), static test airframe

B-45B

The B-45B was aproposed variant of the B-45A with improved radar and fire-control systems.None were built.

B-45C

Development model of RB-45C (Serial No. 48-017). The B-45C was the first multiengine jet bomber in the world to be refueled in midair. It carried two 1,200 gal (4,542 L)wingtip fuel tanks, had a strengthened canopy, and an inflight refuelingreceptacle. The first B-45C was flown on May 3, 1949. Only ten were built, andthe remaining 33 under construction were converted to RB-45Cs.
Ten aircraft (Serial Nos. 48-001 – 48-010)

RB-45C

The RB-45C was thefinal production variant of the B-45. The bombardier's canopy was faired overand replaced with an oblique camera system. The RB-45C carried two 214 gal (810L) external fuel tanks, or two JATO rockets. It could carry up to 12 cameras infour positions, or a single camera with a 100 in (2.5 m) focal length lens. TheRB-45C first flew in April 1950, and was delivered from June 1950 to October1951. Thirty-eight were built, including the 33 converted from B-45Cs. It wasthis variant that was operated (clandestinely) over the Soviet Union by the RAF"special duties" unit at RAF Sculthorpe, with the first sortie ofthree aircraft commanded by Squadron Leader John Crampton taking place on thenight of 17 April 1952. Wikipedia)
33 aircraft (Serial No.s 48-011 – 48-043).