Boeing Built More Than 2,000 B-47 Stratojets in Ten Years. Not One of Them Ever Dropped a Bomb in Combat

Boeing built more than 2,000 B-47 Stratojets between 1947 and 1957, a program that helped define the early jet age for the U.S. Air Force. The jet replaced propeller bombers like the B-29 and B-50, flying over 200 miles per hour faster while maintaining the same bomb load. The aircraft entered service during Strategic Air Command’s 1950s heyday, serving as a nuclear deterrent force with crews on alert. Notably, the B-47 never dropped a bomb in combat. As intercontinental ballistic missiles expanded and the B-52 took over the strategic role in the mid-1960s, the B-47’s mission ended.