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341st Missile Wing Heritage Pamphlet 2018

Malmstrom AFB · 30 pages · text from the file's own layer

This heritage pamphlet from Malmstrom AFB traces the history of the 341st Missile Wing. The unit began as a B-25 bomb group in the China-Burma-India Theater in 1942, then flew B-47s at Abilene AFB before being activated at Malmstrom in July 1961. The pamphlet covers the Minuteman I, II and III deployments, the Cuban Missile Crisis alert, arms-reduction work under START, trophies, wing commanders and a missile field chronology. It also has museum display notes on missiles and the UH-1 helicopter.

341st Missile Wing History
BOEING B-47E (1000th B-47 Flown by 341 BW in 1960)
The B-47E was an improved version of the B model and more than 1,500 were produced by
Boeing, Douglas and Lockheed. Improvements incorporated into the E model Stratojet included
a more powerful version of the General Electric J47 turbojet and Rocket Assisted Take Off packs
with 18 or 33 rockets that were jettisoned after use. Other features of the B-47E included 20mm
cannons in the tail instead of the .50-cal. machine guns of the B model and upgraded avionics
including the A-5 fire control system.
Like the B-47B production program, improvements to the general design of the E model were
incorporated on the assembly line. The B-47E-II and later B-47E-IV programs incorporated
stronger landing gear and improved avionics into the basic design. Eventually, all operational B-
47Es were upgraded to Program IV standards.
The first flight of the B-47E was on Jan. 30, 1953, and deliveries to the 303rd Bomb Wing
(Medium) began a month later. The E model remained in operational service until the mid-1960s
when the last aircraft was retired; however, some aircraft continued flying at test-beds.
Type Number built/
converted Remarks
B-47E 1,591 Improved B-47B
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Armament: Two M-24 20mm cannons in tail turret plus bombs -- nuclear or 10,000 lbs. of
conventional bombs (maximum bomb size was one 25,000 lb. bomb)
Engines: Six General Electric J47-GE-25 axial flow turbojet engines of 7,200 lbs. thrust each
maximum power with water injection
Maximum speed: 610 mph
Cruising speed: 560 mph
Range: 3,500 miles
Service ceiling: 39,300 ft.

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 30 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.