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KC-97 Stratofreighter 1/100
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The highest quality airplane and ship models available! More Info »
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This collectible KC-97 represents the first of a series of Strategic Air Command aerial tankers that allowed SAC to extend its reach worldwide. Painstakingly built from Philippine mahogany by our skilled craftsmen with a wealth of detail, this 1/100-scale model KC-97makes a great gift for any aviation enthusiast or history buff.
The U.S. Air Force bought more than 800 of these tanker/cargo lifters, which could carry 9,000 gallons of jet fuel and wewre based on the B-29 Superfortress.
The Boeing B-29 was the most complex aircraft of World War II. It dwarfed other bombers, including its famous predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress. At 99 feet long, with a wing span of 141 feet, a B-29 weighed more than 120,000 pounds loaded. The KC-97 variant was equipped with four Wright R-4360 radials, and later versions had two jet engines located in pods on the outboard of each wing.
Performance differentials between the KC-97 and the first jet bombers prompted the Air Force to begin work on an all-jet tanker, resulting in the KC-135 and the Boeing 707 airliner. The KC-97 featured two decks, each fully pressurized and could operate as both a tanker and cargo lifter.
Though SAC began phasing out its KC-97s in 1956, reserve units flew the aircraft as late as 1978.
The B-29 featured pressurized crew compartments, a central fire control station directing 10 .50-caliber machine guns in remote-controlled turrets, analog fire control computers, and use of lightweight alloys throughout the aircraft. Because of its complexity, the B-29 was troublesome to develop – engine fires were a particular problem.
The B-29's first flight was on Sept. 8, 1942, but the program was beset by problems and delays. On Feb. 18, 1943, the first prototype crashed into the Frye meatpacking plant in Seattle as company test pilot Edmund Allen desperately tried to bring his flaming B-29 back to Boeing Field.
Service delivery of the B-29 began in 1944, with the first combat mission flown on June 5, 1944. The first combat missions were flown from bases in China with the heavy bombers and supplies being flown over the "Hump" of the Himalayas. For the June 5 mission, 77 B-29s bombed railroad shops in Bangkok, then occupied by Japanese troops.
The B-29 continued in service after World War II as the nation's first nuclear-capable bomber, as well as flying conventional bombing missions during the Korean War. The B-29 also formed the basis of the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser and the C-97 Stratofreighter.
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