KB-50J

Originally an upgraded development of the B-29 Superfortress, the B-50 kept a similar general appearance but added more powerful engines, a taller tail, a redesigned cockpit, and other structural changes. In 1956, this aircraft became the first B-50 converted into a KB-50 aerial refueler, replacing bombs with two large fuel tanks in the bomb bay and carrying drogue hose pods on the wingtips and in the former tail gunner's position. In 1957, jet engines were added so it could reach safer speeds while refueling faster jet aircraft, and those modified aircraft were called KB-50Js. The KB-50 served successfully for about eight years, helped form the basis for the KC-97 design, and operated alongside that aircraft until both were replaced by the jet-powered KC-135 Stratotanker. The last KB-50s flew as emergency refuelers for jet fighters over Vietnam before final retirement in 1965, and after corrosion was found in the crashed KB-50J #48-065 in Thailand on 14 October 1964, all B-50 variants were forced into early retirement in March 1965.

Dover, Delaware · United States