Boeing B-47 Stratojet & B-52 Stratofortress: Origins and Evolution

Excellent Book. More than I expected. Highly recommend it.

Upon receipt of the book, the “what if” illustrations that are currently so popular were a bit off-putting. The initial misgivings went away soon after starting a review of the bibliography which runs 5 and ½ pages of mostly original source archival material. There’s very little from other books here. This is the rare source material book that is essentially a one volume library on the subject.Given the title, it was also a pleasant surprise to some of the competitive aircraft getting drawings of their own when discussing the design competition. And where one might have been missed? It appears that just about every variant/design study has a line drawing. There might be a few escapes, but you’ll have to go page-by-page to find them. And while the lack of photographs was initially off-putting? In conclusion, for the subject, this book is lavishly illustrated.There are a few concepts that stretch the idea that they were derived from either the B-47 or particularly the B-52, but were still worthy of inclusion simply for the a moment of wondering, what were they thinking? Perhaps the best part of this book was showing it to two former B-52 crewmen who both spent time leafing through like a kid with a new toy and effusive in their praise of the coverage the D and H models that they flew. The carrier aircraft chapter was a bit of a surprise, and received the same depth of coverage and illustrations to go with the text.Overall? The book is easy to read and is sufficient breadth to warrant the occasional return to browse the pages.One caveat, if you’re anything but a scratch modeler, there is very little here for you. Otherwise, this book gets a very strong buy recommendation for anyone interested in cold war aircraft, jet bombers, USAF aircraft, and aircraft design.

Yes it does!Having read previous books by this author, I was again, pleasantly surprised by the DEPTH of information that had been presented.I have enjoyed the diagrams and drawings, gaining a deeper appreciation of just how fast this class of aircraft was evolving.The world at that time was calling for bigger, better , faster. This book helps reveal that with writing that is easy to follow and reflect on.Bought a second copy for dad, who has also enjoys the technical details described.If the author writes a similar book for close air support aircraft, would buy without seeing it.

Interesting collection of drawings of potential products leading to full production aircraft. Could use some real photos of actual built aircraft.

I was pleasantly surprised at how many different versions of the B-47 and B-52 (and competing aircraft) are covered in this book. Not only does it have text describing the reasoning behind each aircraft configuration, it also has fairly detailed drawings of all of them. Almost 400 pages of details to keep an aviation nerd like me happy for a long, long time. Well worth the price!

This book covers the history that led to the B-47 and B-52, and then explores all the roads not taken. The book is profusely illustrated with evolutionary and proposed versions of these two bombers, including 16-engine and nuclear-powered versions of the B-52. Scott Lowther is an exhaustive researcher. Even if you are a major league aviation enthusiast, there is probably much in this book you haven't heard of before.

This book talks about one of the most important aircraft ever and tells the history of how and why it came to be. It is the type of book that will in the future be referred to when people research these aircraft.

Everything you ever wanted to know and were afraid to wonder about how the designs came about for these planes. Also the versions that never got off the drawing board. Would you believe a seaplane?