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North American B-45 Tornado


Jet-Powered Bomber Aircraft [ 1948 ]



The NOrth American B-45 Tornado saw many firsts as a multi-jet-engined bomber design with the United States Air Force.



Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 04/14/2018 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

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GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]
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Development of the XB-45 began in 1944 and continued into 1945, representing the later years of the Second World War. With reports that Germany had already succeeded in development of production-quality jet bomber designs, the need for America to respond was critical. As such, the US War Department set forth a requirement for a jet bomber with North American Aviation winning the out on the bid. Though the end of the global conflict slowed the arrival of the XB-45, mounting tensions in the Cold War stirred the design back into the limelight.

Externally, the B-45 was a meshing of smooth shapes and straight edges. The cylindrical fuselage sported a green-house style canopy covering with a similarly-covered nose section. Wings were of a high-mount monoplane type and carried the four engines (two per wing) in shared nacelles. The wings were of straight-wing design and mounted onto the middle of the fuselage. The empennage was a traditional T-style with cantilever horizontal surfaces and a single vertical tail surface. A tail gun position was placed at the base of the rudder.

The Tornado took to the skies for the first time on February 24th, 1947 as the XB-45 - of which three prototypes were constructed. By the end of development, one was lost in a fatal accident and another damaged to the point that it was no longer combat worthy and thus was relegated to training. Nevertheless, the third and remaining model became the basis for production to which deliveries began in 1947 into 1948 as the B-45A. Up to 22 of the initial B-45's were fielded with the Allison J35 powerplant but from there on, the General Electric J47A (with water injection) was the engine of choice and offered up improved reliability and performance.©MilitaryFactory.com
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The B-45A featured some changes from the XB-45 design that included redesigned ejection seats and improved communications equipment. Accommodations allowed for a crew of four and standard defensive armament consisted of 2 x 12.7mm (.50 caliber) M3 machine guns in the tail position. A bombing navigation radar and autopilot systems were also installed. The B-45B appeared a short time later as a proposed improvement upon the B-45A design though this proposal never came to fruition.

The next notable addition to the Tornado family was the B-45C which was in essence a long-range variant fitted with wing tip fuel tanks and an aerial refueling probe. The addition of the refueling probe made the Tornado the first multi-jet engined bomber in the world to be refueled in mid-air. A reinforced canopy was also on the list of improvements though only a total of 10 examples were produced before the arrival of the definitive Tornado in the RB-45 series.

The RB-45C was a photo-graphic reconnaissance platform based on the B-45C model series to which some 383 were converted to this standard along with 38 new-builds. The bombardiers compartment was faired over and four camera stations could mount specialized equipment. Along with provisions for external fuel tanks, Jet Assisted Take-Off (JATO) rockets could also be utilized.

In all, some 143 Tornados were produced for the United States Air Force. The series performed admirably through the early Cold War years despite its engine troubles and became many "firsts" for the USAF. The system saw combat action in the Korean war in both reconnaissance and bomber forms. Only three Tornados are reported to still exist in presentation form with a B-45A, B-45C and an RB-45C on display in museums in Atwater (California), Dayton (Ohio) and Ashland (Nebraska) respectively.©MilitaryFactory.com
Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.
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Specifications



Service Year
1948

Origin
United States national flag graphic
United States

Status
RETIRED
Not in Service.
Crew
4

Production
143
UNITS


North American Aviation - USA
(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)
National flag of the United States United States
(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)
✓ Ground Attack (Bombing, Strafing)
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.
✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.


Length
75.9 ft
(23.14 m)
Width/Span
96.0 ft
(29.26 m)
Height
25.2 ft
(7.67 m)
Empty Wgt
45,693 lb
(20,726 kg)
MTOW
110,723 lb
(50,223 kg)
Wgt Diff
+65,030 lb
(+29,497 kg)
(Showcased structural values pertain to the North American RB-45C Tornado production variant)
Installed: 2 x General Electric J47-GE-13 turbojet engines developing 6,000 lb of thrust each.
Max Speed
570 mph
(917 kph | 495 kts)
Ceiling
40,256 ft
(12,270 m | 8 mi)
Range
2,529 mi
(4,070 km | 7,538 nm)
Rate-of-Climb
5,950 ft/min
(1,814 m/min)


♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)
Sub
Trans
Super
Hyper
HiHyper
ReEntry
♦
RANGES (MPH) Subsonic: <614mph | Transonic: 614-921 | Supersonic: 921-3836 | Hypersonic: 3836-7673 | Hi-Hypersonic: 7673-19180 | Reentry: >19030


(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the North American RB-45C Tornado production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)
STANDARD:
2 x 12.7mm M3 machine guns in tail

OPTIONAL:
Up to 22,000 lb of bombs.


Supported Types


Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun
Graphical image of an aircraft heavy machine gun
Graphical image of an aircraft conventional drop bomb munition


(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)
Hardpoint Mountings: 0


XB-45 - Three prototype aircraft with one fatal lost in testing.
B-45A - Initial Production Model Designation; bombing navigation radar and autopilot implemented; redesigned ejection seats and communications equipment; early delivery models fitted with J35 turbojets with latter models fielded with more improved J47 type; 96 examples produced.
B-45B - Proposed "improved" B-45A model; never produced.
B-45C - Long-Range Variant; fitted with 2 x 1200 gallon fuel tanks at wing tips; aerial refueling probe implemented; reinforced canopy design; 10 examples produced.
RB-45C - Definitive B-45 Model; photographic reconnaissance platform fitted with four camera stations; covered bombardier's canopy; provision for external fuel tanks or JATO type rockets; 38 new-build examples produced with 33 converted from B-45C models.


Cockpit image of the North American B-45 Tornado
Cockpit image represents the North American B-45C Tornado production model.


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