Boeing B-50 Superfortress

B-50 Superfortress
A Boeing B-50D in flight
Role	Strategic bomber Type of aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Boeing
First flight	25 June 1947
Introduction	1948
Retired	1965
Primary user	United States Air Force
Produced	1947–1953
Number built	370
Developed from	Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Variants	Boeing B-54
Developed into	Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter

The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and other improvements. It was the last piston-engined bomber built by Boeing for the United States Air Force, and was further refined into Boeing's final such design, the prototype B-54. Although not as well known as its direct predecessor, the B-50 was in USAF service for nearly 20 years.

After its primary service with Strategic Air Command (SAC) ended, B-50 airframes were modified into aerial tankers for Tactical Air Command (TAC) (KB-50) and as weather reconnaissance aircraft (WB-50) for the Air Weather Service. Both the tanker and hurricane hunter versions were retired in March 1965 due to metal fatigue and corrosion found in the wreckage of a KB-50J, 48-065, which crashed on 14 October 1964.^[1]