B-47 JATO takeoff

If I ever hit the lottery big time, I'm going to buy one of these and return it to flying condition. This is my promise.

Oops, Thats a RATO take-off not JATO. Its a commonly used misname. JATO is Jet Assisted Take Off, hard to have that on a aircraft with 6 jet engines. JATO was used on the B-36 Peacemaker and was the outboard jet engines used to produce additional thrust for take-off and climb out. They were then shut down in flight. Most people call it JATO even though it is ROCKET bottles attached to the aircraft to assist in takeoff. Thus RATO Rocket Assisted Take Off. The B-47 was a beauty to see.

"Most people" in this case would include the U.S. military services, where the term "JATO" apparently originated, and hence my usage herein. While as you denote, this is in fact a misnomer, due to the use of rocket bottles, it is nonetheless the most widely accepted usage.

Furthermore, the B-36's jet engines were not used exclusively for takeoff, they were also used to increase airspeed over the target or while under interception threat. Moreover, the first 85 B-36s were built with no jets whatsoever, and still managed to get airborne. The term "JATO" was never applied the B-36's jet engines, because they were an integral part of the aircraft and its operation. Nor, to be snarky, was the single NB-36H referred to as "NATO-equipped".

I agree, It is commonly used as the descriptive term and did begin as a mlitary acronym and was started by the RAF. I was Just pointing out the difference, not trying to be critic.

wow nice wing flex

great video! i once worked with a guy who was a navigator on one of these planes. Must have been a real kick :) thankx!

Damn, I saw a picture of a mock up of a B-47 in modern USAF scheme, pretty cool, wish I could find it.

What was spool-up time on those engines?

What are you talking about?