8 June 2007, The Wichita Eagle

Aviation Museum Lands B-47

BY PHYLLIS JACOBS GRIEKSPOOR
The Wichita Eagle

The fuselage of the B-47 bomber that will soon be under restoration at the Kansas Aviation Museum rolled into Wichita on Thursday, June 7, 2007. 
 
This plane was built in Wichita in the early 1950s.  Serial number 51-2387 was originally produced as a B-47E.  It was assigned to SAC and later modified as a weather recon and assigned to Military Airlift Command as a WB-47E.  This modification included removal of the air refueling system, all bombing systems, and the addition of the weather systems.  
 
Today, this aircraft is one of only 24 complete B-47s remaining in the world.  It has been on exhibit at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds for the last 25 years.  The National Museum of the Air Force, which owns the plane, made it available to KAM when fair operators decided they needed the space for facility expansion.
 
Volunteers worked for several weeks preparing and disassembling the plane.  The Oklahoma City Fire Department even assisted with removal of the wings.  Belger Cartage Service, Inc., which has offices in both Wichita and Oklahoma City, was instrumental in making the project successful.  They provided the cranes needed to remove the plane from the 15’ pillars on which it was displayed at the fairgrounds, to steady the plane during removal of the wings, and to load it onto the 6 flatbeds needed to haul all the components to Wichita.
 
Prior to disassembly, the complete plane weighed approximately 60,000 pounds (with engines and fuel cells previously removed).  For transport, the wings, engine pods, and tail section were removed from the fuselage and packed on separate flatbeds.  Creation of specially-designed harnesses and modifications to trailers were required.  The oversized load of the fuselage required Belger Cartage Service, Inc. to take a 500 mile circuitous route through western Oklahoma and western Kansas before arriving in the Air Capital approximately 36 hours after leaving the Sooner State.
 
Volunteers plan to spend the summer preparing the plane for reassembly which should begin in the early fall.  Until then, guests may view the plane on the ramp behind the museum building.