Two modified B-47Es (52-410 and 52-412), redesignated EB-47E, were loaned to the US Navy for electronic warfare tests. The long-range external wing tanks were replaced with a variety of pods filled with electronic countermeasures equipment, and more chaff dispensers were installed. They were assigned the BuNos of 24100 and 24102 respectively, which conflicted with a batch of WW2 Grumman TBF Avengers. These two planes remained operational with the Navy long after after the last USAF B-47s had been retired. They were finally retired in December of 1977.
Some references list a third Navy EB-47E, 53-2104.
The designation EB-47E was also applied to a number of USAF electronics countermeasure conversions of the standard B-47E. The first of these was equipped with what was known as the Phase IV (or Blue Cradle) ECM package, consisting of 16 AN/ALT-6B electronic jammers mounted on a cradle inside the bomb bay. Phase V aircraft carried a pressurized capsule inside the bomb bay that carried two electronics warfare officers that operated a suite of up to 13 different jammers that could focus on specific threats. Not much is known about the USAF EB-47E program, but it is believed that up to 40 B-47Es were converted to either Phase IV or V standard.
Sources:
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American Combat Planes, Third Enlarged Edition, Ray Wagner, Doubleday,
1982.
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Post World War II Bombers, Marcelle Size Knaack, Office of Air Force
History, 1988.
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The Boeing B-47, Peter Bowers, Aircraft in Profile, Doubleday, 1968.
-
Boeing Aircraft Since 1916, Peter M. Bowers, Naval Institute Press,
1989.
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United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and
Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.
- Boeing B-47 Stratojet--Variant Briefing. Bill Yenne, International Air Power Review, Vol 6, 2002.
