Boeing 747 bomber?

There's a humourous story in Flight this week which you might like to see regarding Boeings Beluga-style 747 conversion, which, incidentally they have named 'Dreamlifter'.

It appears from accident reports that Boeing’s oversized freighter rival to the Airbus A300 Belgua, the 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter, or Dreamlifter, may have a promising future in the military as a non-precision bomber.

Bullseye!
linky

I suppose it wouldnt be hard to fill cargo area with rotary launchers
and have bomb bay doors fitted.
Funny it would be a great first strike weapon considering no one would suspect British Airways, Qantas or Fed Ex launching a salvo of
missiles at targets.......

B747 Bomber

Originally posted by Jezza
B747 Bomber

Excellent find. The Carter administration knowing they had stealth in the bag, looked at a 747 that would have been capable of launching the nuclear armed version of the ALCM instead of the B-1A

It could replace the B52

Originally posted by matej

Originally posted by Jezza
B747 Bomber

Could be replacement for the F-111s with just one plane

Very interesting.

But where is the requirement for such "non-precision bombers" when there are sooo many precision bombers available ?

P.S : The ATS UI has changed so much.

Uh, think about a government in Khartoum. Maybe it's for export to dictators only.

A 747 with cluster bombs is a weapon of mass destruction.

Originally posted by Stealth Spy
Very interesting.

But where is the requirement for such "non-precision bombers" when there are sooo many precision bombers available ?

P.S : The ATS UI has changed so much.

About as useful as a B-52.

B-52s are still around and they started off as carpet bombers. A B747 can just as well take over the B-52's role.

Shattered OUT...

Huh, oddly enough when I played Combat Flight Simulator on my grandfather's computer he had a 747 on there that was loaded with an awe inspiring amount of bombs, and carried a lot of cannon ammo too. Needless to say it made WWII a little bit harder for the virtual Luftwaffe, and I can see how it would work well in reality.

there will be the biggest gunship in the world!
i16.tinypic.com...

Mod Edit: Image Size – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 20/12/2006 by Mirthful Me]

I think some folks have neglected to read the article Waynos linked to at the beginning of this thread and have gone off on tangents of their own. Not exactly the way to "deny ignorance" if you start off deliberately uninformed.

The term "non-precision bomber" in the original post referred to a Boeing 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter, or Dreamlifter that had dropped a fiberglass test cone from it's tail section; the test cone scored a direct hit on a parked car in a shopping center in a Seattle suburb.

So forget about the 747 non-precision bomber - it was a joke.

That said, the 747 has been considered for an air launched cruise missile carrier as Matej was so kind to point out.
To that end, the 747 would be a good choice for such a mission as it would not have to venture but within approximately 600 miles from it's target, and it could carry an incredible number of the ALCMs.

Talk about area denial...

Originally posted by intelgurl

The term "non-precision bomber" in the original post referred to a Boeing 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter, or Dreamlifter that had dropped a fiberglass test cone from it's tail section; the test cone scored a direct hit on a parked car in a shopping center in a Seattle suburb.

So forget about the 747 non-precision bomber - it was a joke

Yeah i did read it for what it was worth.
B747 would be a great idea

I got the joke, I thought we all got the joke and were just building on it.

Shattered OUT...

Quick question about the rotary dispensers on the B747. How would the missiles be deployed? IE from front to back or all the bottom ones then all the next to bottom ones etc. If they were deployed from the back dispenser to the front dispenser would the changing CG end up turning the B747 into a lawn dart?

Originally posted by emile
there will be the biggest gunship in the world!
i16.tinypic.com...

i still want one of these as well

Mod Edit: Image Size – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 20/12/2006 by Mirthful Me]

i think the 747 is too fast to be a gunship

Originally posted by Nacnud
Quick question about the rotary dispensers on the B747. How would the missiles be deployed? IE from front to back or all the bottom ones then all the next to bottom ones etc. If they were deployed from the back dispenser to the front dispenser would the changing CG end up turning the B747 into a lawn dart?

The most logical would be bomb bay doors as fitted to B52 B1B and B2.
the photo i believe is just a concept but a very cheap and unsuspected
aircraft to bomb your enemies.

Is Intelgurl the only other person who read the article?

In one of the greatly amusing accidents of all time, a fiber glass test cone fell from the plane's tail and ruined someone's car (not to mention their day). This wasn't planned, it was a freak accident!


As for the side note, in the 1960's, around the time when the original B-1A was cancelled, there was talk about adapting the 747 as a launch platform for Air-Launched Cruise Missiles. I have heard roumors about the concept study from that effort being revisited for the Future Strike Aircraft program the Air froce is conducting.

Tim

I read the article too. I just sort of had one of those fantasy moments.