The North American B-45 Tornado was a significant step forward for the United States Air Force. It was the first time that jet-powered bombers were used. This was the beginning of the story of the Tornado, which came to be in the last years of World War II. When American planners got wind of German jet technology’s rapid progress – most notably the Arado Ar 234 Blitz – they issued a call in 1944 for a turbojet bomber that could fly higher, faster, and longer than any other one the enemy had in the sky.
North American Aviation responded with the NA-130 design, and by September 1944, the construction of three prototypes was already underway. The challenge was not only to enter the jet age but to do it decisively so as to secure the United States’ strategic advantage, not merely for the sake of prestige.
However, that was far from easy to change plans into a trustworthy and functioning airplane. The limitations after the war affected the program negatively as it went through a series of technical problems. The first test flight took place on February 24, 1947, yet the initial production models had engine problems and were structurally weak. On paper, the B-45 was an impressive aircraft with four General Electric J47 turbojets, a crew of four, and a capacity of 22,000 pounds of munitions.
The truth was, though, that issues like malfunctioning cockpit instruments and the occasional fire of the engine limited the first deployment of the airplane. A lot of these early planes were turned into training and test platforms instead of being directly deployed to the frontline bombers.
The time came when the situation would be reversed when the Korean War began in 1950. The Air Force needed a bomber that was able to handle both conventional and nuclear missions, and the B-45 was exactly what they needed after some modifications. The Tornado crews performed their bombing and reconnaissance flights usually at night in order to lessen the chances of being intercepted by the fast MiG-15 fighters.
The RB-45C reconnaissance variant was very helpful, and it took over the slower piston-powered RB-29s that were quite vulnerable to enemy jets. Moreover, the installation of the nuclear function brought with it even more obstacles. The initial bomb bay was not large enough for the first atomic bombs, so structural reinforcements, additional defensive systems, and larger fuel tanks had to be installed.
The “Backbreaker” program transformed forty B-45s into tactical nuclear aircraft. These planes were already in the United Kingdom by 1952 and were the ones that provided NATO with a nuclear deterrent that was reliable.
Spy missions were performing just as well, though few people knew about them. Most of the RB-45Cs had cameras instead of bombs and flew extremely dangerous reconnaissance flights over the Soviet territory. Some of these flights were so secret that the planes were marked with the RAF insignia and that they were flown by British crews, Operating Ju-jitsu, to comply with Overflight rules.
From the Base at Sculthorpe, in Lincolnshire, Squadron Leader John Crampton was leading these deep-penetration flights gathering valuable intelligence and avoiding the radar and the night fighters. The details of the missions stayed secret for many years, until 1994.
It was the Tornado that was phased out slowly by the middle of the 1950s. The B-47 Stratojet and B-58 Hustler, which were faster and sleeker bombers, took over, and the B-45’s limited range, repeated engine troubles, and susceptibility to the new interceptors made its withdrawal movement inevitable. It was no longer in active use from 1959, but a few aircraft were still around for testing until the early 1970s.
At the moment, there are three B-45s that have been kept in museums located in California, Ohio, and Nebraska. Although her operational career was quite short, the Tornado left a lot behind as the first tactical jet bomber of the United States and as the embodiment of resourcefulness under pressure, versatility during war, and the constant aim of gaining air supremacy.