With its tail number of 47-084, this B-45A was a natural choice for assignment to Langley AFB’s 47th Bomb Group, 84th Bomb Squadron. The unit later moved to RAF Sculthorpe in the UK.
The B-45 was, of course, America’s first jet bomber, and like many of those early jets it had a checkered career (of the 143 B-45s built, almost one-third of them were destroyed in crashes and other mishaps). There are very few survivors, and 47-084 is not one of them: it ended its days in 1958 at Ramstein Air Base as an instructional airframe for training firemen. In other words, a charred and smashed wreck.
The Jive Bomber 
Hi, I enjoy your posts! Any info photos of the 460 bomb group in WWII-with the black panther patch. Keep up the good work! Don Summers
Sent from my iPhone
>
LikeLike
Thank you, and I am glad you enjoy the website!
LikeLike
Interesting photo for me, and reflective of your narrative … on March 28, 1952 my father, Capt. Roland C. Parnell, was an instructor-pilot of 47-085, along with his co-pilot (Second Lt. Heber J. Whitesides, 26, of Layton, UT) and his Bombardier-Navigator (First Lt. Phillip R. Dulap, 28,- of Greenville, AL). They were conducting a night training flight when their B-45A malfunctioned and exploded approximately 11 miles NNE of Langley AFB. The explosion occurred over Chesapeake Bay and killed all aboard — their bodies were never recovered. Roland was 29 years old at the time of his death.
LikeLike