B-45 Tornado

After Nazi Germany’s progress in the ground of jet force in 1943, The US Army Air Forces asked the General Electric Company to invent a more influential engine than its axial turboprop. Result was the innovation of the J35 and J47 turbojets. In 1944, after requirement of jet engine were establish, the War Department asked the manufacturer to submit proposals for jet bombers. 

The requirements included that the gross weight of the aircraft should range from 80000 to 200000 pounds. Only four contractors responded to the call. As there were time constraints, the Army Air Force dropped the regular procedures like common supplier competition and appraisal of the designs.

The B-45, proposed by the North American Aviation,

Inglewood,
California, had a multi jet engine which was bigger and more conventional than the Boeing XB-47; giving it an edge over the competitor. Like all bombers produced after the end of World War 11, the B-45 was designed to carry both conventional and atomic bombs. After the Army Air Force tested the bomber, it suggested some pre-production changes. The manufacturer then increased the aircraft’s stabilizer area, redesigned the nose panel and increased the tail-plane by nearly 7 feet. In August 1948, 22 B-45s reached the Army Air Force who however felt that the increased weight, unnecessary takeoff distance and some mechanical defects halted the aircraft