Boeing B-54

The Boeing B-54 was an American strategic bomber project designed by Boeing for the United States Air Force, derived from the B-50 Superfortress through the planned YB-50C prototype. It began as the B-50C, an advanced B-50 intended to extract the maximum performance from the Superfortress design, with a mockup completed by November 1948, and in late 1948 the Air Force decided it differed enough to deserve the new designation B-54. The B-50's Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines were to give way to externally supercharged R-4360-43 engines rated at 4,300 horsepower each, which needed a wider wing, a longer fuselage and extra outrigger landing gear. Forty-three production aircraft were ordered, 14 bombers and 29 reconnaissance aircraft, but the programme was cancelled on 5 April 1949 after General Curtis LeMay opposed it, and no B-54 was built.