Korean War Early operations of the B-45 were plagued by engine problems which, along with numerous other minor flaws, undermined its usefulness. However, the aircraft regained importance when the United States entered the
Korean War in 1950. In this theatre, the B-45 proved its value both as a bomber and as a reconnaissance aircraft. The mass deployment of U.S. forces to the war on the Korean peninsula exposed the vulnerability of
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Europe to a potential Soviet attack. This realization was a major factor contributing to the USAF's decision regarding the future of the B-45. The B-45, like most post-World War II American bombers, could carry both nuclear and conventional bombs. The progress of weapons technology had led to a great reduction in both the weight and size of nuclear weapons in the U.S. inventory, which enabled smaller aircraft such as the B-45 to carry out nuclear strikes, a mission which had previously been confined to heavy bombers. Suddenly, the small fleet of B-45s once again possessed considerable value as a nuclear deterrent. On 4 December 1950, the first successful interception of a jet bomber by a jet fighter occurred when
MiG-15 pilot Aleksandr F. Andrianov shot down an RB-45C over
China. Captain Charles McDonough was the only member of the four-man crew to parachute from the plane, although he is believed to have died while being held by either the Chinese or the Soviet Union. Because of the sensitivity typically surrounding such missions, much of the information surrounding this flight and similar intelligence activities has remained classified.
Operation Fandango, sometimes called Operation Backbreaker, modified the aircraft for nuclear missions. The 40 B-45s allocated to the program were equipped with a new defensive system and additional fuel tankage. Despite the magnitude of the modifications project, plus ongoing problems with the jet engines, nuclear-capable B-45s began reaching the United Kingdom in May 1952, and deployment of the 40 aircraft was completed in mid-June. It was at about the same time that RB-45s of the 323rd Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron began to arrive in Japan to fly alongside the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, supplementing the World War II-era piston-engine
RB-29s which had been easy targets for North Korean
MiGs. The RB-45s provided valuable intelligence throughout the remainder of the Korean War, despite the limited number available. RB-45Cs flew many daylight missions until early 1952, when they changed to night operations after an RB-45 was almost lost to a
MiG-15.
Postwar All 33 RB-45Cs built were assigned to the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing's 322nd, 323rd and 324th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons. The RB-45C also flew several long-range reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union during the mid-1950s. On July 29, 1952, an RB-45C made the first non-stop trans-Pacific flight, having been refueled twice by
KB-29s along the way. Maj. Lou Carrington and his crew of the 91st Reconnaissance Wing flew from Alaska to Japan in 9 hrs 50 mins, winning the
MacKay Trophy for their achievement. Within the 91st SRW, by 1954 the RB-45C had been replaced by the RB-47E. The phased-out RB-45Cs then went to the 19th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, which operated them until they were withdrawn from operational use in the spring of 1958. By the end of the 1950s, all B-45s had been removed from active service. However, a few continued to act as test aircraft into the early 1970s.
Operation Ju-jitsu The only other nation to use the RB-45C was the
United Kingdom, where it was operated by an
ad hoc unit of crews largely drawn from Nos.
35 and
115 Squadrons RAF. Whilst the
Department of Defense was prohibited by the President of the United States from overflying the Soviet Union at the time, US allies closer to the European theatre of war could. In the United Kingdom, whilst successive Labour governments had refused, the return of
Winston Churchill and
a Conservative administration to
Downing Street in 1951 brought a more co-operative atmosphere to joint intelligence initiatives. As a result, under
Operation Ju-jitsu, in July 1951 four aircraft were leased to Britain from the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing to form 'Special Duties Flight, Sculthorpe', commanded by
Squadron Leader John Crampton. Stripped of USAF markings and then applied with
RAF markings, the four aircraft were attached to a USAF squadron based at
RAF Sculthorpe,
Norfolk in eastern England. The aircraft were tasked with flying deep-level reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union to gather
electronic and
photographic intelligence. The Special Duties Flight conducted missions during the period 1952–54. On April 17, 1952, three aircraft were assigned to head for
Kyiv from West Germany, scheduled to return to Sculthorpe ten hours later. Flying at , Crampton's aircraft was tracked by ground radar and came under antiaircraft fire. Applying full power, he immediately turned and headed for Germany, none too soon, as Soviet night fighters had been dispatched to hunt down his aircraft. Subsequent flights over Ukraine were carried out using
English Electric Canberras under the codename
Project Robin, operating at higher altitudes of around . It was not until 1994 (under the "
fifty-year rule" of the
Public Records Act 1958) that the existence of the spy missions became public knowledge. ==Variants==