B-47s had a bad problem of catastrophic wing failure. Probably has a wrong separate out over the ocean, nobody got out, and it all went to the bottom of the Atlantic.
It was a fatigue problem created by a toss bombing technique that pulled a lot of Gs
Wing
The B-47 was involved in a number of hair raising incidents. Here are two from 1955:
5 January
Two Boeing B-47E Stratojets of the 44th Bomb Wing from Lake Charles AFB, Louisiana, collide over the Gulf of Mexico during refuelling Wednesday night, causing one to crash and the other to limp home to base with damage, sans its observer who bailed out over the Gulf. Air-sea rescue teams began a search of the Gulf in an area some 30 miles (48 km) SE of Cameron, Louisiana, on the Gulf coast.[3] B-47E-5-DT, 52-029, is lost with all three crew. The observer who bailed out was also never found.[4] The pilot of the recovered bomber stated that the lost plane apparently smashed down on his aircraft from above, “leaving wheel tracks on the cabin before it spun off to crash in Gulf waters. Capt. Morris E. Shiver, 29, of Albany, Ga., said ‘we never knew what hit us’ as the two six-jet bombers crashed together Wednesday night about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Cameron, La. An armada of planes and ships searched Thursday for the four airmen missing after the crash. Three of them were aboard the B47 which plunged into the Gulf, while the fourth, 1st Lt. Matthew Gemery, of Lakewood, Ohio, an observer, could have returned on his limping plane had he waited another minute before ejecting himself. They identified Maj. Sterling T. Carroll, 33, of Port Arthur, Tex., as the commander of the plane that returned, and Shiver as the pilot. The other three missing airmen were Maj. Jean S. Pierson, of Danville, Ind., aircraft commander; Capt. David O. Crump, of Albemarle, N.C. [sic], copilot, and father of six children, and 1st Lt. Rodney P. Egelston of Levelland, Tex., observer-bombardier.”[5]
6 January
“BRAMAN, Okla. (AP) – A crippled B47 six-engine jet bomber barrel-rolled, crashed and exploded in a wheat field a mile east of here Thursday, killing all three crewmen aboard. The plane, from McConnell Air Force Base, Wichita, Kan., disintegrated into hundreds of pieces after the explosion in this farm area of North Central Oklahoma near the Kansas border. Maj. Lawrence Tacker of McConnell AFB identified the dead as: Capt. Wayne E. Andrew of Yellow Springs, Ohio, commander of the plane; 1st Lt. Joseph C. Cook, co-pilot, Sunland, Calif.; Capt. William C. Berry, observer, Dayton, Ohio. The wives and families of the men are living temporarily in Wichita.
O. O. McMasters, who lives here, said he heard the plane coming from the north and in distress. McMasters said it suddenly barrel-rolled and crashed. A crater 10 to 12 feet deep (4 m) was left in the pasture. Bits of the crewmen’s bodies and the plane were scattered for hundreds of yards. The plane landed on the Horne farm and the explosion was so great it rocked Bramen a mile away.”[6] B-47B-30-BW Stratojet, 51-2086, of the 3520th Flying Training Wing lost.
Also, refueling a slick airplane like the B-47 with a high stall speed from a piston-engine KC-97 required a shallow dive during the link-up and max power from the KC-97. Plenty of things could go wrong after the break.
Good point, the aircraft was at least 4 years old.