The Boeing B-47 Stratojet was a bomber, but it never dropped a bomb in anger. The closest it came to ‘combat’ was in its reconnaissance variant. Since it was a bomber, I’m not counting recon missions; so by that criterion, the B-47 was a combat aircraft that was never used in combat. (Of course it was very important as a deterrent.) Another one I can think of that never saw combat was the Convair F-106 Delta Dart.
What other U.S. combat aircraft were never used in combat? Note that by ‘combat’ I mean some sort of ‘killer’ mission, and not reconnaissance, AEW, etc. Also, I’m asking about production aircraft that were accepted into service.
The B-36, for one. I’m sure there are plenty of others. The wikipedia article mentions it being developed for hawaii-japan-hawaii missions without refueling, but I’ve read elsewhere its impetus was the ability to fly from the US to Europe and back - in case England fell in WWII. It wasn’t ready before the war ended, and was outclassed by jets by the time it was in service.
The RA-5 Vigilante, which was not originally designated (RA) as
a reconnaissance aircraft, was conceived to be a carrier-launched nuclear-capable bomber. Matter of fact it was the largest jet aircraft ever launched from the USS Midway. All that said, with missile technology advancing as it did, it was converted to a reconnaissance aircraft with additional duties as a tanker. Not sure, but I don’t think it was otherwise armed. Obviously, it never saw any combat action.
The P-3 Orion I think should get an honorable mention. It was introduced in 1962 and is very much a combat aircraft having flown thousands and thousands of armed anti-submarine sorties, but I think an attack on a Libyan gun boat back in 2011 was the first time it’s actually fired a weapon in earnest, meeting the definition of “combat” in the OP.
The US never used the P26 in combat, but the Chinese and Spanish Republicans did. It’s main defense against Zeroes was that it was so cute, I mean, come on, how could you shoot it?
