What are these engineers doing sitting on a large format drawing of B-47s aircraft? This answer about solid-jet-assisted takeoff links to the page B-47 Jet-Assisted Take Off (JATO). An image there took me to a collection of historical aviation images, apparently from a LIFE Magazine archive.

Browsing there led me to the image below, of what looks like several aviation engineers sitting on a very large format drawing of a B-47 aircraft and its major components.

A reverse image search leads mostly to sites written in Russian, which I can't read.

Does anyone recognize what's actually happening here? It's not scene one would normally see these days.



source: http://images.google.com/hosted/life/2ce91e390933d837.html


  B-47 Stratojet Bomber, Date taken: September 9, 1950 Photographer: Howard Sochurek
As commented by Anilv, they are examining a factory production layout/plan. They most likely are attempting to resolve a production or supply problem, though as Anilv suggests, they may also be planning the factory layout.

Listed below is an example of the B-17 Flying Fortress Factory Production Layout used by Boeing in WWII. Note the arrows which show the production procession and parts/sub-assembly entry and exit.


Source - Boeing