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The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a
strategic bomber A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range Penetrator (aircraft), penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unl ...
built by Convair and operated by the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
(USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built, although it was exceeded in span and weight by the one-off Hughes H-4 Hercules. It has the longest
wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...
of any combat aircraft. The B-36 was capable of intercontinental flight without refueling. Entering service in 1948, the B-36 was the primary
nuclear weapons delivery Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. All nine nuclear states have developed some form of medium- to long-range delivery system for their nu ...
vehicle of
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...
(SAC) until it was replaced by the jet-powered
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic aircraft, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the ...
beginning in 1955. All but four aircraft have been scrapped.


Development

The design of the B-36 can be traced to early 1941, prior to the entry of the United States into
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. At the time, Britain was at risk of falling to the Nazi "Blitz" attacks, making strategic bombing attacks by the
United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...
(USAAC) against Germany impossible with the aircraft available.. The United States would need a new bomber to reach
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
and return to bases in North America, necessitating a combat range of at least , the length of a Gander, Newfoundland
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
round trip. The USAAC therefore sought a bomber of truly intercontinental range. The German Reichsluftfahrtministerium's (RLM) would request the similar ultralong-range '' Amerikabomber'' program on 12 May 1942. The USAAC sent out an initial request on 11 April 1941, asking for a top speed, a cruising speed, a service ceiling of and a maximum range of at . These requirements were too demanding and far exceeded the technology of the day, so on 19 August 1941, they were reduced, to a maximum range of , an effective combat radius of with a bomb-load, a cruising speed between , and a service ceiling of The ceiling in both cases was chosen to exceed the maximum effective altitude of most of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
's anti-aircraft guns.


World War II and after

In the Pacific, the USAAF needed a bomber capable of reaching
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
from bases in
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
, and the development of the B-36 became a priority. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, in discussions with high-ranking officers of the USAAF, decided to waive normal army procurement procedures. On 23 July 1943, 15 months after the Germans' ''Amerikabomber'' proposals, and the same day that the German firm Heinkel began design on a six-engined bomber of their own, the USAAF submitted a "letter of intent" to Convair for an initial production run of 100, even before testing of the two prototypes was complete. The first delivery was due in August 1945, and the last in October 1946, but Consolidated (by now renamed Convair after merging with Vultee Aircraft) delayed delivery. Three months after
V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...
the aircraft was unveiled on 20 August 1945, and flew for the first time on 8 August 1946. After the start of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
with the 1948 Berlin Airlift, and the 1949 atmospheric test of the first Soviet atomic bomb, American military planners sought bombers capable of delivering the very large and heavy first-generation atomic bombs. The B-36 was the only American aircraft with the range and payload to carry such bombs from airfields on American soil to targets in the USSR. The modification to allow the use of larger atomic weapons on the B-36 was called the "Grand Slam Installation". The B-36 from the outset faced the widespread introduction of opposing jet fighters. The Boeing B-47 Stratojet, its jet engined counterpart, did not become fully operational until 1953, and lacked the range to attack the Soviet Union from North America without aerial refueling and could not carry the huge Mark 16 hydrogen bomb. The other American piston bombers of the day, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and Boeing B-50 Superfortress, were also too limited in range.
Intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...
s did not become sufficiently reliable until the early 1960s. Until the
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic aircraft, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the ...
became operational in 1955, the B-36 was the primary nuclear weapons delivery vehicle of the SAC. Convair touted the B-36 as the "aluminum overcast", a so-called " long rifle", giving SAC truly global reach. During General Curtis LeMay's tenure as head of SAC (1949–57), the B-36 formed the heart of the Strategic Air Command. Its maximum payload was more than four times that of the B-29 and exceeded that of the later B-52. The B-36 was slow and could not refuel in midair, but could fly missions to targets away and stay aloft as long as 40 hours. Moreover, the B-36 was believed to have "an ace up its sleeve": a phenomenal cruising altitude for a piston-driven aircraft, made possible by its huge wing area and six engines, putting it out of range of most interceptors, as well as ground-based anti-aircraft guns.


Experimentals and prototypes

Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (later Convair) and Boeing Aircraft Company took part in the competition, with Consolidated winning a tender on 16 October 1941. Consolidated asked for a $15 million contract with $800,000 for research and development, mockup, and tooling. Two experimental bombers were proposed, the first to be delivered in 30 months, and the second within 36 months. Originally designated Model B-35, the name was changed to B-36 to avoid confusion with the Northrop YB-35 piston-engined flying-wing bomber, against which the B-36 was meant to compete for a production contract. Throughout its development, the B-36 program encountered delays. When the United States entered World War II, Consolidated was ordered to slow B-36 development to greatly increase
Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...
production. The first mockup was inspected on 20 July 1942, following six months of refinements. A month after the inspection, the project was moved from San Diego, California, to Fort Worth, Texas, which set back development several months. Consolidated changed the tail from a twin-tail to a single, thereby saving , but this change delayed delivery by a further 120 days. Changes in the USAAF requirements added back the weight saved in redesigns, and cost more time. A new antenna system needed to be designed to accommodate a new radio and radar system and the Pratt and Whitney engines were redesigned, adding another .


Design

The B-36 was two-thirds longer than the previous "superbomber", the B-29, and its wingspan and height exceeded those of the Soviet Union's 1960s Antonov An-22, the largest
turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...
aircraft ever produced. Only with the advent of the
Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...
and the
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy ...
, both designed two decades later, did aircraft capable of lifting a heavier payload enter service. The wings of the B-36 were large even when compared with present-day aircraft, exceeding, for example, those of the C-5 Galaxy, and enabled the B-36 to carry enough fuel to fly the intended long missions without refueling. The maximum thickness of the wing, measured perpendicular to the chord, was , containing a crawlspace that allowed access to the engines.Griswold, Wesley P
"Remember the B-36."
''Popular Science'', September 1961.
The wing area permitted cruising altitudes well above the operating ceiling of any 1940s-era fighters, at over . In 1954, the turrets and other nonessential equipment were stripped out (not unlike the earlier
Silverplate Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces' participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project which enabled a B-29 Superfortress bomber to drop ...
program for the atomic bomb-carrying "specialist" B-29s), resulting in a "featherweight" configuration that increased top speed to , and cruise at and dash at over , perhaps even higher. The large wing area, with the four jet engines supplementing the piston engines in later versions, gave the B-36 a wide margin between stall speed (''V''S) and maximum speed (''V''max) at these altitudes. This made the B-36 more maneuverable at high altitude than most jet interceptors of the day, which could not maneuver effectively above . However, the U.S. Navy McDonnell F2H Banshee fighter could intercept the B-36, thanks to its ability to operate at more than . Later, the new Secretary of Defense, Louis A. Johnson, who considered the U.S. Navy and naval aviation essentially obsolete in favor of the USAF and SAC, forbade putting the Navy's claim to the test. The propulsion system of the B-36 was unique, with six 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major
radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...
s mounted in an unusual pusher configuration, rather than the conventional tractor propeller layout of other
heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually Aerial bomb, bombs) and longest range (aeronautics), range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy ...
s. The prototype's six R-4360s delivered which resulted in early B-36s needing long takeoff runs, which was ameliorated when power was boosted to . Each engine drove a three-bladed propeller, in diameter, mounted in a pusher configuration. This unusual configuration prevented propeller turbulence from interfering with airflow over the wing, but led to engine overheating due to insufficient airflow around the engines, resulting in inflight engine fires. The large, slow-turning propellers interacted with the high-pressure airflow behind the wings to produce an easily recognizable very-low-frequency pulse at ground level that betrayed approaching flights.


Addition of jet propulsion

Beginning with the B-36D, Convair added a pair of General Electric J47-19
jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...
s suspended near the end of each wing which were also retrofitted to surviving B-36Bs. Consequently, the B-36 was configured to have 10 engines, six radial propeller engines and four jet engines, leading to the B-36 slogan of "six turnin' and four burnin. The B-36 had more engines than any other mass-produced aircraft. The jet pods greatly improved takeoff performance and dash speed over the target. In normal cruising flight, the jet engines were shut down to conserve fuel. When the jet engines were shut down, louvers closed off the front of the pods to reduce drag. The two pods with four turbojets and the six piston engines combined gave the B-36 a total of for short periods of time.


Crew

The B-36 had a crew of 15. As with the B-29 and B-50, the pressurized flight deck and crew compartment were linked to the rear compartment by a pressurized tunnel through the bomb bay. In the B-36, movement through the tunnel was on a wheeled trolley, pulling on a rope. The rear compartment featured six bunks and a dining galley and led to the tail turret.


Landing gear

The tricycle landing gear of the XB-36 featured a single-wheel main
landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...
whose tires were the largest ever manufactured up to that time: tall, wide, and weighing , with enough rubber for 60 automobile tires. These tires placed so much ground pressure on runways that the XB-36 was restricted to Carswell Field adjacent to the factory in Texas, Eglin Field in Florida, and Fairfield-Suisun Field in California. The single-wheel gear was soon replaced by a four-wheeled
bogie A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets (two Railroad wheel, wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes ...
. At one point, a tank-like tracked landing gear was also tried on the XB-36, but it proved heavy and noisy and was soon abandoned.


Weaponry

The four
bomb bay The bomb bay or weapons bay on some military aircraft is a compartment to carry bombs, usually in the aircraft's fuselage, with "bomb bay doors" which open at the bottom. The bomb bay doors are opened and the bombs are dropped when over the ...
s could carry up to of bombs, more than 10 times the load carried by the World War II
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...
. The B-36 was not designed with nuclear weapons in mind, because the existence of such weapons was top secret during the period when the B-36 was conceived and designed, and the initial B-36A was not capable of accommodating them. Nevertheless, the B-36 stepped into its nuclear delivery role immediately upon becoming operational. In all respects except speed, the B-36 could match what was arguably its approximate Soviet counterpart, the later Tu-95. Until the B-52 became operational, the B-36 was the only means of delivering the first generation Mark 17 hydrogen bomb, long, in diameter, and weighing , the heaviest and bulkiest American aerial nuclear bomb. The Mark 17 took up the aircraft's two aft bomb bays, while the forward bay could hold a Mark 6 atomic weapon. The defensive armament consisted of six retractable gun turrets, with side-by-side turrets mounted in forward dorsal, aft dorsal and ventral positions, aft dorsal and non-retractable tail and nose turrets. Each turret was fitted with two
cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...
, for a total of 16, and all turrets were remote controlled. Recoil vibration from gunnery practice often caused the aircraft's electrical wiring to jar loose or the
vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...
electronics to malfunction, leading to failure of the aircraft controls and navigation equipment, which contributed to the crash of B-36B 44-92035 on 22 November 1950.Lockett, Brian
"Summary of Air Force accident report."
Goleta Air and Space Museum, air-and-space.com. Retrieved: 15 May 2010.
The Convair B-36 was the only aircraft capable of carrying the T-12 Cloudmaker, a gravity bomb weighing and designed to produce an earthquake bomb effect. Part of the testing process involved dropping two of them in a single flight, one from and the second from . The first prototype XB-36 flew on 8 August 1946. The speed and range of the prototype failed to meet the standards set out by the USAAC in 1941. This was expected, as the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines required were not yet available. A second aircraft, the YB-36, flew on 4 December 1947. It had a redesigned, high-visibility, yet still heavily framed greenhouse dome-shaped canopy, which was later adopted for production, and the engines used on the YB-36 were more powerful and more efficient. Altogether, the YB-36 was much closer to the production aircraft. The first 21 B-36As were delivered in 1948 as interim airframes intended for crew training. No defensive armament was fitted, since none was ready. All surviving B-36As were converted to RB-36E reconnaissance models once later models became available. Deliveries began in November 1948 of the combat-capable B-36B, which finally met the 1941 requirements, but had serious engine reliability and maintenance problems (changing the 336 spark plugs was a task dreaded by ground crews) and with the availability of weapons and spares. Later models had more powerful R-4360 engines, improved radar, and redesigned crew compartments. The jet engines increased fuel consumption and reduced range. Gun turrets were already recognized as obsolete, and newer bombers had only a tail turret, or no gunners at all for several years, but the development of
air-to-air missile An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft (including unmanned aircraft such as cruise missiles). AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid-fuel roc ...
s, such as the Soviet K-5 which began test firings in 1951, eliminated remaining justifications for keeping them. In February 1954, the USAF awarded Convair a contract for a new "Featherweight" program, which significantly reduced weight and crew size. The three configurations were: * Featherweight I removed defensive hardware, including the six gun turrets. * Featherweight II removed the rear compartment crew comfort features, and all hardware accommodating the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin parasite fighter. * Featherweight III incorporated both configurations I and II. The six turrets eliminated by Featherweight I reduced the crew from 15 to 9. Featherweight III had a longer range and an operating ceiling of at least , especially valuable for reconnaissance missions. The B-36J-III configuration (the last 14 made) had a single radar-aimed tail turret, extra fuel tanks in the outer wings, and landing gear allowing the maximum gross weight to be increased to . Production of the B-36 ceased in 1954.


Operating and financial problems

Due to problems that occurred with the B-36 in its early stages of testing, development, and later in service, some critics referred to the aircraft as a "billion-dollar blunder". In particular, the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
saw it as a costly bungle, diverting congressional funding and interest from
naval aviation Naval aviation / Aeronaval is the application of Military aviation, military air power by Navy, navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. It often involves ''navalised aircraft'', specifically designed for naval use. Seab ...
and
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
s in general, and carrier–based nuclear bombers in particular. In 1947, the Navy attacked congressional funding for the B-36, alleging it failed to meet Pentagon requirements. The Navy held to the pre-eminence of the aircraft carrier in the
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
during World War II, presuming carrier-based aircraft would be decisive in future wars. To this end, the Navy designed , a " supercarrier" capable of launching huge fleets of tactical aircraft or nuclear bombers. It then pushed to have funding transferred from the B-36 to USS ''United States''. The Air Force successfully defended the B-36 project, and ''United States'' was cancelled by Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson in a cost-cutting move over the objections of both
Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...
John L. Sullivan and the Navy's senior leadership. Sullivan resigned in protest and was replaced as Secretary of the Navy by Francis P. Matthews, who had limited familiarity with defense issues, but was a close friend of Johnson. Several high-level Navy officials questioned the government's decision in cancelling the ''United States'' to fund the B-36, alleging a conflict of interest because Johnson had once served on Convair's board of directors. The uproar following the cancellation of ''United States'' in 1949 was nicknamed the " Revolt of the Admirals", during which time Matthews dismissed and forced into retirement the serving Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Admiral Louis E. Denfeld, following Denfeld's testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. The congressional and media furor over the firing of Admiral Denfeld, as well as the significant use of aircraft carriers in the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
, resulted in the Truman administration subsequently ousting both Johnson and Matthews, and procuring supercarriers, which were similar in size to ''United States'', but geared towards multirole use with air wings of fighter, attack, reconnaissance, electronic warfare,
early warning An early warning system is a warning system that can be implemented as a Poset, chain of information communication systems and comprises sensors, Detection theory, event detection and decision support system, decision subsystems for early identi ...
and antisubmarine-warfare aircraft. Simultaneously, heavy manned bombers for SAC were also deemed crucial to national defense and the two systems would never again be in competition for funding.


Operational history

The B-36, including its GRB-36, RB-36, and XC-99 variants, was in USAF service as part of the SAC from 1948 to 1959. The RB-36 variants of the B-36 were used for reconnaissance during the Cold War with the Soviet Union and the B-36 bomber variants conducted training and test operations and stood ground and airborne alert, but were never flown offensively as bombers against hostile forces.


Maintenance

The Wasp Major engines had a prodigious appetite for lubricating oil and each engine required a dedicated tank. Normal maintenance consisted of tedious measures, such as changing the 56 spark plugs on each of the six engines which were often fouled by the
lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
in the 145
octane Octane is a hydrocarbon and also an alkane with the chemical formula C8H18, and the condensed structural formula CH3(CH2)6CH3. Octane has many structural isomers that differ by the location of branching in the carbon chain. One of these isomers ...
anti knock fuel required. Thus, each service required changing 336 spark plugs. The B-36 was too large to fit in most hangars. Since even an aircraft with the range of the B-36 needed to be stationed as close to enemy targets as possible, this meant the plane was largely based in the extreme weather locations of the northern continental United States, Alaska, and the
Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...
. Since the maintenance had to be performed outdoors, the crews were largely exposed to the elements, with temperatures of in winters and in summers, depending on the location. Special shelters were built to provide the maintenance crews a modicum of protection. Ground crews were at risk of slipping and falling from icy wings. The wing roots were thick enough, at , to enable a flight engineer to access the backs of the engines and the landing gear during flight by crawling through the wings but was only possible at lower altitudes. In 1950, Consolidated-Vultee developed streamlined pods that looked like large drop tanks that mounted on each side of the fuselage to carry spare engines between bases. Each pod could airlift two engines. When the pods were empty, they were removed and carried in the bomb bays. No record exists of the pods being used.


Engine fires

As engine fires occurred with the B-36's radial engines, some crews humorously changed the aircraft's slogan from "six turning, four burning" into "two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking and two more unaccounted for".Daciek, Michael R
"Speaking at random about flying and writing: B-36 Peacemaker/Ten Engine Bomber"
YourHub.com, 13 December 2006. Retrieved: 6 April 2009.
This problem was exacerbated by the propellers' pusher configuration, which increased carburetor icing. The design of the R-4360 engine tacitly assumed that it would be mounted in the conventional tractor configuration with the air flowing in the order of propeller/air intake/cylinders and to the carburetor. In this configuration, the carburetor is bathed in warm air flowing past the engine, so is unlikely to ice up. However, they were mounted backwards in the B-36 and the carburetor was in front of the engine, where it would not benefit from engine heat and made most existing carburetor heat systems unsuitable. Hence, when intake air was cold and humid, ice gradually obstructed the carburetor intake, which increased the air/fuel mixture richness until unburned fuel in the
exhaust Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to: Law * Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law ** Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law ** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, i ...
caught fire. Three engine fires of this nature led to the first loss of an American
nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...
when a B-36 crashed in February 1950.


Crew experience

Training missions were typically in two parts, a 40-hour flight—followed by time on the ground for refueling and maintenance—and then a 24-hour second flight. With a sufficiently light load, the B-36 could fly at least nonstop, and the highest cruising speed of any version, the B-36J-III, was at . Engaging the jet engines could raise the cruising speed to over . Hence, a 40-hour mission, with the jets used only for takeoff and climbing, flew about . Due to its size, the B-36 was never sprightly or agile. Lieutenant General James Edmundson likened it to "sitting on your front porch and flying your house around". Crew compartments were nonetheless cramped, especially when occupied for 24 hours by a crew of 15. War missions would have been one-way, taking off from forward bases in
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
or
Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
, overflying the USSR, and landing in Europe, Morocco, or the Middle East. Veteran crews recall feeling confident in their ability to fly the missions, but not to survive weapon delivery, as the aircraft were not fast enough to escape the blast. These concerns were confirmed by the 1954 Operation Castle tests, in which B-36s were flown at combat distances from detonations of bombs in the 15-megaton range. At distances typical of wartime delivery, aircraft suffered extensive flash and blast damage.


Experiments

The B-36 was employed in a variety of aeronautical experiments throughout its service life. Its immense size, range, and payload capacity lent itself to use in research and development programs. These included nuclear propulsion studies, and "parasite" programs in which the B-36 carried smaller interceptors or reconnaissance aircraft. In May 1946, the Air Force began the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft project, which was followed in May 1951 by the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program. The ANP program used modified B-36s to study shielding requirements for an airborne reactor to determine whether a nuclear-powered aircraft was feasible. Convair modified two B-36s under the MX-1589 project. The Nuclear Test Aircraft was a B-36H-20-CF (serial number 51-5712) that had been damaged in a tornado at Carswell AFB on 1 September 1952. This aircraft, redesignated the XB-36H (and later NB-36H), was modified to carry a , air-cooled
nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...
in the aft bomb bay, with a four-ton lead disc shield installed in the middle of the aircraft between the reactor and the cockpit. A number of large air intake and exhaust holes were installed in the sides and bottom of the aircraft's rear fuselage to cool the reactor in flight. On the ground, a crane would be used to remove the reactor from the aircraft. To protect the crew, the highly modified cockpit was encased in lead and rubber, with a leaded glass windshield. The reactor was operational, but did not power the aircraft as its purpose was to investigate the effect of radiation. Between 1955 and 1957, the NB-36H completed 47 test flights and 215 hours of flight time, during 89 of which the reactor was critical. Other experiments involved providing the B-36 with its own fighter defense in the form of
parasite aircraft A parasite aircraft is a component of a composite aircraft which is carried aloft and air launched by a larger carrier aircraft or mother ship to support the primary mission of the carrier. The carrier craft may or may not be able to later recove ...
carried partially or wholly in a bomb bay. One parasite aircraft was the diminutive football-shaped McDonnell XF-85 Goblin, which docked using a trapeze. The concept was tested using a B-29 carrier, but docking was difficult even for experienced test pilots. Moreover, the XF-85 was no match for contemporary foreign powers' interceptors in development or in service and consequently the project was cancelled. The FICON project was more successful and involving a modified B-36 (a GRB-36D "mothership") and the RF-84K, a fighter modified for
reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...
, in a bomb bay. The GRB-36D would ferry the RF-84K to the vicinity of the objective, whereupon the RF-84K would disconnect and begin its mission. Ten GRB-36Ds and 25 RF-84Ks were built and had limited service in 1955–1956. Projects Tip Tow and Tom-Tom involved docking F-84s to the wingtips of B-29s and B-36s. The hope was that the increased
aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...
of the combined aircraft would result in a greater range. Project Tip Tow was cancelled when an EF-84D and a specially modified test EB-29A crashed, killing everyone on both aircraft. This accident was attributed to the EF-84D flipping over onto the wing of the EB-29A. Project Tom-Tom, involving RF-84Fs and a GRB-36D from the FICON project (redesignated JRB-36F), continued for a few months after this crash, but was also cancelled due to the violent
turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...
induced by the
wingtip vortices Wingtip vortices are circular patterns of rotating air left behind a wing as it generates Lift (force), lift. The name is a misnomer because the cores of the vortex, vortices are slightly inboard of the wing tips. Wingtip vortices are sometimes ...
of the B-36.Lockett, Brian
"Parasite Fighter Programs: Project Tom-Tom."
Goleta Air and Space Museum, air-and-space.com. Retrieved: 15 May 2010.


Strategic reconnaissance

One of the SAC's initial missions was to plan strategic aerial reconnaissance on a global scale. The first efforts were in photo-reconnaissance and mapping. Along with the photo-reconnaissance mission, a small electronic intelligence cadre operated. Weather reconnaissance was part of the effort, as was long-range detection of Soviet atomic explosions. In the late 1940s, strategic intelligence on Soviet capabilities and intentions was scarce. Before the development of the Lockheed U-2 high-altitude spy plane and Corona orbital reconnaissance satellites, technology and politics limited American reconnaissance efforts to the borders, of the Soviet Union. One of the essential criteria of the early postwar reconnaissance aircraft was the ability to cruise above , a level partly determined by knowledge of the capability of Soviet air-defense radar. The main Soviet air-defense radar in the 1950s was the American-supplied SCR-270, or locally made copies, which were only effective up to in theory, and an aircraft cruising above this level likely would remain undetected. The first aircraft to put this theory to the test was the RB-36D specialized photo-reconnaissance version of the . It was outwardly identical to the standard B-36D, but carried a crew of 22 rather than 15, the additional crew members being needed to operate the reconnaissance equipment carried. The forward bomb bay was filled with a pressurized, manned compartment with 14 cameras and a darkroom, where a photo technician would develop the film. The second bomb bay contained up to 80 T-86 photoflash bombs, while the third bay could carry an extra droppable fuel tank. The fourth bomb bay carried electronic countermeasure equipment. The full defensive armament was retained. The extra fuel tanks increased the flight endurance to up to 50 hours and it had an operational ceiling of . Later, a lightweight version of this aircraft, the RB-36-III, could reach . RB-36s were distinguished by the bright aluminum finish of the camera compartment (contrasting with the dull magnesium of the rest of the fuselage) and by a series of radar domes under the aft fuselage, varying in number and placement. When developed, it was the only American aircraft large enough to carry the bulky, high-resolution cameras of the day. The standard RB-36D carried up to 23 cameras, primarily K-17C, K-22A, K-38, and K-40 cameras. A special focal length camera (known as the Boston Camera after the university where it was designed) was tested on 44-92088, the aircraft being redesignated ERB-36D. The long focal length was achieved by using a two-mirror reflection system and could resolve a golf ball from and up to away. The first RB-36D (44-92088) made its initial flight on 18 December 1949, six months after the B-36D, but initially flew without turbojets. The 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing based at Rapid City AFB (later renamed Ellsworth AFB),
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
, received its first RB-36D on 3 June 1950 but due to severe material shortages, they were not operational until June 1951. The 24th and last RB-36D was delivered in May 1951. Some RB-36Ds were later modified to the featherweight configuration, in which all but the tail guns were removed and the crew reduced from 22 to 19. These aircraft were redesignated as RB-36D-III. Modifications were carried out by Convair from February to November 1954. With a range of , RB-36Ds began probing the Arctic boundaries of the Soviet Union in 1951. Although on-board equipment indicated detection by Soviet radar, interceptions at the B-36's service ceiling remained difficult. RB-36 aircraft operating from RAF Sculthorpe in England made a number of overflights of Soviet Arctic bases, particularly the new nuclear weapons test complex at Novaya Zemlya. RB-36s performed a number of rarely acknowledged reconnaissance missions and are believed to have frequently penetrated Chinese (and Soviet) airspace under the direction of General Curtis LeMay. In early 1950, Convair began converting B-36As for reconnaissance, including the sole YB-36, which were all redesignated RB-36E. The R-4360-25 engines were replaced by R-4360-41s and were fitted with four J-47 jet engines as on the RB-36D. Its normal crew was 22, which included five gunners. The last conversion was completed in July 1951. The USAF later bought 73 long-range reconnaissance versions of the B-36H under the designation RB-36H. Of these, 23 were accepted during the first six months of 1952, and the last were delivered by September 1953. More than a third of all B-36s were reconnaissance models. Advances in Soviet air defense systems limited the RB-36 to flying outside the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. In the mid-1950s, the jet-powered Boeing RB-47E continued to penetrate Soviet airspace and conducted a variety of spectacular and highly illegal overflights of the Soviet Union, where they took photographic and radar recordings of the routes SAC bombers would follow. Flights that involved penetrating mainland Russia were termed sensitive intelligence (SENSINT) missions. As with the strategic bombardment versions, the RB-36 was phased out of the SAC inventory beginning in 1956, the last being sent to Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in January 1959.


Obsolescence

With the appearance of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 over
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
in 1950, USAF propeller-driven bombers were made obsolete as strategic offensive weapons. Both the B-36 and the B-29/B-50 Superfortresses were designed during World War II, prior to the jet age. A new generation of jet bombers, flying higher and faster, was needed to effectively overcome Soviet interceptors. In 1952, while fighting continued during the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
, the Convair YB-60, developed from the B-36, entered a design competition against the Boeing YB-52. By early 1953, the Boeing had emerged as the preferred design. After fighting in Korea had ceased, President Eisenhower called for a "new look" at national defense. His administration retired nearly all of its SAC B-29/B-50s in favour of the new B-47 Stratojet, introduced in 1951. By 1955, the B-52 Stratofortress was entering the inventory in substantial numbers, replacing B-36s. Two major factors contributing to the obsolescence of the B-36 and its phaseout were a lack of aerial refueling capability and its low speed which made it vulnerable to interceptors and severely decreased its ability to reach Soviet targets. The scrapping of B-36s began in February 1956. Once replaced by B-52s, they were flown directly from squadrons to Davis–Monthan AFB,
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, where the Mar-Pak Corporation handled their reclamation and destruction. Defense cutbacks in FY 1958 stretched out B-52 procurement and B-36 service life had to be extended. B-36s still in service were supported with parts taken from aircraft sent to Davis–Monthan. Further update work was undertaken by Convair at San Diego (Specialized Aircraft Maintenance, SAM-SAC) until 1957 to extend the service life of the B-36s. By December 1958, only 22 were still operational. On 12 February 1959, the last B-36J built, USAF Serial No. 52-2827, left Biggs AFB, Texas, where it had been on duty with the 95th Heavy Bombardment Wing, and was flown to Amon Carter Field in Fort Worth, where it was put on display. Within two years, all B-36s, except five used for museum display, had been scrapped.


Variants

;XB-36 :Unarmed prototype powered by six R-4360-25 engines, one built. ;YB-36 :Prototype, s/n 42-13571, with modified nose and raised cockpit roof, one built, later converted to YB-36A. ;YB-36A :Former YB-36 with modified four-wheel landing gear, later modified as a RB-36E. ;B-36A :Unarmed interim production variant, used for training, 22 built, all but one converted to RB-36E. ; XC-99 :A cargo/transport version of the B-36. One built. ;B-36B :Armed production variant with six R-4360-41 engines, 73 built, later conversions to RB-36D and B-36D. ;RB-36B :Designation for 39 B-36Bs temporarily fitted with a camera installation. ;YB-36C :Projected variant of the B-36B with six R-4360-51 engines driving tractor propellers, not built. ;B-36C :Production version of the YB-36, completed as B-36Bs. ;B-36D :Same as B-36B, but fitted with four J47-GE-19 engines, two each in two underwing pods, 22 built and 64 conversions from B-36B. ;RB-36D :Strategic reconnaissance variant with two bomb bays fitted with camera installation, 17 built and seven conversions from B-36B. ;GRB-36D :Same as RB-36D, but modified to carry a GRF-84F Thunderstreak on a ventral trapeze as part of the FICON program, 10 modified. ;RB-36E :The YB-36A and 21 B-36As converted to RB-36D standards. ;B-36F :Same as B-36D, but fitted with six R-4360-53 engines and four J47-GE-19 engines, 34 built. ;RB-36F :Strategic reconnaissance variant of the B-36F with additional fuel capacity, 24 built. ;YB-36G :See YB-60. ;B-36H :Same as B-36F with improved cockpit and equipment changes, 83 built. ; NB-36H :One B-36H fitted with a nuclear reactor installation for trials, had a revised cockpit and raised nose. This was intended to evolve into the Convair X-6. ;RB-36H :Strategic reconnaissance variant of the B-36H, 73 built. ;B-36J :High altitude variant with strengthened landing gear, increased fuel capacity, armament reduced to tail guns only and reduced crew, 33 built. ; YB-60 :Originally designated the YB-36G, s/n 49-2676 and 49-2684. Project for a jet-powered swept wing variant. Due to the differences from a standard B-36 its designation was changed to YB-60. ;Model 6 :Proposed double-deck airliner marrying the fuselage of the B-36 with the wings and empennage of the YB-60; not built.


Related models

In 1951, the USAF asked Convair to build an all-jet B-36. Convair replaced a B-36F's wings with swept wings, from which were suspended eight Pratt & Whitney XJ57-P-3 jet engines. The result was the B-36G, later renamed the Convair YB-60. The YB-60 was inferior to Boeing's YB-52, and was terminated."YB-60 Factsheet."
National Museum of the United States Air Force. Retrieved: 15 May 2010.
The B-36 was the basis for the Convair XC-99, a double-decked military transport that was the largest piston-engined, land-based transport aircraft built. Its length of made it the longest practical aircraft of its era. The sole example was used for nearly 10 years, especially for Korean War cross-country cargo flights. In 2005, it was dismantled in anticipation of its being moved from the former Kelly Air Force Base, now the Kelly Field Annex of Lackland AFB in
San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...
, where it had been stored since 1957. The XC-99 was then relocated to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB for restoration, with C-5 Galaxy transports carrying XC-99 pieces there.Hill, 1st Lt Bruce R. Jr
"XC-99 begins piece-by-piece trip to Air Force Museum."
''433rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs'', 22 April 2004.
A commercial airliner derived from the XC-99, the Convair Model 37, never left the drawing board.


Operators

;
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...

2d Air Force : 72d Strategic Reconnaissance WingRamey AFB, Puerto Rico (October 1952 – January 1959) ::60th and 301st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons, Tail Code: Square F 8th Air Force : 6th Bombardment WingWalker AFB, New Mexico (August 1952 – August 1957) ::24th, 39th and 40th Bombardment Squadrons, Tail Code: Triangle R : 7th Bombardment WingCarswell AFB, Texas (June 1948 – May 1958) ::9th, 436th and 492d Bombardment Squadrons, Tail Code: Triangle J : 11th Bombardment WingCarswell AFB, Texas (December 1948 – December 1957) ::26th, 42d and 98th Bombardment Squadrons, Tail Code: Triangle U : 28th Strategic Reconnaissance WingEllsworth AFB, South Dakota (May 1949 – April 1950) ::77th, 717th and 718th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons, Tail Code: Circle X : 42d Bombardment Wing, Loring AFB, Maine (April 1953 – September 1956) ::69th, 70th and 75th Bombardment Squadrons 15th Air Force : 92d Bombardment WingFairchild AFB, Washington (July 1951 – March 1956) ::325th, 326th and 327th Bombardment Squadrons, Tail Code: Circle W : 95th Bombardment WingBiggs AFB, Texas (August 1953 – February 1959) ::334th, 335th and 336th Bombardment Squadrons : 5th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing – Fairfield-Suisun AFB (later Travis AFB), California (January 1951 – September 1958) ::5th, 31st and 72d Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons, Tail Code: Circle X : 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing – Fairfield-Suisun AFB, California (May 1949 – April 1950) ::1st Bombardment Squadron : 99th Strategic Reconnaissance WingFairchild AFB, Washington (August 1951 – September 1956) ::346th, 347th and 348th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons, Tail Code: Circle I Note: SAC eliminated tail codes in 1953.


Surviving aircraft

four complete B-36 type aircraft survive from the original 384 produced. ;RB-36H * AF Ser. No. 51-13730 is at Castle Air Museum at the former Castle Air Force Base in Atwater, California. Previously displayed at the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois from 1957 to 1991. ;B-36J * AF Ser. No. 52-2217 is at the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum, formerly located at Offutt Air Force Base, and now off-base near
Ashland, Nebraska Ashland is a city in Saunders County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,262 at th2022 census History Ashland is located at the site of a low-water limestone ledge along the bottom of Salt Creek, an otherwise mud-bottomed stream th ...
. * AF Ser. No. 52-2220 is at the
National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is ...
at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene County, Ohio, Greene and Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patte ...
. Its flight to the museum from Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona on 30 April 1959 was the last flight of a B-36. This B-36J replaced the former Air Force Museum's original YB-36. This was the first aircraft placed in the museum's new display hangar. It is displayed alongside the massive lower main gear strut, single wheel and tire from the XB-36. * AF Ser. No. 52-2827 is at the Pima Air and Space Museum, adjacent to Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in
Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
. This aircraft was the final B-36 built, named ''The City of Fort Worth'', and lent to the city of Fort Worth on 12 February 1959. It sat on the field at the
Greater Southwest International Airport Greater Southwest International Airport , originally Amon Carter Field (ACF), was a commercial airport serving Fort Worth, Texas, from 1953 until 1974. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) opened in 1974 a few miles north to replace Gr ...
until that airfield was closed and the property was redeveloped adjacent to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Some attempts were made to begin restoration at that location through the early 1970s. It then moved to the short-lived Southwest Aerospace Museum, between the former Carswell Air Force Base (now Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth) and the former General Dynamics (now
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...
) assembly plant, where it was originally built. Some restoration took place there. As Lockheed Martin had no room to display it, and efforts in Fort Worth to build a facility fell short, the NMUSAF repossessed the aircraft and it was transported to Tucson for loan to the Pima Air and Space Museum. It was fully restored and reassembled at that museum, just south of Davis–Monthan AFB, and is displayed there.


Notable incidents and accidents

Though the B-36 had a good overall safety record, well above average for the class and time, 10 B-36s were involved in accidents between 1949 and 1954 (three B-36Bs, three B-36Ds, and four B-36Hs).Lockett, Brian
"Convair B-36 Crash Reports and Wreck Sites."
Goleta Air and Space Museum, air-and-space.com. Retrieved: 15 May 2010.
A total of 32 B-36s were written off in accidents between 1949 and 1957 of 385 built. When a crash occurred, the
magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...
-rich airframe burned easily. On 14 February 1950 off the northwest coast of
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
on Princess Royal Island, 17 crew parachuted from their blazing B-36B; 12 crewmen were found with one injured, and five were missing. On Labor Day, Monday, 1 September 1952, a tornado hit Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, damaging aircraft of the 7th and 11th Bomber Wings' complement of B-36s. Some two-thirds of the USAF's entire B-36 fleet was damaged, as well as six aircraft being built at that point at Convair's Fort Worth plant. The base was shut down and operations transferred to Meacham Field. Joint repairs by Convair and the USAF had repaired 18 of the 19 heavily damaged aircraft (and the six damaged and unfinished aircraft at Convair) by May 1953. One example was to be scrapped, but was used as a nuclear testing site ground target. Another heavily damaged aircraft was rebuilt as the NB-36H Nuclear Reactor Testbed aircraft. On February 2, 1953 Convair B-36H Serial No 51-5729 crashed 16 miles southwest of CFB Goose Bay,
Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...
, following a transatlantic flight from RAF Fairford. The aircraft crashed in hilly wooded terrain. The investigation determined that a Ground-controlled approach failure was at fault. Two of the 17 crew perished. On the night of 17 March 1953 RB-36H-25, 51-13721 departed the Canary Islands to test North American air defenses. Change in weather conditions drove the aircraft off course, and early in the morning on 18 March the aircraft collided with a mountain on the west side of Trinity Bay () just north of Burgoyne's Cove, Newfoundland, Canada. All 23 crew, including Brigadier General Richard Ellsworth, were killed. B-36s were involved in two " Broken Arrow" incidents. On 13 February 1950, B-36 serial number 44-92075, crashed in an unpopulated region of
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, resulting in the first loss of an American atom bomb. The inert bomb's plutonium core had been replaced with lead, but it did have TNT, and it detonated over the ocean before the crew bailed out. Locating the crash site took some effort. On 4 November 2016, however, an object similar to the bomb was reported to have been located by a diver near the
Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; / , literally "Islands of the Haida people"), previously known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago located between off the British Columbia Coast, northern Pacific coast in the Canadian province of British Columbia ...
archipelago , off the coast of British Columbia. The
Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...
deployed vessels to investigate. After investigation, the Royal Canadian Navy determined that it was not the lost bomb. Later in 1954, the airframe, stripped of sensitive material, was substantially destroyed ''
in situ is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is use ...
'' by a U.S. military recovery team. On 22 May 1957, a B-36 accidentally dropped a Mark 17 thermonuclear bomb away from the control tower while landing at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque,
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
. The weapon had come loose from its mounts and fell through the bomb bay doors, and sending the aircraft into an uncontrollable climb due to the sudden and unexpected weight shift. Only the conventional explosives detonated, as the bomb was unarmed. The aircraft made a safe landing. These incidents remained classified for decades. See list of military nuclear accidents.


Specifications (B-36J-III)


Notable appearances in media

In 1949, the B-36 was featured in the documentary film, ''Target: Peace'', about the operations of the 7th Bombardment Wing at Carswell AFB. Other scenes included B-36 production at the Fort Worth plant. ''
Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...
'' is a 1955 American film starring James Stewart as a
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
star and World War II veteran who is called back to active duty to become a B-36 pilot and flight commander for SAC. The documentary '' Lost Nuke'' (2004) chronicles a 2003 Canadian expedition to find the first lost nuclear weapon which traveled to the mountain site of the 1950
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
B-36 crash.Jorgenson, Michael, producer
"Lost Nuke".
Myth Merchant Films, Spruce Grove, Alberta, 2004.


See also


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* Barlow, Jeffrey G. ''Revolt of the Admirals: The Fight for Naval Aviation, 1945–1950''. Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1994. . * Ford, Daniel

''Air and Space/Smithsonian'', April 1996. Retrieved: 3 February 2007. * Grant, R.G. and John R. Dailey. ''Flight: 100 Years of Aviation''. Harlow, Essex, UK: DK Adult, 2007. . * Jacobsen, Meyers K. ''Convair B-36: A Comprehensive History of America's "Big Stick"''. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Military History, 1997. . * Jacobsen, Meyers K. ''Convair B-36: A Photo Chronicle''. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Military History, 1999. . * Jacobsen, Meyers K. "Peacemaker." ''Airpower'', Vol. 4, No. 6, November 1974. * Jacobsen, Meyers K. and Ray Wagner. ''B-36 in Action (Aircraft in Action Number 42)''. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications Inc., 1980. . * Jenkins, Dennis R. ''B-36 Photo Scrapbook''. St. Paul, Minnesota: Specialty Press Publishers and Wholesalers, 2003. . * Jenkins, Dennis R. ''Convair B-36 Peacemaker''. St. Paul, Minnesota: Specialty Press Publishers and Wholesalers, 1999. . * Jenkins, Dennis R. ''Magnesium Overcast: The Story of the Convair B-36''. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2002., . * Johnsen, Frederick A. ''Thundering Peacemaker, the B-36 Story in Words and Pictures''. Tacoma, Washington: Bomber Books, 1978. * Knaack, Marcelle Size. ''Encyclopedia of U.S. Air Force aircraft and missile systems '' Volume II: Post-World War II Bombers, 1945–1973. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, 1988.
Online - via media.defense.gov
* Leach, Norman S. ''Broken Arrow: America's First Lost Nuclear Weapon''. Calgary, Alberta: Red Deer Press, 2008. . * Miller, Jay and Roger Cripliver. "B-36: The Ponderous Peacemaker." ''Aviation Quarterly'', Vol. 4, No. 4, 1978. * Miller, Jay. "Tip Tow & Tom-Tom". '' Air Enthusiast'', No. 9, February–May 1979, pp. 40–42. . * Morris, Lt. Col. (ret.) and Ted Allan
"Flying the Aluminum and Magnesium Overcast".
''The collected articles and photographs of Ted A. Morris'', 2000. Retrieved: 4 September 2006. * Orman, Edward W. "One Thousand on Top: A Gunner's View of Flight from the Scanning Blister of a B-36." ''Airpower'', Vol. 17, No. 2, March 1987. * Peacock, Lindsay. "B-36: Convair's "Big Stick": Part One". '' Air International'', Vol. 39, No. 4, October 1990. pp. 230–234. . * Peacock, Lindsay. "B-36: Convair's "Big Stick": Part Two". ''Air International'', Vol. 39, No. 5, November 1990. pp. 279–286, 306. . * Puryear, Edgar. ''Stars in Flight''. Novato, California: Presidio Press, 1981. * Pyeatt, Don. ''B-36: Saving the Last Peacemaker (Third Edition)''. Fort Worth, Texas: ProWeb Publishing, 2006. . * Shiel, Walter P
"The B-36 Peacemaker: 'There Aren't Programs Like This Anymore'".
''cessnawarbirds.com''. Retrieved: 19 July 2009. * Taylor, John W.R. "Convair B-36." ''Combat Aircraft of the World from 1909 to the present''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. . * Thomas, Tony. ''A Wonderful Life: The Films and Career of James Stewart''. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1988. . * Wagner, Ray. ''American Combat Planes''. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1968. . * Wilson, Stewart. ''Combat Aircraft since 1945.'' London: Aerospace Publications, 2000. . * Winchester, Jim. "Convair B-36". ''Military Aircraft of the Cold War (The Aviation Factfile)''. Rochester, Kent, UK: The Grange plc., 2006. . * Wolk, Herman S. ''Fulcrum of Power: Essays on the United States Air Force and National Security''. Darby, Pennsylvania: Diane Publishing, 2003. . * Yenne, Bill. "Convair B-36 Peacemaker." ''International Air Power Review'', Vol. 13, Summer 2004. London: AirTime Publishing Inc., 2004. .


External links


USAF Museum: XB-36

Documentary about the Convair b-36 Peacemaker

USAF Museum: B-36A

Video of The B-36 from Strategic Air Command. 5:32

"I Flew with the Atomic Bombers"
'' Popular Mechanics'', April 1954, pp. 98–102, 264.
AeroWeb: B-36 versions and survivors


. PBS Online. * ttp://www.zianet.com/tmorris/b36.html ZiaNet: B-36 operations Walker AFB Roswell New Mexico 1955–1957
"I Flew Thirty-One Hours in a B-36"
''Popular Mechanics'', September 1950
''Size 36'', 1950-produced "first public film" on the B-36, in detail

Handbook flight operating instructions : USAF series B-36A aircraft

The Museum of Flight Digital Collections
{{Use dmy dates, date=August 2019 B-36 B-36 Convair B-36 Six-engined pusher aircraft Aircraft with auxiliary jet engines Articles containing video clips Shoulder-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1946 Ten-engined aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear Six-engined piston aircraft