The Convair B-36A in flight.
(USAF)

B-36: Bomber at the Crossroads

It was the biggest warplane ever to wear an American star, and in the summer of '49 the Peacemaker found itself a war--in Washington.

By Daniel Ford
Air & Space Magazine, April 01, 1996

In 1947 the United States Air Force became an independent service, carved from the Army and placed under the control of the newly created National Military Establishment. The new service faced daunting challenges. There was the threat from a new adversary, the Soviet Union. But there were challenges at home as well: from the Navy, which viewed those in the new uniforms as rivals for diminishing defense funds; and from within, as the Air Force struggled to introduce jet-powered aircraft into operational service.

In the spring of 1949, the country got a new secretary of defense: Louis Johnson, a wealthy lawyer, aspiring politician, and former official with the Convair Corporation, which was a longtime supplier of U.S. military aircraft. That last connection, which today would seem a scandal worthy of a special prosecutor, was common at the time. Who knew more about weapons than the men who built them?

When President Harry Truman ordered Johnson to economize, he obliged in April by canceling the 65,000-ton super-carrier United States, the keel of which had been laid only a week before. But the carrier was the linchpin of the Navy's plan to equip itself for the strategic nuclear mission. Carrying aircraft able to deliver atomic bombs to a target 1,000 miles away, the United States would have projected naval air power across the world's oceans, just the mission the Air Force wanted for its land-based bombers. Johnson's order, though only two sentences long, set off an interservice squabble the likes of which the nation had rarely seen.

Relations between the Army and Navy had first soured in the 1920s over which service should defend the U.S. coast, and World War II had only sharpened their rivalry. Now the Navy viewed the postwar creation of the Air Force and the Department of Defense as twin political threats to its primacy as the defender of U.S. shores. The spat that followed cancellation of the United States became known as "the revolt of the admirals," and it pitted the Navy's aircraft carrier against the Air Force's strategic bombing force--more specifically, Convair's monster six-engine bomber, the B-36, which had entered service in the summer of 1948.

Now it was a year later, and matters were coming to a head. The first shot in the battle was fired by Cedric Worth, a civilian assistant to Navy Undersecretary Dan Kimball for "special study and research," as he later described his duties under oath. It came in the form of a nine-page memo for the Navy's internal use (though he admitted giving copies to three members of Congress and to aircraft manufacturer Glenn Martin). The document condemned the B-36 as "an obsolete and unsuccessful aircraft" and charged that the Air Force had acquired it only after Convair had contributed $6.5 million to various Democratic politicians.

The theme was picked up by the Navy League, which spent $500,000 trashing the mega-bomber. (That amount, at least, was the estimate of the rival Air Force Association. If these sums don't seem exciting, consider that in 1949, the minimum wage in the aircraft industry was 50 cents an hour.) The B-36 was described as a "lumbering cow" and a "billion-dollar blunder," and the Navy claimed it had at least three jet fighters that could leave the monster behind at 40,000 feet. The admirals wanted a matchup, but they would never get one.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff told Johnson the test was a bad idea. And the Air Force said it had already demonstrated that fighters couldn't maneuver at that altitude. Simulated B-36 attacks on bases in Florida and California were met by three front-line fighters: a North American F-86A Sabre, a Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star, and a Republic F-84 Thunderjet. Radar picked up the intruder 30 minutes out; the fighters took 26 minutes to climb to 40,000 feet and another two minutes to find the B-36. The fighters were faster than the big bomber, but their wing loading (the ratio of aircraft weight to area of the wings) was so high that they couldn't turn with the bomber without stalling in the thin air. Even if a B-36 were detected and Soviet fighters caught it, the pilot could evade them by making S-turns, said the Air Force.

Of course, the Russians wouldn't have been flying USAF jets, as British engineer Harold Saxon argued in an edition of Aviation Week that appeared in mid-summer. While the Americans valued speed and therefore reduced the span and area of their jets' wings, the British built fighters that could maneuver at stratospheric heights, beginning with the de Havilland Vampire, which had been designed for the first British turbojet engine, and which by 1949 had done "a lot of development flying since 1947 between 50,000 and 60,000 feet," according to Saxon.

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By early June, the battle had moved into the halls of Congress when James Van Zandt, a Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania and captain in the Navy reserve, took up the charges leaked by Worth's memo. On the House floor, Van Zandt demanded an investigation of the "ugly, disturbing reports" that the bomber project would have been canceled a year ago if not for wheeling and dealing by Louis Johnson, other Convair officials, and Stuart Symington, the civilian head of the Air Force.

Symington, in a speech at Brookline, Massachusetts, had summed up the final judgment on the B-36: The bomber could "take off from bases on this continent, penetrate enemy defenses, destroy any major urban industrial area in the world, and return non-stop to the point of take-off." Symington's claim was preposterous, but it was widely believed. So Congress did what it does best: It scheduled hearings. But they were delayed until August, infuriating Van Zandt, and also broadened into a debate about the strategic roles of the Air Force and Navy. During the dramatic proceedings, a browbeaten Cedric Worth was unmasked as the author of the memo that had incited the ruckus and forced to recant everything. "I think I was wrong," he told the committee.

"You made a grave error, did you not?" he was asked.

"Yes."

U.S. bombers had been getting steadily bigger, so the enormity of the B-36 may have seemed part of an American pattern, but the bomber actually owed its immense bulk to a succession of hostile dictators, starting with Adolf Hitler. In the spring of 1941, German troops held most of western Europe and seemed likely to conquer Britain next. The U.S. Army asked airframe builders for an airplane that could take off from American soil, bomb Germany, and fly home.

The most promising design came from Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego, builder of the B-24 Liberator, which was just entering service with U.S. and British air forces. Consolidated proposed a quantum leap over the B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers as well as Boeing's next-generation "very heavy" B-29 Superfortress. The B-36 was to be a mega-bomber, spanning 230 feet from wingtip to wingtip. It would cross the Atlantic, enter German airspace at 300 mph, and drop 10,000 pounds of bombs from 40,000 feet, too high for flak or fighters to trouble it. Impressed, the Army ordered a pair of prototypes on November 15, 1941.

Three weeks later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. suddenly found itself fighting a two-ocean war. The B-36 went on the back burner while Consolidated turned out thousands of its proven Liberators. The B-36 suffered another setback when its facilities were moved to Texas, and yet another when the designers were asked to build a transport based on the bomber.

While Europe was pounded from bases in England, Japan was to be targeted by the Boeing Superfortress flying from China. The Japanese set out to capture the Chinese airfields--and thereby moved the B-36 back to the front burner. From Hawaii, it could bomb Tokyo as it had once been expected to bomb Berlin. In June 1943 the Army asked for 100 copies of the mega-bomber, with the first to arrive in the summer of 1945.

The U.S. Marine Corps moved faster than Convair (Consolidated merged with Vultee in 1943, and the new name was coined then). Shortly after Guam, Saipan, and Tinian were in U.S. hands, the Superforts began their terrible punishment of the Japanese home islands. The Pacific war ended six months earlier than expected--and six days before the rollout of the first B-36, its nose jacked up to lower its tail, which was too tall for the hangar door. It debuted as the Peacemaker, but the name never took, and even today it is better remembered simply as the B-36.

In a country celebrating peace, the prototype would have been the last of the line, but the Soviet Union turned out to be as land-hungry as Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Nonetheless, the U.S. military packed for home in a stand-down so thorough that it was "not a demobilization," as General Leon Johnson noted in a 1954 interview, "it was a rout." The spring of 1946 became a replay of 1941, with a hostile dictator swallowing pieces of Europe and the Americans unable to do anything about it. The "strategic" card--the threat of wholesale destruction by nuclear weapons--seemed the only one that a demobilized, budget-cutting United States could play. But which of the services would play it?

When Congress had created the independent air force in 1947, the new service had been organized around two combat arms: a Tactical Air Command (TAC) to support the ground troops and a Strategic Air Command (SAC) to take the war to the enemy. The Air Force would have a fleet twice the size of the Navy's--24,000 aircraft to 11,500--and only the Air Force would have heavy bombers.

Following the U.S. withdrawal to the continental United States and the emergence of Joseph Stalin's ambitions, SAC's strategic mission was in the ascendant and there was no longer any question who the "enemy" was. By happenstance, the long-distance payload of the B-36 equalled the weight of one atomic bomb--roughly 10,000 pounds--and its combat radius equalled the great-circle route from Maine to Leningrad. Pending the arrival of its new $5.7-million-dollar baby, SAC made do with 160 veteran B-29 Superforts, and it was these aircraft that answered the call to deploy to European bases when the Russians shut off ground access to Berlin in the summer of 1948.

It was a colossal bluff. In all of SAC, only 27 Superforts had the "Silver Plate" modifications needed to carry an atomic bomb, and these were all assigned to the 509th Bomb Group, which stayed home. As for bombs, the U.S. "stockpile" contained exactly 13, controlled by the Atomic Energy Commission, and President Harry Truman refused to say if he'd ever release them to the military. Even if he had given the order to launch an attack, the 509th would have needed five days to pack up, fly to an AEC depot, load the nukes, and move overseas.

Perhaps the reality of the situation didn't matter to the Soviets. As they demonstrated again and again during the cold war, their pattern was to push until they met a determined response, then back off and wait for the next opportunity. They could easily have prevented an airlift by jamming U.S. radio beacons, but they didn't. And when General Curtis LeMay, to everyone's astonishment, fed and heated Berlin by air, the Russians quietly reopened land routes in the spring of 1949. The blockade succeeded only in burnishing LeMay's reputation, heightening American fear of Russia, and confirming the belief that the B-36 was America's best hope to contain Communism.

In June 1948, Convair delivered the first operational B-36A to SAC's 7th Bomb Group at Carswell Air Force Base, across the runway from its Fort Worth plant. Big as the B-29 Superfort was, it could nearly fit beneath one wing of a B-36. Despite the difference in size, the two airplanes had similar vertical tails, and they had slim fuselages, like cigarettes, round in cross-section, with two pressurized crew cabins separated by two bomb bays and connected by a tunnel.

But the wings were different. The Superfort's were thin, straight, and glider-like, while the B-36's wings were more than seven feet thick at the root, enough for a crewman to crawl in and reach the engines or the landing gear in flight. The wings were tapered, with the leading edges swept back, and the effect of that, combined with the wings' location so far back on the fuselage, made the airplane appear out of balance. Strangest of all, the B-36's six Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major engines were faired into the trailing edges, with the propellers located aft in the pusher configuration. Although it was supposed to reduce the propeller swirl's turbulence over the wing, the pusher design was rarely used on U.S. aircraft. Apparently it worked, though, because the B-36 had very low drag. The main drawback was that air for cooling the engines was ducted from intakes in the leading edge of the wing, and there was never enough of it, especially at high altitude.

The propellers were 19 feet in diameter, and to keep the tips from going supersonic they were geared to turn less than half as fast as the engines. The engines and propellers produced an unforgettable throbbing sound when the B-36 flew overhead. A friend of mine remembers the sound from his boyhood as a "captivating drone. The noise went down to your heels, it was so resonant. It just stopped you in your tracks. You looked up into the sky to try to find this thing, and it was just a tiny cross, it was so high." Others remember that it rattled windows on the ground from 40,000 feet.

The airplane's most eye-catching feature was the Plexiglas canopy that enclosed a flight deck, which, while ample for a crew of four, seemed small on such a whale of a plane. A dome below the nose housed a radar antenna, and two transparent blisters allowed the crew to aim the guns and observe any mechanical breakdowns. The effect was a face like a prairie dog's peering from a burrow, with the flight deck for eyes, the scanning blisters for ears, and the radome for tucked-up paws.

The ailerons, flaps, rudder, and elevators had a combined total surface area greater than both wings of a B-24. The pilot's control input moved a trim tab in the opposite direction, forcing the control surface in the desired direction. Two flight engineers monitored the six 4,360-cubic-inch engines, each with four rows of seven cylinders, a configuration that earned the nickname "corncob." The bombardier, navigator, radioman, and gunners brought the population of the forward cabin to 10.

You could visit the aft cabin by lying supine on a wheeled cart and pulling yourself along an overhead rope through a tunnel 85 feet long and two feet in diameter. The cart also served as a dumbwaiter, sending hot entrees from the galley to the forward cabin. The aft compartment accommodated five men and was equipped with bunks, an electric range, and the world's smallest urinal, which had to be voided to the outside at intervals. B-36 veterans like to tell the story of the new captain who came aft to relieve himself but didn't ask for instructions and, as a result, peed on his boots.

Later models had larger crews, up to 22 in reconnaissance versions. And everyone had a job to do--two jobs, in the case of the gunners. It took the ground crew six hours to prepare the bomber for a mission, and the flight crew needed another hour for a preflight check involving 600 steps, beginning with climbing the landing gear and removing the clamps that kept the gear from folding accidentally.

The B-36A couldn't fight--the electrically operated cannon were so trouble-prone they were simply eliminated--much less scramble to retaliate, and it ended up becoming little more than a crew trainer. Twenty-two were delivered, each virtually handmade, and "so flimsily built," says Jim Little, who served on one after it was converted to an RB-36E, "that the upper wing skin would actually pull loose from the wing ribs." Sometimes, Little recalls in the book RB-36 Days at Rapid City, "you would meet [the plane] with a crew of 30 or 40 sheet metal men."

The propellers were reversible for braking on landing, but sometimes they reversed in flight or while the airplane was straining to take off--at least once with fatal consequences. The stainless steel firewalls enclosing the engines cracked. The cylinders overheated. Lead in the gasoline fouled the spark plugs at cruising speed. Each airplane had 336 spark plugs, and after a flight lasting a day and a half, a mechanic would have to haul a bucket of replacement plugs to the airplane to service all six engines. The engines leaked oil, and sometimes a flight engineer had to shut one down because it had exhausted its allotment of 150 gallons.

Then there was the "wet wing." The outboard fuel tanks were formed by the wing panels and sealed at the junctions, and after the wing flexed for a few hundred hours the sealant was apt to fail. Jim Little recalls that one airplane leaked so badly "the ground underneath was just purple [from the dye in the high-octane gasoline]--it was raining fuel under that airplane."

Pilot opinion of the B-36 tended to run to the extremes, but most crew members loved it--"this big, wonderful old bird," Jim Edmundson calls it. As a colonel in the early 1950s, Edmundson commanded a B-36 group at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Washington. But even he admitted that the airplane could be a chore for its pilot--"like sitting on your front porch and flying your house around."

Of course most of the pilots were young and eager, and the older men had flown worse contraptions during the war. "It was a noisy airplane; it was big," former radioman/gunner Raleigh Watson recalled at a B-36 reunion at the Castle Air Museum in Atwater, California last September, "but it was comfortable, and I think we felt it was a safe airplane, a very well-built airplane." Moxie Shirley, a pilot with more than a thousand hours in the B-36, loved the airplane, declaring that it "kept the Russians off our backs." But he went on to add, "Every crew that ever flew that airplane had stories that would make your hair stand on end."

Ed Griemsmann expressed another view in Thundering Peacemaker: "A horrible, lazy beast to fly," he told the book's author. Griemsmann survived a fiery crash in 1956. Most B-36 crashes were fiery because of the magnesium used in its construction. Rather than fly another, he said, he'd join the infantry.

If the B-36A was ineffective, the Strategic Air Command was little better. Its first commander, General George Kenney, didn't believe in the B-36, arguing in 1947 that the bomber was too slow to survive over enemy territory, with engines and an airframe that couldn't withstand an 8,000-mile flight. Kenney urged the Air Force to put its money into bombers that could fly at the speed of sound, even if that meant depending on overseas bases.

Kenney was right, of course. But at the time, his advice seemed disloyal, and he compounded the offense by letting his deputy run SAC while he himself campaigned for the top job in the Air Force. Not long after the first B-36A arrived, Kenney was fired. SAC's new commander was General Curtis LeMay, the pudgy, ferocious, cigar-smoking general famed for his B-29 tactics in the Pacific and for the more recent and successful Berlin airlift.

"We didn't have one crew, not one crew, in the entire command who could do a professional job," LeMay wrote of the SAC he inherited. He challenged his crews to stage a practice bomb raid on Dayton, Ohio, from 30,000 feet, using photographs taken in 1941--the best they'd have for the Soviet Union. (All SAC had were captured photographs the Germans had taken during the occupation of western Russia. Of the country beyond Moscow, there were no photographs available at all.) After the fiasco that ensued, LeMay whipped the crews into shape. He moved the best people from other groups to make the nuclear-capable 509th combat-ready, then did the same for the next most promising group.

By the fall of 1948 an improved B-36B had arrived, armed with pairs of 20-millimeter guns in the nose and tail, and six turrets that opened out like flowers in a slow-motion film; the gunners aimed from remote blisters. On December 7, the seventh anniversary of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, Lieutenant Colonel John Bartlett took off in a B-36 from Carswell Air Force Base in Texas, flew to Hawaii, dropped a 10,000-pound dummy bomb, and returned without being spotted on the island's radar. LeMay must have bitten through his cigar when he got the news. If he could reach Hawaii from Texas, he could hit the Soviet Union from Maine. And if he could figure out how to operate the B-36 in the cold of Alaska, all of Siberia would fall under its shadow.

The B model also had the "Grand Slam" modifications needed for carrying a hydrogen bomb, which was 30 feet long and weighed 43,000 pounds and had been created in such secrecy that Convair didn't have the dimensions in time for the A models.

The B-36B was the last true reciprocating-engine bomber in the U.S. strategic bomber force. In hindsight, it seems obvious that the mega-bomber should have been jet-powered from the start. But the turbojet had been developed during World War II for fast-climbing, high-flying interceptors, and they gulped fuel at a prodigious rate. Nobody dreamed they could cross an ocean. Two developments changed everything: a new generation of twin-spool turbojets with markedly improved fuel consumption and, more significantly, the advent of inflight refueling. By 1949, Boeing's B-47 Stratojet was entering production, and the B-52 Stratofortress, an intercontinental giant, was making progress on paper.

Even before the uproar started in Congress in the summer of '49, the Air Force was apparently worried about the vulnerability of the B-36, and as an interim measure asked Convair to hang a pair of jet pods near the B-36's wingtips. By March, a B-36B had flown with four Allison J35s installed. On the production versions that emerged in July, each pod housed two General Electric J-47-GE-19s modified to run on gasoline--tiny compared to the Wasp Majors, but effectively doubling the airplane's installed horsepower. The jets were employed for takeoff, climbing to extreme altitudes, and dashing across hostile territory. With "six turning and four burning," as the saying went, a B-36 could finally top 400 mph. But fighter jockeys were flirting with the sound barrier in their North American F-86 Sabre jets, and whatever the Americans deployed--nukes, missiles, supersonic jets--the Russians matched, beginning with copies and sometimes ending with improved weapons.

For the benefit of Congress, the Air Force then released what Aviation Week described as "sensational new performance figures" on the jet-assisted B-36D: 435-mph top speed, 50,000-foot ceiling, range of up to 12,000 miles. LeMay added his personal pledge: "I believe we can get the B-36 over a target and not have the enemy know it is there until the bombs hit."

Even George Kenney came out of exile from his post as commander of the officer training center, Air University, to praise the airplane. "The B-36 went higher, faster, and farther than anybody thought it would," he said, "and the pilots liked it. It was a lucky freak." However, Kenney guessed that both the U.S. Navy Banshee and the Royal Air Force Vampire could intercept the B-36 in daylight; he recommended that it be used only on night raids.

On September 5, Aviation Week reported "Symington and Defense Chiefs Exonerated," as the House Armed Services Committee gave a clean bill of health to Johnson, Symington, the Air Force, and Convair. There wasn't "one iota, not one scintilla, of evidence...that would support charges or insinuations that collusion, fraud, corruption, influence, or favoritism played any part whatsoever in the procurement of the B-36 bomber," the committee concluded. Even Congressman Van Zandt voted for the absolving resolution.

At 4 a.m. local time on June 25, 1950, North Korean troops stormed across the 38th parallel. In November they were joined by Chinese "volunteers." These developments marked the end of President Truman's defense economy drive. First Germany, then Japan, then Russia, and now events in Korea had succeeded in advancing the cause of the B-36. Suddenly plenty of money was available for mega-bombers, and for super-carriers as well.

The Korean war produced another milestone for SAC: Truman released nine atomic bombs to the military. They probably didn't leave the country, but the B-36 did, flying from Texas to airfields in Britain and Morocco in the spring and fall of 1951. Only six airplanes were involved and their visits were short, but the message couldn't have escaped Moscow's attention. However briefly, the capital and most of the territory of the Soviet Union had come within the combat radius of the B-36.

Altogether, 1951 was a good year for mega-bombers. Margaret Bourke-White rhapsodized over the B-36 in a photo-essay for Life magazine, with photographs taken at 41,000 feet, where the sky "was a color such as I've never seen, the darkest blue imaginable, yet luminous like the hottest cobalt, too brilliant for the eyes to bear." She photographed fluffy white contrails streaming from the reciprocating engines, a 55-foot scaffold used to repair the rudder, and (from both ends) the marvelous flying boom that refueled bombers in flight.

An alert reader might have noted some oddities in Bourke-White's essay. The bomber being refueled was a Superfort, not a B-36, none of which was ever equipped for inflight refueling. She rode in a B-47, its raked tail clearly visible in one photograph. And the accompanying map depicted a Soviet Union surrounded by small bombers based in Alaska, Canada, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Japan: the Peacemaker hunkered at home.

But if Superforts were on the Russian border, and if midair refueling allowed them to fly indefinitely, and with the Stratojet coming on line, why bother with the B-36? The jet pods had added so much weight and gobbled so much fuel that the combat radius had dropped first to 3,525 miles, then to 3,110. What was LeMay planning? From Maine, South Dakota, and Washington, the B-36 could barely scratch the edges of the Soviet empire, and even at those bases it faced hard sledding in the winter. At Rapid City, mechanics had to build a repair dock with sliding doors and cutouts for the fuselage so they could work on the engines while the tail stayed out in the snow. There were SAC bases in Alaska and Greenland, but the climate was so forbidding that LeMay never stationed any B-36s there. The Arctic airfields were used as staging points, with the bombers returning to the south 48 after each mission. Another ploy was the shuttle mission, with a takeoff from Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Washington. After bombing Irkutsk, in central Siberia, the bombers would have refueled at Okinawa before returning home.

But to do any real damage, LeMay had to launch it from an overseas base or order a one-way mission. He would have scoffed at this latter-day quarterbacking, of course. "The B-36 was often called an interim bomber," he wrote in his memoir, Mission With LeMay. "For my dough, every bomber which ever has been or ever will be is an interim bomber." He had a point: at the time, SAC even considered the B-52 nothing more than a fill-in for the supersonic B-70.

LeMay may have been loyal to his hardware, but there were signs that General Kenney wasn't alone in his initial doubts about the B-36. One scheme would have equipped it with a pilotless drone to fight off enemy interceptors. Then the Air Force experimented with a manned parasite--the XF-85 Goblin--which would ride to war in a bomb bay. Still later, Republic adapted its F-84 to snuggle into the belly of the beast. By 1953 this last concept had changed from one of defending the B-36 to replacing it: The mother plane would linger offshore while the Thunderjet dashed in to take photographs or drop a bomb.

Finally, in 1955, Convair took a different approach, stripping the mega-bomber to the essentials. Just as LeMay had gambled his B-29s in 1945, sending them low and fast over Tokyo armed only with tail guns, SAC got a "featherweight" B-36 with only two guns, a smaller crew, no stove or other luxuries, and, in the bargain, a longer range. Many of the earlier models were modified to the new standard, especially the reconnaissance versions. Indeed, it's possible that LeMay's fondness for the B-36 may have had less to do with its potential as a bomber than its value as a spyplane. SAC ended up with 369 of the jet-recip hybrids, including modified versions, and more than a third were reconnaissance bombers. The RB-36 could carry an atomic bomb, but its principal weapon was a camera the size of a Geo Metro, set in a photo studio that replaced the forward bomb bay. Loaded with a roll of film 18 inches wide and 1,000 feet long, this great camera once photographed a golf course from 40,000 feet, and in the contact print, on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, an actual golf ball can be seen. If an RB-36 could see a golf ball from eight miles up, it could see tanks, airplanes, missiles, and factories. Surely this was the task that LeMay saw for the Peacemaker: With its enormous wings and extra fuel, who knows how high and how far it could fly? B-36 crews speak of 45-hour missions, presumably with fuel cells instead of nukes in the rear bomb bays; at cruise speed, a "featherweight" could travel almost 9,000 miles in that period. The official ceiling was 41,300 feet, but again, crews say that they routinely flew higher than 50,000 feet, and one man--John McCoy, quoted in Thundering Peacemaker--boasted of soaring to 58,000 feet. On missions over China, McCoy said, his RB-36 was chased by MiG fighters that couldn't climb anywhere near it. U.S. fighter pilots of that period also recall B-36s cruising comfortably well above their own maximum altitude. Not until the advent of the "century series" fighters--the F-100 and up--would the B-36 be challenged. Whether the RB-36 ever overflew Russia is anyone's guess, but it was the U.S. altitude and distance champ until the Lockheed U-2 came on line toward the end of the decade.

In the end, the B-36 turned out to be a place holder for the B-52 Stratofortress. Convair attempted to stave off Boeing's intercontinental jet bomber with the YB-60, which premiered as the YB-36G, with eight jets, a five-man crew, completely redesigned swept wings, a speed of 508 mph, and a 2,920-mile combat radius--in short, a knock-off that was inferior in every respect to its competitor. Boeing's bombers had the advantage of having been designed for jet power from the start. The Air Force didn't even bother to supply engines for the second YB-60 prototype.

Though obsolescent, the B-36 still had some momentum. Before descending into retirement, it made its first overseas deployment with a USAF unit in 1955, to Britain and Guam. In the same year, it starred in a Hollywood epic, Strategic Air Command--though in Jimmy Stewart's final scene with Frank Lovejoy, who played the LeMay-like general, a model of an early B-52 can be seen on the general's desk. The B-36 remained in the inventory for four more years, while the new Stratofortress was being tweaked to its full potential.

The B-36 was nowhere near as durable as the B-52 would prove to be, but it did the work asked of it. And eventually, the inter-service rivalry that led to the Congressional eruption over the big bomber's strategic mission died down, with the Navy's missile-submarine fleet garnering a permanent place in the strategic "triad" along with bombers and land-based missiles. Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the Peacemaker is that it lived up to its name. The B-36 never went to war, never dropped a bomb in anger, nor (so far as we know) even fired its cannon at an enemy airplane. Created at a time when the atomic bomb redefined strategic air power and the turbojet redefined performance, its career spanned the crossroads that divided two eras.

Author Daniel Ford wrote about the last B-29 raid of World War II in the Aug./Sept. 1995 issue.

Comments

I worked under Jim Little at Ellsworth AFB in 1951 -53 working in engine build-up and tear-down. OJT as engine mechanic out of basic training. I met him at our Airforce Renions at Ellsworth AFB in Rapid City S.D.

Posted by Donald A Guertin on February 21,2009 | 01:14PM

This was an excellent presentation. There is a good bit of information that I have seen here for the first time and significant points that I have never heard expressed in print. General LeMay's contention that the RB-36 would have made a better and more significant recon platform than the "B" model made as a weapons truck. I flew as #1 ECM Officer on the crew we were assembling to crew a new "H" version just in from the factory in Ft. Worth. I think that the B-36 was the "Big-Stick" that kept the Russians on their side of the pond during the Cold War. Their big stick didn't give them the "Feeling" that ours did. I was active duty until about the middle of 1953 and gave it up, having done a year in Berlin (Tempelhof) in the Big One until just before the Air Lift began and college started. I was 1/Lt, in 31st SRSq, 5th Strat Recon Wg (H) at Travis AFB in my B-36 Days. (Posted by Myron J. Sasser)

Posted by Myron J. Sasser P.E. on March 21,2009 | 07:08PM

There was a B-36 "static" on what was, I think, Greater Southwest Airport - the airfield just south of where DFW was being built - in the '70s. It was maintained by retired USAF people. Where did it go?

Posted by Ed Rousselot on March 25,2009 | 06:55AM

IN 1959 I LIVED AT THE AIR FORCE BASE IN TEXAS MY FATHER WAS IN THE AIR FORCE AND HAVE A PICTURE OF ME STANDING IN FRONT OF AIRCRAFT CALLED CX-99 WITH ENGINES IN REAR OF THE PLANE. WAS THAT PLANE LATER CALLED THE B-36?. Editors' reply: We are unaware of any aircraft called the CX-99.

Posted by GARY G. HACKBARTH on April 4,2009 | 01:17PM

Mr. Hackbarth is referring to the XC-99, the one-and-only experimental transport version of the B-36, which sat for years at Kelly Air Force Base. It has been transported to the Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson AFB for restoration. http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/exhibits/restoration/index.asp EDITORS' REPLY: Thanks for the information.

Posted by Mike Meier on April 6,2009 | 01:47PM

During the early to mid-1950's,when the B-36 was in it's heyday, I lived in the Minneapolis area. The nearest SAC base that had the B-36's was Ellsworth I think. Because the base was several hundred miles away, when the big bombers came over the house, the were at or near full altitude, which made them invisible. However I could see the vapor trail, and hear that unmistakable sound that distinguished the B-36 from all other aircraft. Since they flew rather slow, I had plenty of time to go in the house and get my telescope. I would sweep the sky, pick up the vapor trail and follow it to the plane. At 60x I could see a fair amount of detail though the plane was about 9 miles high! Of course because they flew slow, I had several minutes to enjoy the view. Two questions: 1) Is there any B-36 crew out there who flew missions over the Twin Cities in the 1952-55 time period? If so, I would like to hear from you. 2) Does anyone know if (or when) any of the four surviving B-36's will ever be restored to flying condition? That would be nothing short of awesome!!

Posted by mike dickinson on April 6,2009 | 04:22PM

I remember going to my grandmother's house in San Antonio in the early fifties. Usually I was just bored. However, she lived near Lackland AFB and every now and then a B 36 would take off. I would run outside as fast as I could to try to catch a glimpse of these monsters. The sound of those huge engines roaring was something I have never forgotten, even after fifty-five years. The only sound that could come close was "The Green Monster" an airplane powered dragster of the 50's built and driven by Art Arfons. Long live the B-36!

Posted by gary givens on April 19,2009 | 11:29AM

I think of the B-36 as a flying coffin. The engines were unreliable. What was worse was the gunlaying System made by General Electric. The gunners could not move the guns rapidly (i.e. slew) without blowing the fuses in the electronic control box. Often times we cranked in the turrets by hand because the fuses were blown To keep the Select status and their spot promotions one gunner threw his 20 mm ammunition overboard because his guns would not fire.That way he had the appearance of a good percentage of rounds fired. He came to work the next day with bandages on his frozen fingers from handling the extremely cold ammunition. Gunner 42 Bomb Squadron Carswell AFB

Posted by John Bohney on April 21,2009 | 01:40PM

A superb effort. My AF career started with the advent of the B-47 at nearby Lincoln AFB. Don't remember ever seeing a B36 in flight. My career ended in 1989. Thanks very much. John L Parker

Posted by John L Parker on April 25,2009 | 08:23AM

There is a B-36 on display at the Castle AFB (now a muny field) in Merced Ca. You can walk around and under it looking into the bomb bays.

Posted by van ellis on April 26,2009 | 06:48PM

I was an Acrft.Comdr. in the RB-36 and the B-36 with over 4000 hours I can tell many stories of the MOST over POWERED Aircraft I have ever flown. I will correspond with any one that has a Devoted interest in the History of the BIG BIRD. I can be reached by cell phone 318 347 3231 only serious inquries will be honored.

Posted by JEROME KIMMINAU on April 29,2009 | 05:25PM

Offutt AFB had a B-36 at the museum near the wherry housing area. Does anyone know what happened to it?

Posted by Stephen Anderson on May 1,2009 | 04:15PM

Iflew with Maj.Clarence Lamping out of Ellsworth AFB during the 50's. We crashed one on the runway at Roswell, N.M. on February 18th,1953. The entire crew walked away from it. Amazing!! The following month Col.Richard Ellsworth and his entire crew perished in Newfoundland. I can be reached by cell phone 401-556-8539. Only those who are serious should call me.

Posted by Zacharias P. Rouvelas on May 2,2009 | 08:25AM

agreat american plane I was living in Butte Montana 1953=1956 I use to watch the B-36 fly above and always wanted to be a Air force engineer that worked on those 28 piston engines. They brag about the planes of today and look at the engineering that went into these wonderful air planes i guess i was born too late I just have a love affair with greatest bomber ever made the B-36 love machine..........

Posted by bob goodheart on May 4,2009 | 05:53PM

I am currently working on some material for a book i am planning on publishing regarding the plane crash of Mar.18, 1953 that took the life of Brig. General Richard Ellsworth and his crew. I have noticed that a lot of comments are from crew members that actually flew or worked on those huge planes and it for that reason I would like some first hand information. Any kind of material will be good whether it be a story, stats, maintenance on the plane, gunners and their duties and roles, near misses and possibly some info. on the night of the crash of this plane. Perhaps you may have known someone who had flown over the Atlantic Ocean that very same night that this plane went down; for I believe that there were 18 planes that crossed the same night. Anyone reading this material and would like to share some info. with me it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and hope some of you will respond to keep this story going as a memorial to the people that gave their lives that night. Thank you, Tom

Posted by Tom Drodge on May 11,2009 | 01:44PM

As a young aircraft spotter in England in the 1950's I was lucky to be around when a wing of B36's visited the USAF base at Burtonwood in NW England. They droned around my home town for several hours waiting their turn to land at the base which was one of the busiest in Europe at that time. Later the same year on US Armed Forces Day we kids were allowed to have a close up look at one of the aircraft. We also got to try popcorn and Coca Cola for the first time. Most USAF aircraft transitting from the States to Europe used Burtonwood and I must have seen almost all types in service at one time or another but the B36 was special - a real 'Aluminium Overcast' Another rare bird was a resident WB50 Weather recce plane

Posted by Derek Blay on May 12,2009 | 01:44AM

In regards to the B-36 at Greater Southwest airport, it is now being restored for viewing at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. There used to be a B-36 that had been cut into sections in the junk yard at NM Tech, in Sorcorro, NM, it was all there except the nose section, which was in Calif. We had the idea, for awhile, of displaying a section of B-36 and B-29 side by side. Sort of the pencil and the beer can. I grew up in Watsonville, Ca, not far from Travis AFB, and used to see/hear the -36's often. I ended up at Little Rock AFB, flying KC-97's, and many of our crew members were ex-B-36 crew, and had some amazing tales about that bird. When I finished basic twin engine school at Reese in B-25's, I satayed there awhile and ferried -25's to the boneyard, and put them into long term storage, while, at the sme time, they were taking the engines and some other stuff out of the incoming -36's, and chopping them up and into the smelters. I always though that there was something wrong with that picture. Also, FYI, the best kept aviation secret in Kentucky is the Aviation Museum in Lexinton at the airport. aviationky.org

Posted by Don Sproule on May 12,2009 | 05:00PM

I was a crew nember on Capt. Lou Mallory crew at Walker AFB in Roswell New Mexico From 1953 until June 11 i955. If any of my old crew is alive and kicking I would like to hear from you. Ralph Johnson

Posted by Ralph c. Johnson on May 16,2009 | 08:40AM

Regarding GARY G. HACKBARTH post... There was an aircraft called the CX-99. My grandfather worked on it in San Diego... Convair in late 1940's. It was in their Experimental Dept., and I'm told it was so large that final assembly had to be performed NOT in the factory.... but outside in the yard behind "Experimental." My grandfather, prior to working on the CX-99, worked in the Wing Department of Convair, and worked on the 240, 340, and 440 airliners. He also spent the better part of a year in Fort Worth, Texas (away from his family) working on the XB-36. So... given your description, and the fact my grandfather worked on both projects with Convair... I'd say it's highly probable that the CX-99 is an experimental commercial airliner version of the B-36 bomber.

Posted by Jim Strachan on May 18,2009 | 11:35AM

The aircraft in question was the XC-99, a cargo version of the B-36. It was a double-deck freighter, that used elevators to lift cargo into the plane. It too had the pusher-type engines, but was never equipped with the additional jet engines. Only one model was produced, and was flown often, and was eventually placed on static display just outside Kelly AFB, Texas. I saw the plane when I was in Basic Training, in 1972. In the 90's, the Air Force re-instated control over the XC-99, had it dis-assembled, and shipped to Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio, for re-build for display in the Air Force Museum, with it's sister aircraft, the B-36. The only unfortunate thing about this is that there is no existing example of a YB-60 to complete the Convair display. If you go to the Air Force Museum web site, you can get detailed information on the B-36, XC-99, and the YB-60, as well as every aircraft, rocket, and missile that the USAF has ever planned and operated.

Posted by John D.C. Bacon on May 21,2009 | 09:57PM

I was at Ft. Bliss, Texas in 1959 and saw the last operational B-36 take off from Biggs AFB and fly south over the Rio Grand. The B-36 made a monsterous noise on take-off and would rattle windows at Ft. Bliss. A few weeks (or months) later I saw the first B-52 fly into Biggs AFB. I remember the XB-52 from a science newspaper when I was in the eighth grade in the fall of 1951 Dal Wolf. Auburn, In.

Posted by Dal Wolf on May 24,2009 | 09:11AM

The first time I ever saw the B-36 was in 1958, I was playing baseball and I looked up and there she was the ground vibrated from those six engines. The sound of that aircraft flying overhead, was something I have never forgot. Watching that B-36 fly over, started my life-long interest in Aviation.

Posted by William D. De Nomie on May 26,2009 | 06:03PM

As a member of USAF Pilot Training class 56-D,I was with i a number of my classmates getting pre flight orienation at Lackland AFB in October 1954. My room mate had a friend or relative,an Air Force Captain from Kelly AFB, who had a position that dealt with the cargo loading of the XC99. The aircraft had two decks and was equipped with an elevator to facilate loading cargo. At that time the air craft was mainly flying between Kelly and Mclelland(sp) AFB in California .We could hear that familiar drone of those six 4360's and several times would see it it flying over our base.WE managed to get a few camera shots of it.As others have commented,it was one of a kind. a very unique and interesting aircraft.

Posted by Richard A Korfhage on May 26,2009 | 06:30PM

Crew chief on the Repuplic RF-84F(S.A.C.) Our aircraft practiced hook-up's with the KRB-36 in 1954/55.

Posted by Herb Hoser on May 31,2009 | 11:44AM

Anyone know about any B36 reconn missions over Soviet territory during 1947 - 1950? Anyone fly on any of these probably still classified missions?

Posted by R.L. Herbst, Jr. on June 1,2009 | 09:33PM

Ladies and Gentlemen Although I am nearly 55years old the last time I saw a B-36 ,in flight was at the airport,also known as lindberg field which back a bit before my time was being made right in my hometown of San Diego,CA. I saw an awesome sight fly right over the house and it was loud and noisy of course I had no idea what this thing was until years later when I saw the 1955 hollywood film with,the late Jimmy Stewart in strategic air command.This is a well documented film of this enourmous bomber the B-36. Our nation needs to bring these old bombers back in flying condition,especially both the B-36 and lets never forget the first jet bomber the B-47.if you gentlemen could persuade the historical aircraft preservation society to get the needed funds for these 2 great bombers then I am throwing in my support too,Just think to see a B36 or even a B 47 flying over san diego california would bring tears to every older pilots eyes that actually flew them and it would draw immense crowds everywhere even at miramar MCAS. So lets aim high and sing the song WILD BLUE YONDER USAF.

Posted by john jusko on June 6,2009 | 02:40PM

Back in 1954 I was a co-navigator on a B-36 assigned to the 95th BW at El Paso Tx [Biggs AFB]. Later I went to pilot training--have my wings and flew for another 16 years in various 2 engine aircraft. To this day I still wear my B-36 base ball cap--I am proud of the memories of the B-36 and the men I flew with. I call MY old home [we flew 24 hour training mossions] the HUMMER.

Posted by Tom Saunderson on June 12,2009 | 11:04AM

My father was an engineer for Convair and was employed at their plant beside Carswell AFB at Fort Worth, TX in the 50's. We lived barely a mile from the runway. I can so well remember the majestic flight of those B-36's. I've always loved planes and aviation, but the memory of that big, beautiful (to me) brute of a bomber overflying us is still my fondest aviation memory.

Posted by Clint Rose on June 21,2009 | 09:02AM

"In regards to the B-36 at Greater Southwest airport, it is now being restored for viewing at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson." < Last summer I drove out there to see it. They had it's wings back on and the jet nacelles were painted and sitting beside it. The reciprocating nacelles were empty, but it was obvious someone there wanted to love it. It was the ship dubbed "The City of Fort Worth," but Fort Worth didn't take very good care of it, and after 50 years of beating it up, the USAF got put out with them and gave it to Pima. I was delighted to see it go, because Lockheed bought the bomber plant and ordered it disassembled and put into storage. It's next stop, for a very long time, appeared to be your local Coors bottler.

Posted by Arnold Ziffel on June 21,2009 | 05:05PM

I was stationed at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa in 1952-53 With the 19th Bomb Group. Just before the end of the Korean War we received thousands of B-36 Mantainance men, parts, engines, and necessary equipment. A few days later the B-36's started arriving to land at Kadena, we were told it was supposed to be all the B-36s that would fly, seemed like hundreds of them. I watched them come in all day long, some with 2 & 3 engines feathered. The crews made needed repairs, got them flight worthy again and one day they took off for a flight over Korea. It was called a "Max Effort Show of force" They were joined by all B-29s we could get in the air. All planes flew over Korea, returned to Okinawa, then went home. I have tried to research this event for some personal facts but have been told by Air Force Archives that the mission did not happen. Anyone out there have any memory of this Event???

Posted by Art Wilson on June 22,2009 | 09:51AM

I grew up in Dallas in the 50s and vividly recall B-36s flying from Carswell AFB over to Love Field to shoot practice instrument approaches (the never landed of course). We lived under the final approach course for runway 13L at Love and when my mother heard the distinctive roar of those R3350s coming she would frantically run around the house and take all the pictures and dishes off the walls because she knew from experience when B-36s flew over it would shake them all loose for a quick drop to the floor! and we were 3-4 miles from the runway! Later, when I went to work flying for a Dallas-based airline, I never tired of hearing the stories of former USAF pilots who flew and crewed B-36s. One chap told me of slimbing out into the wing for a repair at altitude. Then there were the very special times when Dad would announce a trip to Ft. Worth for an airshow or open house at Carswell. I was fortunate to have watched the B-36 give way to the B-58 Hustler - - and the 'official' rainy day ceremony when the B-36s were retired and B-52s took over - - all right there in my backyard at Carswell. Great, great memories. A brisk salute to all were involved with the Peacemaker. Terry Morgan

Posted by Terry Morgan on June 28,2009 | 08:42AM

Whoa! I stand corrected. Not 3350s - - rather 4360s. (see previous) Apologies. Terry Morgan

Posted by Terry Morgan on June 30,2009 | 05:17AM

I was at Ramey AFB when the last RB-36 left - it was my understanding it was the end of the 36 we were the last base to convert to the B-52 - this was 1959

Posted by Ted Sampson on July 2,2009 | 09:16PM

There was an inquiry about the B-36 that used to be at Offutt AFB. I don't know if it's the same plane, but the Strategic Air & Space Museum at Ashland, Nebraska now houses a B-36 among many other aircraft. It's well worth a visit. Alternately, Google up the museum and have a look at their website - the B-36 appears on there.

Posted by Jason Quick on July 14,2009 | 01:15AM

I was an enlisted Tactical Instructor (TI) at Chanute Field in 1962-64 (54 Sqdn). A B-36 was flown in for ground display in either '63 or '64. One night a violent storm caused the aircraft to sit on its tail. Weird sight. Anybody know where that airplane is now? Major W. Tiley, USAF/Ret.

Posted by Bill Tiley on July 14,2009 | 03:42PM

I was a militar dependant at Chanute from 1981-1985 and I used to bike over to the b-36 and flightline to see the aircraft. The B-36 that was at Chanute AFB is number 51-13730, a B-36H and is currently at Castle Air Museum in Atwater California. It is on displayed outside. This aircraft was somwhat different than most as its fuselage was damaged by the storm. As a result the damaged section was removed. The section removed was something like 8 feet lin length.

Posted by Steven Schammel on July 17,2009 | 09:34AM

I grew up near Lambert Field in the north St. Louis suburb of Florissant, MO. Our home was on the extended centerline for Runway 24. My Dad had been a pilot during WW ll and consequently, my two older brothers and I all grew up to be pilots. Even during our childhood days, we knew and loved airplanes! In the late '50's or maybe around 1960, the newspapers said that B-36's were going to stage a series of simulated nuclear attacks on the city of St. Louis over a period of several days. All would be flown in the middle of the night and from 40,000 feet. I will never forget, as a 10 year old, waking up to that deep, low pitched rumble from those 6 R-4360's that vibrated my window panes. I could even feel the incredible low frequency vibrations in my chest! That sound was terrifying and at the same time thrilling. There was some sort of scoring system for the imaginary bombs they dropped for several nights in a row but I don't know the results. I was fortunate to fly radial engine airplanes for 5 years of my 43 year career as a pilot and loved them!! The Pratt & Whitney engines on my Boeing 767 today produce awesome thrust, never fail, don't leak oil and only smoke when started cold, but they don't have the soul and character of a radial engine, especially ones with 28 cylinders! If anyone knows anything about the missions I have spoken about, please call me at 908-730-8521. Joel Turpin, aviation historian

Posted by Joel Turpin on July 17,2009 | 08:17PM

Best article I have read on the B-36, even if it may have showed a slight bias against the bird. I noted only two errors: the reference to "two bomb bays," when there were actually four, with two sets of doors. The other was the remark that the first deployments were made in 1955. They were deployed to places like North Africa from Carswell AFB years before that. I was there 1951-1957, except for an 11-month break in 1954-5 and went TDY to Nouasseur, French Morocco, in 1952 or 1953 (or perhaps both, memory isn't that good), and I am fairly sure that wasn't the first time it was done.

Posted by Ralph Simonton on July 23,2009 | 06:16PM

I was based on the US Navy Station, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Feb 1952-March 1955. Our Army flight detachment shared a hangar with the Coast Guard. We received a survival equipment support from Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico. I made numerous trips to Ramey. Initially, the base was home to B-50s, but transitioned to B-36s during my Puerto Rico tour. I was fascinated by the B-36, a beautiful bird - and it looked so graceful in flight. If I was on the ground, I always stopped what I was doing - taxiing, disembarking, etc. Jerry E Holstad

Posted by Jerry E Holstad on July 29,2009 | 04:56PM

As a Gunner, 9th Bomb Sqd. Carswell AFB,our aircract B-36 tail # 1083, AC Maj.Skelton, participated as a test platform involving gunnery and high altitude perfomance. Our B-36 was designated as feather weight. As for gunnery we never had fuses blown when slewing. Flying gunney missions weekly In Operation Castle the,crew wearing preasure suits ,participated in high altitude,55,000ft, air sampling While another B-36 was flying at an altitude of 55,000 ft over the first Hydrogen Bomb blast, resulting in moderate damage to BB doors and the burning off of everything painted black. Our crew also tested the first frozen foods, and electonic toilet. Col. Schoefler, 9th BS ,flew the C99 from San Diego to Carswell, a double decked B-36. If memory serves me right , it was used to fly Aircraft parts, mainly engines, during the Korean war , to Mc Chord AFB.

Posted by Al Thanem on July 31,2009 | 04:08PM

I believe I missspoke. Col Schoefler flew the C99 from San Diego to Carswell AFB not the C90 if that is what I wrote, dam it's hard being 88.

Posted by Al Thanem on July 31,2009 | 04:41PM

I am enjoying reading everyone's comments on the B-36....As an avid '36 buff myself, I would love to see one fly again also....Unfortunately, it will likely never happen due to the fact that the beast was a maintenance nightmare and the required maintenance/flying hours ratio was extremely one-sided to say the least....Having inquired about the possibility myself, I was told by someone at the USAF museum that it would never happen for the following reasons: Availbility of usable radial engine components for the R4360 Structural fatigue of any still existing airframes (Only 4 exist). Massive insurance liability. Lack of qualified pilots/maintenance personnel familiar with the aircraft. No more leaded Avgas which it ran on. No airfields except a few AF bases that could support the massive weight (155 tons). And lastly, no AF desire to see it fly again....Supposedly somebody tried in the late 60's/early 70's with the one that used to be at Ft. Worth and the AF put the big ka-bosh on it because they thought it was too dangerous to try.... I was born a year too late to see/hear it fly and will just have to settle for watching "Strategic Air Command" to see/hear one go up!!!....It would really be something tho'!!!....Those who got to witness it are lucky....Keep the great stories coming! L. Johnson Chicago, IL

Posted by Lee Johnson on August 27,2009 | 11:57AM

To Tom Drodge ~ I cannot find a number or email address for you, but am interested in discussing your proposed book. My father was a member of that crew. wpmaher at yahoo dot com -- is the best way to contact me. EDITORS' REPLY: We forwarded your message on to Mr. Drodge.

Posted by William Patrick Maher on August 31,2009 | 08:37AM

I would like to post this message in memory of my uncle Andrew R. Peterson who recently passed away this past July. Uncle Andy flew fifty one combat missions in a B-24 Liberator in the European theater in 1944. He later flew for the USA Air Transport Command until he was discharged in 1947. As part of the US Air Force Reserves Captian Peterson was recalled for two years of active state-side duty during the Korean Conflict flying B-36 reconnaissance. He also flew a DC-9 for twenty one years in civilian life. Uncle Andy started flying planes when he was a teenager in the 1930's and continued to own and fly his own airplane into his 80's. He loved flying, it was his life, and what an interesting life he lived.

Posted by Michael Peterson on September 6,2009 | 08:24AM

I was an air force brat. In 1952 we lived at Travis A.F.B in California. I remember the sound of the B-36, it was a sound like no other. My friends and I would ride our bikes to the end of the runway to see them lift off, it was like being in a science fiction movie. I hadn't thought much about the sound, but one day I was sitting in a doctor's waiting room and I heard that B-36 sound. I went to the window to see what it was. There were 6 air conditioning units and they were all working. The harmonics were very much like the sound of the B-36.

Posted by Robert E. Springer on September 9,2009 | 01:21AM

I am the grand daughter of Lt Col Clarence "Bud" Lamping. I am sad to say he is at the end of his life. What an incredible man, I am fortunate that he is my Grandpa!

Posted by Erin Watkins on September 10,2009 | 10:50PM

I was the Aircraft commander on the B-36 that did the flyover of the Smithonian (up Independence Ave.) with two B-29's on my wings for the celebration of the return of the Wright Brothers plane on 17 December 1948. I had a very good picture of the event (autograghed by Stuart Symington)showing the entrance to the Smithonian and the three aircraft, but lost it in one of the many floods in Fort Worth. I've been trying to replace it ever since and have not been successful---does anyone know where I may find a copy?

Posted by Pete Bowers on September 13,2009 | 05:48AM

Query: how many total spark plugs, including those that might possibly be in gernerators or heaters, were employed in the original B36A and then, how many were in the "4 turning and 4 burning" version? Thanks for your attention and answer to this cold war vet's curio query.

Posted by L. Pierce Standridge on September 15,2009 | 04:20PM

I was stationed at Biggs AFB in 1956 until 1957. I enjoyed working on the B-36 and yes the sound it made when flying was like no other sound that i have ever heard. I must admit that the Plane did give a lot of trouble with oil leaks,plugs fouling out and so many other problems, but then it was a monster of and airpane. We and the flight crew was flown to Ft Worth and we had a crew that all was spot promoted and supposed to take part in competetion. anyway the plane was ran up so much but could never get it in a position to fly. So the Commander came up and informed us that the plane would fly back to El Paso, Our thinking was that the Air crew did not want the plane to fly, anyway I enjoyed my time with that plane. Left Biggs and went to Hunter AFB.worked on the K-97, also B-47. I have enjoyed reading all the memories of you guys and the info that you have shared. thanks Chester Edwards

Posted by Chester Edwards on September 25,2009 | 03:35PM

Mayby someone can clear up an old but very pleasant memory that I have. I lived in Detroit as a boy and distinctly remember one day hearing the unforgettable drone of the B-36. Running outside and looking up I saw several B-36's flying south over the city. The're were also a few smaller aircraft mixed in the formation. My memory tells me there had to be at least 6 or 7 B-36's. Can anyone out there clarify and/or add to the information.

Posted by AL Rutz on September 27,2009 | 06:40AM

After receiving 9 months of training as an automatic tracking radar technician at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi, I was transferred to Amarillo AFB, Texas. As an 18 year old newbie to SAC, my job was to repair the SCR584 radar set (all vacuum tubes, no transistors, no computers). Our 25-man detachment was responsible for scoring ready, lead and select crews who flew SAC bombers during simulated bomb runs over many cities and areas throughout the United States. Kurt LeMay was the boss, stationed at Carswell AFB, Fort Worth, TX. Of course, none of us ever saw the general, but he was with us in spirit. I well remember seeing and hearing many B-36 bombers on their incoming courses from different IPs. They were a great to score because they were so easy to pick up on the radar and if we stepped outside, we could hear them before we could get a visual contact. The B-36 was replaced by the B-47s (which lasted only a short time), then B-52s. I was given my honorable discharge when I was 21, after which I ended up becoming a member of the dental profession at 32. Interesting that I am viewing the movie "Strategic Air Command" starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson as I write. I am now 72, but will never forget what was probably the most exciting 4 years of my life.

Posted by A/3C Barry N. Schmidt on October 9,2009 | 08:20PM

I was born in 1951 and grew up about halfway between the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the state line with Oklahoma, on a small ranch. I loved sitting outside and looking for airplanes of ANY sort, because they were still fairly rare (at least compared to other places). I have always thought that once -- just once -- I saw a B-36 overhead, my attention riveted by the rear-facing engines. Though I don't remember for sure, my guess is that would have been in the 1957-58 period. I'm still not sure if what I saw was a B-36; for one thing, I plain don't remember how many engines it had, nor, indeed, if I thought to count them or would have been able to do so had I thought of it. But in later years, once I became aware of the aircraft by its formal designation and saw photos of it, I was almost entirely sure it was indeed a B-36 I saw that day. And for a kid single-digit aged, it was damned impressive.

Posted by Mekhong Kurt on October 30,2009 | 12:39AM

Re: The C-99 I enlisted in the USAF in April, 1951. After Basic Training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio TX, I was posted to Brooks AFB for additional training. We always knew when the C-99 would take off. Schedules permitting, we drove near Kelly Field to an overpass overlooking the end of the longest runway. We parked (with many others) at the curb and waited for the C-99 to come out. Revving up each engine, it vibrated the concrete, emitting a satisfying roar. Then it trundled onto the runway, went the 'wrong' way, and swung around to face us, its rear end perched off the runway. We passed around field glasses. Then, all the engines revved, and amid huge noise and billowing smoke--nothing happened! Now the pilot must have fire-walled the engines because the noise rose. But no movement. Amid increasing noise and smoke, the plane seemed to scrunch its 'shoulders' and move slightly, then still more, and now it was coming straight toward us, slowly--too slowly to take off. And then it gathered speed and too close to us, the nose wheel lifted, and the beast rotated and was airborne. Now the gear started to tuck in, and then the plane was over us--at about 300 feet altitude. We turned,to watch it climb out--low, flat, hot. Then we silently returned to our cars. There were no traffic tickets. The cops were equally hypnotized.

Posted by Harold Males on November 11,2009 | 12:39PM

This is addressed to Tom Drodge: My uncle by marriage, Jimmy Powell, was a member of the crew on that flight. I don't know if I have any new information, but I might have an old picture or two if you need any. His widow, my aunt died a few years ago and I have some of hew things in my attic. I know there were some pictures of Jimmy in one of the boxes. Also, I would be very interested to read your book if you would let me know when it is published. All the best--Becky Flower

Posted by Becky Flower on November 11,2009 | 07:38PM

I have a picture of the B-58 Hustler with B-36's in the background. I believe it was taken in Texas, when the Hustler first rolled out. I worked B-58's at Grissom AFB in the late 60's just before they were put to rest in 1970. EDITORS' REPLY: If you would like to scan the photograph (a photocopy store can do this if you don't have a scanner) and send us an electronic version of the picture to post on the web, go to http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/scrapbook.html. Thanks.

Posted by Hank Titone on November 18,2009 | 07:44AM

I was a member of the Periodic Maintenac Post Dock ground crew in the 28th bomb Wing at Ellsworth AFB from 1954 until we phased them out and went to the B52s. I was there from 54 to 59. Yes 5 years. I don't have any exciting stories to tell, but I can tell you that the winter nights there were long and cold. As others have said, repairing oil and fuel leaks was a daily task as well as changing spark plugs. One highlight of my duty there was a one hour flight in one of our B-36s. During this flight our A/C flew us down and past the faces at Mount Rushmore. Oh! to have had a camera to take a picture of the faces from one of the forward blisters over the top of the wing. I have seen the B-36 at the SAC Museum in Nebraska and yes to someone's question about it being the one that was at Offutt AFB. The museum is at Ashland NE. That's about 20 miles from Offutt. The B-36 was moved there several years ago. It is a place worth visiting. I live in Mesa AZ and now that I know the B-36 has been settled at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson I plan to visit the Museum again soon.

Posted by Don Mowers on November 20,2009 | 09:39PM

I joined the USAF Jan.10, 1951. After schooling I became an armament mechanic. The B36 was a real "tip-of-the-spear" machine. Electronics was really its infancy then and who would have thought that Radials would be operating at 40,000+? So it was blazing a real trail. One of my biggest thrills was the starting of the SAC flying clubs. I learned to fly there and had a great flying career in later years. (I got to thank Curt Lemay personally in the late 1980's for starting the clubs. He teared up and really appreciated my thanks. What a guy!) What a website this is!!!

Posted by Sam Korth on November 23,2009 | 05:18PM

I was excited to find this B-36 discussion. When I was a kid in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I remember once seeing a B-36 flying overhead. This had to have been between the mid- to late 50's to about 1960. Nobody could forget that awesome noise and sight. Can someone tell me the date of that flight, why it flew over Tulsa and where that B-36 was from? If anyone is interested in seeing photos from the B-36 restoration at Pima and what the restored plane looks like, I can send them via email. Just got it today.

Posted by Janice Winzinger on December 6,2009 | 08:48PM

In late '51 and early '52 I was in Boot Camp at MCRD San Diego. We were quartered in Quonsent Huts about 1/2 mile from the runway at Lindberg Field. What B-36s were doing at the Convair Plant in San Diego (I understand that they were built in Ft Worth) I have no idea but there was always several of them there. A lot mornings one would take off about an hour before reville. I loved the sound of them, but with 6 turnin and 4 burnin, that Quonsent Hut was like sleeping in a Guitar. I don't recall ever having seen one after shipping out, but I heard several of them over the years. It's a sound that you can never forget. However, like "the sound that the Ol' Steam Locomotive made" it is gone forever.

Posted by Russ Walker on December 12,2009 | 06:51PM

A B-36B (tail number 44-92035) crashed on November 22, 1950 about a mile from the house where I used to live, between the cities of Crowley and Joshua Texas. The area where it crashed was at the time part of Less Armstrong's dairy, 14 miles south of Carswell Air Force Base and six miles west of Crowley. The crew including the aircraft commander egressed the aircraft as it descended due to multiple engine problems. 2 crewmembers (Radar Operator Captain James Yeingst and Navigator Captain Horace Stewart) were killed, 4 suffered major injuries, and 19 suffered various minor injuries. There's no obvious wreckage left at the site today, but there are a few small pieces of metal lying around, as well as a gouge about the length of a cruise ship where the aircraft impacted the ground. No grass or vegetation of any kind grows around quite a bit of the crash site (presumably from the fuel contamination). I placed a small marker about the size of a dinner plate at the site 10 years ago, but haven't been back recently to see if it is still there. More information here: http://www.air-and-space.com/b-36%20wrecks.htm#44-92035

Posted by Russ Price on December 13,2009 | 01:05AM

I grew up on Lackland next to Kelly AFT, and there was a XC-99 parked next to the runways at Kelly Field for a good number of years. There actually was a small display of several AF craft there. Unfortunately, it fell into disrepair (I think the VFW who ran it had problems), and the aircraft were repossed... all but the XC-99. Some of those AC are now on display in the big parade ground on Lackland. I hate to say it but I sooooo wanted to see the inside of that XC-99 I snuck inside it around 1983 or so... it was in the middle of a cow pasture then. MAN, was it big! There was a separate office/bedroom (yes, with a small bed in it). I remember a big yellow oxygen tank in the belly that was huge (larger than any car)! It had a big elevator that went up and down between the decks from the middle of the AC. The command deck had most of the instruments removed (or stolen). Wasn't a lot of interior damage, but not in good shape. And - I GOT CAUGHT! Which turned into a good thing, because the owner of the property (Mr VanDeWalle as I recall) was a huge fan of the XC-99, and shared several interesting stories once he understood I was interested in the AC and definitely NOT a vandal. I remember looking up the rudder into the dark (it was that tall), and noticing everything was cables - no power assist anywhere! I recall he said there were 2 AC build. Another thing, it didn't have bogied wheels - there were HUGE separate wheels like a fighter on it. He told me of a story that they had to be careful because the AC was heavy enough to rut most runways. (Part 1 of 2) Pat Viebey

Posted by PatV on December 16,2009 | 11:11AM

(Part 2) It didn't have any jets on it that I remember seeing... I've been in C-5a Galaxies' and don't remember having the same impression of just big, big big I got from that AC. It literally was like being inside a house. I'm so happy the USAF has taken it back. There were some 'work parties' to keep it from falling apart, but it was getting pretty bedraggled. It must have been quite a story taking the AC apart and shipping the pieces... Hope you find this story interesting. Pat Viebey

Posted by PatV on December 16,2009 | 11:12AM

I always wondered if the B-36 was too vulnerable to successfully penetrate soviet airspace. It was slow, but could fly high. Couldn't the Mig 15 reach it's altitude? Any thoughts from the people that knew it

Posted by Brad Grassmick on January 2,2010 | 07:58AM

My Uncle was stationed at Wright/Patterson AFB in the mid and late 40's. I can remember visiting him and seeing the B-36's being flown to determine how long they could stay airborne. they carried 2 crews and one flew while the other rested. I joined the AF in 1953 and was trained in special weapons. I can remember working with loading crews at Caribu, Maine to load nuclear weapons (dummies) on the B-36's (Training only). It was quite an experience to take the sled ride from the front to the back. The electronics in the airplane were very reliable and I'm sure if it was ever called on to deliver a nuclear or thermonuclear weapon on the enemy, it would have been sucessful. I also worked on the B-47, B-52, nad the B-50. They all were a tribute to our great defense industry.

Posted by Norman Bonahoom on January 4,2010 | 12:40PM

I am 70 now, but have not forgotten too much about the B-36. I was stationed at Biggs AFB, El Paso, Texas, 95th Periodic Maintenance Sq. in 1958/1959 as a B-36 engine mechanic at the time the plane was being phased out. I am 6ft tall and could stand inside the wing at the base by slightly cocking my head. I was slender at the time,and was chosen to slide through the engine intakes of the wings to work on the rear of the engines. Someone asked about sparkplugs. I know the Pratt Whitney 4360 used 2 plugs per cylinder at 28 cylinders per engine times 6, that's 156 plugs, at that time about 12 dollars a plug. The tail on this bird was equal to a five story building. A 230ft wingspand. A B-17 could set in the shadow of a B-36. And yes they were overpowered. I was told they shut the jet engines down after they were in the air. Didn't take much runway to get one off. And yes they did have a unique sound, like the props slapping the wind. We were always getting phone calls about incoming planes shaking the plates out of the cubbards at neighboring Fort Bliss. Someone asked about a Russian Mig getting to a B36. We were told back at that time, the Russians did not have a plane that would get to that altitude, and if they did, they would have to attact from the rear, and would get caught in prop wash from the B36. I too miss the sound of the B36. It was a fine looking plane. There is a cutaway, electric powered training version of a Prat Whitney 4360 engine at the Armanents Museum at Eglin AFB, Florida. When the B36 was phased out I went on to be an aircraft mechanic on the B52G. Time well spent.

Posted by Ivan Fiscus on January 10,2010 | 06:29PM

I remember as a child of 5 or 6 in 1954/55 standing in our school playground at Urmston Lancashire in the UK and looking up as a squadron of B36D's came in to land at Burtonwood which was less than twelve miles away. I don't remember them being particulary noisy but they certainly appeared to fill the sky.

Posted by Charles Dickson on January 12,2010 | 09:28AM

My dad refueled these monsters in Alaska and knew many of the mechanics and one thing he told me that I have always remembered was that you could shut down a bank of cylinders in flight and change the plugs, he also told me that 1 went down during a thunderstorm at Carswell in Lake Worth at the end of the runway, I wonder if they ever got it out.

Posted by David Squires on January 13,2010 | 09:24PM

I turned 18 loading 20MM and Big old Bombs on the B-36 at Carswell AFB. It seemed like it took 12 men about 12 hours to get it all loaded. One of the bombs weighed about 40,000 pounds(MK-17)and the lift we used was capable of and sometimes did lift the entire rear of the aircraft if the operator was not careful. In 1956 during the Suez crisis we loaded every one of the aircraft that the 7th and 11th owned that could fly and lived on cheese sandwiches for several days.We heard the flight crews got baloney and cheese. I had the great privilege of working on and around just about every aircraft and missile the AF used from 1955 to 1977 and the B-36 earned a special place in my memory as it was my first experience. This is a nice site and it does stir the old memory buds. Thanks, Jim

Posted by Jim Calhoun on January 13,2010 | 09:50PM

Directly from basic training, Sep - Nov 1954, I was assigned to the 95th BW (H) at Biggs. The 95th shared ramp and base with the 97th which had just received the B-47. I was assigned to the 95th Flying Safety Office. I spent my tour, ending in Oct 58 typing engine fire reports on virtually every engine hanging from those 30 B-36s. As I learned and have read here, it was the location and direction of the engines that caused the problem. I was with the 95th Safety Office when we lost the one landing short of Carswell's runway and the incident on University of New Mexico property near Kirtland AFB. I was there when one went down due to fuel starvation in the desert near the base in '55. I spent 114 days on Guam in 55 when the wing relieved Ellsworth's 28th. The ground/aircrews of the "heavy" were an exemplary group of dedicated specialists who assisted in the "cold war standoff". I know the capabilities of SAC kept the "bear" at bay. Great experience I still enjoy recalling.

Posted by PAUL GILL, CMSgt, ret on January 17,2010 | 06:28PM

My father was a Flight Engineer (1LT)on the B-36, station at Biggs AFB, Texas. I can remember him taking me inside one and checking it out, when I was just a little kid. I remember to this day, the round red circle with a switch in the center, that was switched to drop the Atomic Bomb (well that is the story I got from him at the time). i also remember the day, when he took me over to see a B-36, B-47, and a B-52 all parked in the same area.

Posted by J.Carter on January 18,2010 | 05:19AM

Hello all, Not sure if any of you are following the guy out of Indiana. He has spent 10 years designing a 21' B-36D radio controlled airplane. He has about 15 months into the construction. The plane is very scale. I have been following most of the post here and thought you might all be interested in his build. He has a build thread on a site called RC groups. It is under giant scale electrics. Its called 257" B-36D. He made it electric so he could have scale nacelles. I guess the Peacemaker is an obsession for him. Cheers, Nick

Posted by Nick on January 18,2010 | 11:20PM

Hello all, I have spent 10 years designing a 257" (21.5') Span B-36D radio controlled airplane. I have about 15 months into the construction and plan on flying it this summer. The plane is very scale. I have been following most of the post here and thought you might all be interested in my build. I love that I actually see post here from those that actually flew the plane. I have a build thread on a site called RC groups. The link is here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=933242 The Peacemaker is to me the single biggest technical achievement ever,only surpassed by the Apollo program. Be safe, Damon

Posted by Damon Atwood on January 19,2010 | 03:22AM

Ever since I can remember as a kid I always loved airplanes. In the early 50's I remember my younger brother and I in the summer laying on our backs in our front yard watching a formation of about 10 B-36's fly over our home at about 10,000 feet or so. I am now 64, but still have vivid memories of the white underside of the B-36's glowing against a deep blue cloudless sky. The sound was unreal and we could feel the vibration of the huge churning props in our chest like a beating of a multitude of kettle drums. My Mom said all her dishes and the windows in our house rattled from the B-36's. A couple of years later I was in grade school in Charleston, WV and B-36 was shooting missed approaches at Kanawha Airport (Now Yeager Airport). The B-36 had it's gear and flaps down and I jumped out of my seat in class and ran to the window shouting "he's going to land" !!! My teacher didn't share my enthusiasm for the moment and I was severely reprimanded for my outburst. I have several vivid memories of seeing, hearing and feeling the beautiful B-36. My brother later became a pilot and flew C119's and C130's retiring as a Full Bird Colonel and I became a FE/FM on C119's and later retired as a MSG running our unit's C130 Phase Dock. I feel fortunate to have seen the B-36 when it was still in the active AF inventory flying.

Posted by WV Chapman on January 19,2010 | 06:09AM

I was a member of PUP(Primary Undergraduate Pilot Training) Class 58-A, at Marana Air Base, AZ, Sept 1956-Mar 1957. At that time, B-36's were flying out of Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, just outside Tucson. After having soloed in the T-34, I flew several one-hour solo flights in our training area, practicing "confidence-building maneuvers", (basic acobatics, stalls, etc.) On several occasions, while on these solo missions, I would see those giant B-36's descending through our area, prior to landing at Davis-Monthan. Flying above, I envisioned myself as a hot fighter pilot, and would roll in on the helpless B-36 below me and give him several vocal bursts of "rat-a-tat-tat". Pulling off the target, I'd imagine "the enemy", spiraling down in flames! The B-36 "Peacemaker" was huge--indeed an "aluminum overcast". (By the way, I'm proud to say that I served for several years as a volunteer Docent at the National Air and Space Museum!) EDITORS' REPLY: We appreciate your service at the museum. Thanks for writing.

Posted by Bill Constantine, B/Gen USAF (Ret.) on February 9,2010 | 10:41PM

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can find B-36 pilots, crew, ground crew? If so please contact me at andreawilliams@pimaair.org.

Posted by Andrea Williams on February 10,2010 | 01:35PM

I saw several comments concerning the B-36 tail number 52-2827 now located at The Pima Air Museum. I was a jet engine mechanic working on this aircraft in 58 & 59 and was part of the formal parade that sent this historic aircraft on it's last flight. This Aircraft was the last flying B36 in the USAF inventory and flew from Biggs AFB on 12 September 1959. The aircraft was flown to the then, southwest airport (now DFW) for permanent static display. The aircraft sat there for many years before being moved to the museum just outside the General Dynamics plant in White Settelment (Fort Worth) TX where the aircraft was built. The aircraft sat there again for many years where it detereroiated badly. The aircraft was then moved into an empty hanger at the General Dynamics plant and restoration by a dedicated group of retired GD aircraft, USAF mechanics, and aircrew began headed by Mr Bill Plumlee, retired director from General Dynamics. I was a GE jet engine Tech rep working on the F110 engine installation in the F16 @ General Dynamics and did get to do some work on the aircraft restoration. The plan was to open a museum in Fort Worth to house the aircraft but the funding never materilized and the aircraft was then sent to the Pima Air Muesum where it has now been reassembled and looks like it is ready to fly again. I have very found memories of the B36, it was and is an awesome aircraft. The sound it made on takeoff and in flight will never be forgotten!

Posted by Doyle Kimmons on February 14,2010 | 10:02AM

my first sight of the B-36 was at an air show in chicago at orchard place, now called ohare. this was either 1949 or 1950. along with friends, we rode our motorcycles from beloit, wis. to orchard place for this show.their was a B-36 on display and i have a picture of this plane with the single wheel gear. also on display was a tire with a stand to get up to the center of the tire so i could put one hand inside and another on the outside to check the thickness of the side wall. i think the tire was 12 ft. tall. then a wonderful sight of 3 B-36's flew over and the announcer said they flew up from carswell afb for this show, and i have a picture of that fly over. then in 1953 i was at norton AFB, san bernadino, cal. when the first B-36 flew in. i think there was 10,000 people outside to see this landing. he landed down wind and what a noise when he collided with the ground, sand and dust storm and metal noise. the next day i looked at this plane on the ramp and about 15 ft of the right wing tip was gone and also the pod with the 2 jet engines. i am still facinated with this plane.

Posted by JACK LEBARON on February 15,2010 | 03:38PM

My father worked on the B36 at Ellsworth 1949-1952 and then at Ramey 1952-1953. I was 4 when he died in Puerto Rico and just wondered if there is anyone who knew him that could give me some insight into what he was like. bleefitz@hotmail.com

Posted by brian zarikta on February 16,2010 | 08:43PM

Just found this site relating to B36s. Don't know if you would be interested but I live in Cambridge UK.It must have been in the early 50s when playing outside with friends when we heard this Awesome Sound that not one of us had experienced before. It sounded to us like massed motorbikes, then a B36 came over reasonably low going into Mildenhall Base in Suffolk, I believe it was the first visit by B36. I am now 71 and have never forgotten this, it was an amazing site to behold.

Posted by roger cork on February 26,2010 | 01:54PM

I've always been fascinated by the B-36. There's a good article with photos in Aeroplane Monthly July 1994 about aircraft 44-92042 that touched down 600 yards short of the threshold at Boscombe Down, UK on January 27, 1952.

Posted by Warwick Kelly on March 2,2010 | 09:21PM

I've none of the experience with these humongous aircraft that you folks have. What I do have is a love for Jimmy Stewart (who served in WWII and wound up as an AF General) and June Alyson in "Strategic Air Command". As a child it was a favorite movie. It remains so. Every time I watch "Spirit of St. Louis" I wish I could follow it with "Strategic Air Command". The views of the cruising aircraft, making contrails, and the accompanying music, continue to bring tears to my eyes.

Posted by Mike McNamara on March 4,2010 | 05:07PM

My first ride in an airplane was in a B-36. I was stationed with the 11th Bomb Wing at Carswell AFB in the late 50s. Had a TDY to Nouasuer French Morracco. AC Commander asked who had never flown in a B-36 before. I raised my hand. Then he asked who had never even flown before. I raised my hand and was the only one. What an amazing experience and such a long trip to North Africa. I would not trade it for anything.

Posted by Bob Zint on March 5,2010 | 05:44PM

This is addressed to mr. Atwood. Were you aware that a flying scale model of the B-36 was constructed by a member of a flight crew at Biggs AFB in the hobby shop? I was there and watched the construction. The landing gear was built by some guy's at Convair. They also supplied a very large container to carry it in. It was built with the same metals the Aircraft was, and painted with the same paints. It was powered with I think, K/B engines, and three were supplied by the factory with reverse rotation. I was a crew member there in the 336 Bomb Sqdn. from 53 to 56, got a 1000 hrs in that beauty.

Posted by Glenn Shaw on March 25,2010 | 07:35PM

I wonder if any of the knowledgeable folks reading these comments and this article might know anything about my grandfather, Onorio Acquaviva, who flew the B-36 during his long USAF career...but that is all we know about it, that he was a B-36 pilot. Anybody who is willing or able to share information or knowledge of him, my family and I would be so very grateful!

Posted by Elizabeth Cadorette on March 26,2010 | 12:53PM

Mt father was an Air Force officer and when I was three years old we lived at Fairchild AFB. Now I'm 59 and I still remember the thunderous roar of those B-36 missions. This article brought back some good early childhood memories. Thanks.

Posted by Eric Pound on April 2,2010 | 12:28PM

For 60 years, I have regretted that I was not in time to fly the B-36. When I finished flight training, there were no more assignments for the Peacemaker. Instead I flew the B-52. A great airplane, but I wanted to fly an airplane that could be felt as well as seen and heard. To me, only the excitement of the space shuttle launch can compare with a B-36 flyover. Seeing this site has prompted me to travel to Pima Museum next week to see the last operational B-36 (they also have the very first operational B-52). EDITORS' REPLY: We'll be running an article on the B-36 at Pima in the June/July 2010 issue.

Posted by Jim Cleary on April 5,2010 | 02:20PM

I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexido in the 50's. Kirtland AFB and Sandia Base were (are) just a few blocks from our house. Not only that, but we were right below the north end of the N/S runway. There were nukes at Sandia. (Later, a B-47 accidently dropped an unarmed nuke near Albuquerque - about 1957?). When the B-36's landed over our house, plates and glasses actually vibrated out of the kitchen cabinets and pictures fell off the wall. Windows rattled. Shoot, the fillings in your teeth rattled. Everyone ran outside to watch. A busy street runs perpendicular to the end of that runway, right at the end. There were traffic lights to stop traffic (controlled by the tower) to stop cars when the B-36's landed. The fence between the runway and the street was a white wooden fence. More than once, the fence was taken out by the landing gear of a B-36. We drove that street every day and I still remember seeing splintered pieces of fence scattered everywhere. What an amazing conglomeration of metal. Incredible memories.

Posted by T.L. Car on April 7,2010 | 05:17PM

I'm absolutely astonished that this lengthy article about the B-36 does NOT mention Jack Northrop's visionary flying wing, Stuart Symington's notorious Convair stock involvement, the amazing radar stealth invisibility of the Northrop flying wing, and the rest of the scandal surrounding the literal destruction of the flying wing in favor of the rather dubious B-36. This article seems to be totally sanitized of any flying wing material. One single paragraph mentions the exoneration of Symington and others concerning any hints of scandal and corruption regarding the procurement of the B-36. However, most readers of this article must have wondered where the scandal could have come from, because Jack Northrop's achievements are totally edited out of this "historical" presentation. The absence of the Northrup flying wing in this article is so total that it has to be intentional. I'm forced to add that it's difficult to trust any of the information presented here when the author of this article so blatantly erases the flying wing from our nation's history. One wonders what else is missing. If this author ever writes an article about our new and very stealthy B-2 flying wing bomber, which by "coincidence" has the exact same wingspan as the Northrop flying wing, I wonder if this person will be allowed to edit out Jack Northrop's contribution to the B-2's great success. And now I have a few questions for the editors of this magazine. Who reviewed and approved this article? And why did you allow this author to get away with his heavyhanded distortions of history? The biggest battle the B-36 ever had to fight was its battle with the Northrop flying wing!<P>EDITORS' REPLY: For information on the Northrop flying wing, see "The Edwards Diaries," our June/July 1997 cover story.

Posted by Dr. Lewis Rauchmantel on April 11,2010 | 10:33AM

The B-36 that was at Offutt was moved along with all the other aircraft to the new SAC museum that is on I-80 in between Omaha and Lincoln. http://www.sasmuseum.com/2008/11/21/b-36j-peacemaker/ Only SAC aircraft are there, and all of those are indoors, the only things outdoors are a few missiles.

Posted by Fred on April 14,2010 | 04:35PM

While serving as an Air Policeman at Lakenheath RAF station in England, I stood guard on a B36 at various times. This was in late 1952 and early 1953. I was able to gain access to the cockpit and also remember pulling myself on the little cart that ran from the front of the AC back to the rather large crew quarters towards the rear. You had to pull yourself along hand over hand on a rope and it was no place for claustrophobics. One of the 36's ran his gear off of the pavement and they got it stuck in the mud, took several days to get it back on to the hardtop. It was huge and an intimidating AC for its time.

Posted by Garth Myers on April 25,2010 | 02:55PM

While srving as an Air Policeman at Lakenheath RAF station in England, I stood guard on a B36 at various times. This was in late 1952 and early 1953. I was able to gain access to the cockpit and also remember pulling myself on the little cart that ran from the front of the AC back to the rather large crew quarters towards the rear. You had to pull yourself along hand over hand on a rope and it was no place for claustrophobics. One of the 36's ran his gear off of the pavement and they got it stuck in the mud, took several days to get it back on to the hardtop. It was huge and an intimidating AC for its time.

Posted by Garth Myers on April 25,2010 | 02:55PM

June 15, 1953, the RAF Lincoln bomber in which I served my two yr National Service in the RH seat, diverted to Marham, UK, our base closed by fog.It was 01.45am at touch down among a squadron of B36s which had been there for some weeks. Taxying past them we felt we were in a Piper Cub even if our 33ft bomb bay could carry a 12,000 lb nuke. Two yrs ago I received a B36 model (27.5 inch wingspan), never unpacked it, plus the CD " Strategic Air Command" Jimmy Stewart & June Allyson; and JS's autobiography, "Jimmy Stewart Bomber Pilot" a good read of his experiences as an 8th USAAF commander flying B24 Liberators over Germany in WWII. Bill Bath New York

Posted by Bill Bath on May 1,2010 | 10:48AM

I was an engine mech. on the 4360 eng. of the B36 at Fairchild AFB at Spokane Wash. in 1953/54. Loved that aircraft, none better at that time. The sound of all the engines running all at once was a sound one cn never forget.

Posted by vincent speziale on May 11,2010 | 07:10PM

This is a note to Andrea Williams. Andrea, if you want to meet RB-36 flight and ground crew members, you might want to attend the bi-annual reunion at Rapid City, SD. Dates this year are Aug 26-30. Best if you attend this year since it occurs only even-numbered years, and folks are getting mighty old! You can write to the 28th Wing Association at P.O. Box 3092, Rapid City, SD 57709-3092. EDITORS' REPLY: Any email address?

Posted by Jerry Pattison on May 12,2010 | 09:51AM

I was stationed at Ellsworth from late 1954 to late 1955. I was a ECM flight line maintenance technician. Ellsworth had the RB version of the 36, and was loaded with ECM equipment. I remember once during a very heavy snow storm, I was on the flight line and a RB-36 was taking off. Visibility was so bad, I could not see the aircraft! I was on flight status while the Wing was on Guam. I took a flight that was on a training mission. At landing, only 3 of the radials were running due to failure of the other 3. Slightly disconcerting! Chuckle! I am here to tell about it!

Posted by Jerry Pattisonj on May 12,2010 | 10:00AM

Someone asked if the B-36 could have successfully gone into the Soviet Union. I believe that they did do this, at least in a recon capacity. I used to work for someone whose father was a crewman on B-36s that flew recon into the USSR. They would fly into Siberia from the north and weave around the radar and mountains, I believe he said it was at very low levels, not high up. They'd fly over sites of interest and do their recon and then turn around and get the heck out of there. I think he said the missions were called "Keyhole" (not to be confused with the satellites of the same name). I don't know much more about it but I'm sure someone out there knows more... it sounds just crazy enough to actually fit in with what our military was willing to do in the 1950s to fight the Cold War!

Posted by Mike Whaley on May 13,2010 | 11:36AM

My name is Marice B Parkes and I was married to Lt Col George B Parkes for 61 years. He died in 2003 in Riverside, California. He was the navigator in a B 36 flight to England. The pilot of that plane was James Beam. The plane went down in the ocean before it reached England. Nineteen men were lost and four survived. My husband, George was one of the four. I have zeroxed copies of the stories that were carried in the newspapers around the country at that time. He retired from the Air Force after 30 years of service. We were stationed at March Air Force Base near Riverside, California when he retired. M B Parkes

Posted by Marice B Parkes on May 17,2010 | 05:05PM

I was a member of the USAF from 1949 to 1953. I was stationed at Sandia NM from 1950 to 1951 when we transferred to RAF Lakenheath. I was at Lakenheath from 1951 to 1953. Saw many B-36s fly as well as on the ground. I also saw the XC99 fly one time during basic at Lackland.

Posted by Walter Williams on May 22,2010 | 07:38AM

My father Lt.Col John Wise was a b-36 pilot out of Puerto Rico then Carswell for many years.Our house was just south of the base and grew up watching those big birds fly right over our house.He even said he could see my mother hanging out laundry in the back yard.I believe he flew some of those missions over the Soviet Union,seems liked he referred to them as Chrome Dome or somthing like that.I know he was very tired when he got home.We then moved to Merced Calif where he learned to fly 52s.He flew those until retirement in 1968.Anyone here know of him?

Posted by robert wise on June 1,2010 | 10:50AM

I was stationed at Fairchild AFB 1955-58 in the 92 Bomb wing. We had 3 wings of B-36s D's & J's several RB's and a couple of them with F84 trapeze launchers. I flew many missions and some classified "intrusion flights" over the Soviet union and China. The R4360 was not the most reliable engine and many times we came home after 24 hrs with one or more feathered. We also had a couple of J models Lightweights with no armament and no blisters for very high altitude missions. We had radiation particle scoops in the bomb bay and those planes flew through nuclear bomb test clouds. One came back very hot and had to be isolated on a stub for many months and washed down a lot. I had to monitor the radiation. It was called the Peace Keeper and I think it was aptly named. As long as we had this plane the Soviets kept on their side of the world. We transitioned into B-47's and later B-52's and they were sweet airplanes but there was nothing like the thunder of those 6 recips and 4 jets at take off.

Posted by Jim Fling on June 9,2010 | 03:41PM

I estimate that it was in Feb. 1947, while I attended the AF Aircraft Mechanic's School at Keesler Field, Biloxi Missippi,and was on a "Round Robin" trip in a B-25 based at Keesler. It may have been on a Saturday, since I was off- duty and spending hours on the flight line touching and looking at various AF airplanes, when a young 1st. and a 2nd. Lt. invited me to go up with them. Our RR itinerary routed us over N.Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and NE Texas into the Fort Worth area. We had expected to refuel at Love Field, Fort Worth and were cruising south at 10,000 ft., when we were alerted to a distressed B-36 above us. The B-36 could not get their main gear down and were expected to crash land at Love Field. We watched as their crew all bailed out above us. We immediately headed East and soon heard that the B-36 gear operated normally and the plane landed without incident. Was anyone else there, who may have seen this problem ? Great memories!

Posted by Richard Sirginson on June 23,2010 | 12:57PM

Half a century had passed. Yet it remains a technological marvel. The short falls projected by various distinguished writers and former personnel with experience in this air craft must kindly note that when it was designed and manufactured, none of the modern tools like CAAD, manufacturing automation and sophisticated materials were available the way they are today. Afterall, from blue print stage to an airworthy flying machine, the time taken by B-36 designers is exemplary! Though its flight history was short,every enthusiast, even by looking at the photograph of a B36, gets carried away to those unbelievable good old days! Let these machines at least remain in museums for centuries to come. May be, this is universally applicable to all those wwii aircraft. I have not worked on B-36. I am an aeronautical engineer, a former airman and a former scientist, who gathers information on the salient features of aircraft,aeroengines and associated systems in use through out the period of wwii.

Posted by Muraleedharan Nair on June 26,2010 | 10:18PM

I would like to contact Zacharias P. Rouvelas who flew B-36s and ask him a few questions. I am the author of a book on aircraft: "AVIONS ET PILOTES: ENTRE HISTOIRE ET LEGENDE", Editions du Mont, 2007, France. Here is my e-mail: jp.debenat@wanadoo.fr Best regards, JP Debenat. EDITORS' NOTE: Mr. Rouvelas left his phone number in his comment.

Posted by Jean-Paul DEBENAT on June 27,2010 | 11:18AM

As a lad of 12 or 13, I recall seeing a large group of B-36's flying over my home near Pickton, Hopkins County, Texas. This location is about 130 miles east of Ft Worth. This was in the period 1952-53, and they were flying very low at approximately 2-3000 feet and heading east. The ground was vibrating and the noise was deafening. I recall about 15/16 B-36s in some sort of formation. I was familiar with seeing B-36s because my father had worked at the Consolidated Plant in Ft. Worth a year or two earlier before being laid off and I had seen many B-36's and also saw the YB-60 which was a prototype that was never produced, which was flown around Ft Worth during its testing. As I recall the YB-60 resembled the B-52.

Posted by C B Mays on July 13,2010 | 06:20PM

I was stationed at Biggs AFB from Feb '57 until May of '59, assigned to the Air Police Sq. I was Flight Line Patrol and Desk Sgt on the Flighr line. We guarded B-36, B-47, KC-97 and C-124 Aircraft. The B-36 was the "BIRD" until it was replaced by the B-52 I left Biggs for duty with the Recruiting Service in May and missed out on seeing the last one leave. What a shame none of them wers saved to keep flying as a testimonial to our great power at that time. If any one that was stationed there in Air Police at that time sees this contact me by e-mail.

Posted by Richard Storey, Ret E-6 on July 21,2010 | 12:18PM

Gentlemen, I am trying to find any info about my dad's days on B-36F-10 50-1071 ? I have a picture of him and the rest of the crew taken at Walker a.f.b. ( thats what it says on the back ). I recall him telling me about doing more cooking on the plane then using the guns. Any and all info would be helpful. EDITORS' REPLY: There are many B-36 groups and Web sites out there. Start your research here: http://www.cowtown.net/proweb/b36net/

Posted by Peter on July 25,2010 | 01:56PM

In my comment above I forgot ot give my e-mail address :Strey4307@verizon.net

Posted by Richard Storey on August 6,2010 | 07:32AM

i was at kelly afb in sept.1955 an there was a b36 parked just a 100 ft. or so from our barracks an man when that plane started those engines up the barracks would rattle you out of bed at 6am that is the only one i have seen in the four years i was in the airforce.i was sent to france in 1956 an then germany an then north africa ,i have read all of mail in this emails it sure was great to read all about the b36 an all of the other planes i was discharge in 1959 an now iam 74 ,i would love hear from some of the guys that was at kelly ,i was the 22 com in germany an france north africa ,i live in wildwood fl,now i also was took my training at sampson afb i geneve ny.

Posted by HORACE ROBERTS on August 18,2010 | 09:12AM

I'm trying to find out if anyone has experienced hearing loss due to noise exposure from the B36 bomber? Time frame of exposure was 1948-1952 at Kelly AFB. Thanks In Advance. EDITORS' REPLY: Interesting question, but I can't help wondering how you would determine, six decades later, whether one's hearing loss was due to this particular exposure or to multiple factors?

Posted by Evelina Jones on August 28,2010 | 08:20AM

This is for Pete - The B-36 Wing at Walker AFB, Roswell, NM was the 6th Bomb Wing. It shared the base with the 509th Bomb Wing - the direct descendent of the 509th Composite Group that dropped the A-bombs on Japan. 509th had B-50s at the time (a Super-B-29 with bigger engines, and in-flight refueling capability). The base has been closed for a long time. And the question about spark-plugs - 56. The R4360 had four rows of 7 cylinders, 28 cylinders in all, 2 plugs per cylinder. In 1955, units from Carswell - the 7th and 11 Bomb Wings, and RB-36s from Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico, gathered at Nousseur AFB, Morocco, a total of 75 B-36s at the same base at the same time. One B-36 flew up to England and another to Switzerland on "good-will" missions.

Posted by Pete Paradis on August 28,2010 | 09:46PM

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