Will the B-36 Ever Fly Again
The years following World State of war II were a fascinating fourth dimension for aviation. The war had brought incredibly rapid technological advancement, bridging the gap betwixt small and slow propeller aircraft to impossibly fast jets. Aeronautical engineers now had copious amounts of new engineering science at their disposal and the looming threat of the Cold War provided an impetus for fifty-fifty more evolution. Countless new ideas were thrown together to see what would stick, or more accurately, fly. From this confluence emerged unique aircraft the likes of which were never seen before or since. Shipping like the virtually-forgotten x-engine Convair B-36 Peacemaker.
The B-36 was a huge leap in size and operation over its predecessors. Information technology remains the largest piston-powered combat aircraft ever. Early models "only" had six enormous 71-liter, 28-cylinder radial engines in a rare pusher-prop configuration. These were soon augmented by four jet engines, for a total of 44,000 horsepower, creating one of the just aircraft ever powered past both.
Of the nearly 400 examples built, just 4 intact examples remain. Despite its record size, the B-36 was largely overshadowed by its more famous predecessor, the B-29, and its long-lived successor, the still-flying B-52. The Peacemaker never saw gainsay and was only in service for eleven years, merely its baroque pattern is an example of a unique fourth dimension in aviation history. Here'southward a closer expect.
The 10-engine plane time forgot: Convair's B-36 Peacemaker
Run into all photosPeacemaker
The B-36 was designed with i main goal: to be able to attack Nazi-controlled Europe from N America. In the early on 1940s, it seemed possible Germany would capture the continent and Britain. Their next stop would be the The states, and they were working on aircraft to do just that. Against this threat the Army Air Corps wanted a bomber that could comport a significant payload from the eastern tip of N America, beyond the Atlantic, and back again. Think, this was an era where doing that in ane direction with no payload was quite a challenge.
It wasn't until later on the war that the Peacemaker would finally fly. Information technology was a huge increment in performance over the B-29s. which entered service late in the state of war in 1944. Jet-powered interceptors were all the same a few years away from wide use, and ICBMs were decades away. So the need for an ultralong-range heavy bomber fit right into the Us'southward Cold War strategy.
It's easy now to take the B-36'southward size for granted. In this age of A380s and 777Xs, the B-36 seems puny. But looking at it in a historical context tells a different story. It was 64% longer than a B-29, a giant of its time. Even today, its 230-foot (seventy.1-meter) wingspan is the widest of any gainsay aircraft in history, fifty-fifty wider than a mod 747'southward. Its payload capacity was so great it could have carried the entire flop load of a B-17, plus the weight of that entire shipping, its crew, and the weight of a P-51 Mustang escort.
Equally for range, a modern Boeing 787-eight can travel up to 8,463 miles (13,620 km). Sixty years earlier, the B-36 could wing up to 7,970 with similar payloads, albeit significantly more than slowly. With its massive fuel tanks and incredible endurance, some versions of the B-36 could stay aloft for i-and-a-half to 2 days. At that place were bunks in the dorsum for the crew and, mercifully, a toilet.
In terms of propeller aircraft size, just the Spruce Goose makes it look modest. Only then, the Bandbox Goose makes everything look small-scale. One pilot described flying this beast as "sitting in a bay window and flight an apartment house."
Nuclear ability
Because of its size and lifting capacity, the B-36 chop-chop became a platform for engineers create even stranger aircraft. It helped examination the delta wing design for what would become the Mach 2-capable B-58. I was converted to carry, launch and capture a modified F-84, like a sort of flying shipping carrier. The "parasite" fighter was first intended as an escort craft, then later for reconnaissance or every bit a fast delivery vehicle for tactical nuclear weapons.
A cargo version was built, the fifty-fifty more than enormous double-deck Xc-99. Though it never entered mass production, the prototype was used by the Air Forcefulness for 8 years.
But in what has to be i of, if not the well-nigh outrageous thought in the history of aviation, ane B-36 was modified to behave an active nuclear reactor. The idea behind the NB-36H was to see if powering an shipping with nuclear power was feasible. Externally information technology was the aforementioned equally a standard B-36. Within, still, extensive modifications included heavy lead shielding and human foot-thick leaded glass. The NB-36H flew dozens of flights with the reactor active to approximate the crew's radiation exposure. And while this aspect proved to be sufficiently "safe," the idea was thankfully scrapped.
Rapid obsolescence
A peculiar aircraft for a unique fourth dimension, the B-36 quickly became obsolete. With the Soviet Wedlock pumping out thousands of MiG-15s, the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and jet engines becoming more powerful, efficient and cheaper to build, the idea of a piston-powered bomber was becoming anachronistic (well, mostly). Convair tried to address this with the YB-60, which was largely a swept-wing, fully jet-powered B-36. It wasn't successful and simply the prototype was built.
Instead, the B-36 was pulled from service in 1959 after only 11 years. Information technology was replaced by the main competition to the YB-60, the YB-52. A design so proficient the production version is not only still in service, but expected to remain and so until the 2050s. At that point, the youngest airframe volition be approaching ninety years old.
By the mid 1960s, nearly all 384 Peacemakers were scrapped.
The B-36 today
Simply four of these enormous aircraft survive intact, and all are in museums y'all tin visit. The terminal B-36 congenital, the Urban center of Fort Worth, is at Arizona's incredible Pima Air and Infinite Museum. Another is at the Castle Air Museum in Atwater, California. Not surprisingly, the final two are at the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum in Nebraska and the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Ohio.
In that location's not much living history of these planes. They don't take the legendary status of the B-17, B-29 or B-52. None are flying, and they aren't the subject field or setting for documentaries or movies (a video clip of the exception is higher up). Few museums have the infinite to house such massive aircraft, then information technology's good that even four are still around and that the B-36 didn't suffer the fate of the Short Sterling.
If those museums aren't on your calendar, check out the gallery in a higher place for a look at the B-36 past and nowadays.
Also as roofing Television and other display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, massive shipping carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000 mile road trips, and more. Check outTech Treks for all his tours and adventures.
He wrote a bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines, forth with a sequel. Yous can follow his adventures on Instagram and his YouTube channel.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/culture/six-turning-four-burning-a-closer-look-at-the-enormous-10-engine-b-36/
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