The B-36. Would have loved to sit in the cockpit and just stare at gauges!
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=boeing+b-36&qpvt=boeing+b-36&FORM=IGRE
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=boeing+b-36&qpvt=boeing+b-36&FORM=IGRE
1950's US bomber thats always facinated me
- Thread starter Blaze
- Start date
- Status
I always try to catch the first 45 min or so of STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND with Jimmy Stewart whenever it shows on RetroHD or any other channel. The dialogue is pretty banal, but the in-flight scenes are first class.
Love the B-36 and love the Pratt&Whitney R4360. Anything with 56 spark plugs is cool by definition ;-)
My other favorite US bomber was a little more modern, but as also a Convair product:
In fact, I have a picture on my office wall of the B-58 prototype on the tarmac at Fort Worth, and if you walk up close to the picture you can see a couple of B-36s in the background.
Here's one of it with my second favorite jet bomber:
My other favorite US bomber was a little more modern, but as also a Convair product:
In fact, I have a picture on my office wall of the B-58 prototype on the tarmac at Fort Worth, and if you walk up close to the picture you can see a couple of B-36s in the background.
Here's one of it with my second favorite jet bomber:
HA! the Valkyrie!
here's the lone snap i took of it in the R&D Hangar @the Airforce Museum (really that hangar is on WPAFB, but it's part of the museum)
here's the lone snap i took of it in the R&D Hangar @the Airforce Museum (really that hangar is on WPAFB, but it's part of the museum)
Originally Posted By: lyle
I always try to catch the first 45 min or so of STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND with Jimmy Stewart whenever it shows on RetroHD or any other channel. The dialogue is pretty banal, but the in-flight scenes are first class.
Great classic movie! yes! loved the inside shots of the plane they got...I remember the part where they had a pulley cart they layed on to move them throughout the air craft. Cant imagine the SOUND those planes made!
I always try to catch the first 45 min or so of STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND with Jimmy Stewart whenever it shows on RetroHD or any other channel. The dialogue is pretty banal, but the in-flight scenes are first class.
Great classic movie! yes! loved the inside shots of the plane they got...I remember the part where they had a pulley cart they layed on to move them throughout the air craft. Cant imagine the SOUND those planes made!
There was a good TV show about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_British_Columbia_B-36_crash
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_British_Columbia_B-36_crash
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Love the B-36 and love the Pratt&Whitney R4360. Anything with 56 spark plugs is cool by definition ;-)
My other favorite US bomber was a little more modern, but as also a Convair product:
In fact, I have a picture on my office wall of the B-58 prototype on the tarmac at Fort Worth, and if you walk up close to the picture you can see a couple of B-36s in the background.
Here's one of it with my second favorite jet bomber:
on that B-58 what did they use that pod for?
Love the B-36 and love the Pratt&Whitney R4360. Anything with 56 spark plugs is cool by definition ;-)
My other favorite US bomber was a little more modern, but as also a Convair product:
In fact, I have a picture on my office wall of the B-58 prototype on the tarmac at Fort Worth, and if you walk up close to the picture you can see a couple of B-36s in the background.
Here's one of it with my second favorite jet bomber:
on that B-58 what did they use that pod for?
Originally Posted By: Blaze
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Love the B-36 and love the Pratt&Whitney R4360. Anything with 56 spark plugs is cool by definition ;-)
My other favorite US bomber was a little more modern, but as also a Convair product:
In fact, I have a picture on my office wall of the B-58 prototype on the tarmac at Fort Worth, and if you walk up close to the picture you can see a couple of B-36s in the background.
Here's one of it with my second favorite jet bomber:
on that B-58 what did they use that pod for?
Fuel, nuclear weapons, and countermeasures. It was partitioned. Later they started attaching MK43 nukes to racks on the wings.
B58's are one of my favorites for years, been reading about them since I was 12. We had them sationed here in Indiana, Grissom AFB (Bunker Hill) until 1969-1970 when they were retired. There is still a TB-58 at the base museum.
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Love the B-36 and love the Pratt&Whitney R4360. Anything with 56 spark plugs is cool by definition ;-)
My other favorite US bomber was a little more modern, but as also a Convair product:
In fact, I have a picture on my office wall of the B-58 prototype on the tarmac at Fort Worth, and if you walk up close to the picture you can see a couple of B-36s in the background.
Here's one of it with my second favorite jet bomber:
on that B-58 what did they use that pod for?
Fuel, nuclear weapons, and countermeasures. It was partitioned. Later they started attaching MK43 nukes to racks on the wings.
B58's are one of my favorites for years, been reading about them since I was 12. We had them sationed here in Indiana, Grissom AFB (Bunker Hill) until 1969-1970 when they were retired. There is still a TB-58 at the base museum.
Last edited:
You can walk right up to, under, and around a B-36 in Tucson at the Pima Air Museum. I have and it was incredible. Huge aircraft and fascinating to stand so close to it.
A six engine pusher with some turbojets thrown in just for grins?
What's not to like?
The flight engineer must have really earned his pay on this big boy with all of those engines to look after, six of which were big radials.
A huge airplane, although it would had to have had a lot of span just to fit all of those engines on the wing.
There's one in one of the older sections of the USAF Museum at Wright-Pat that you can walk all around.
This last generation piston bomber would have a short service life, as would the later Convair B-58, which was the only supersonic US bomber to see service.
The USAF Museum also has one of these.
The B-70 is also a really neat aircraft, considering the age of its technology and the performance of which it was capable.
Aside from cost, the development of capable surface to air and air to air missiles made it obsolete, since it would have had a heat signature that would have made it very easy to spot, track and hit.
The surviving B-70 of the two built is at the USAF Museum as well. The other was destroyed in a mid-air in a formation flight conducted for a photo op.
What's not to like?
The flight engineer must have really earned his pay on this big boy with all of those engines to look after, six of which were big radials.
A huge airplane, although it would had to have had a lot of span just to fit all of those engines on the wing.
There's one in one of the older sections of the USAF Museum at Wright-Pat that you can walk all around.
This last generation piston bomber would have a short service life, as would the later Convair B-58, which was the only supersonic US bomber to see service.
The USAF Museum also has one of these.
The B-70 is also a really neat aircraft, considering the age of its technology and the performance of which it was capable.
Aside from cost, the development of capable surface to air and air to air missiles made it obsolete, since it would have had a heat signature that would have made it very easy to spot, track and hit.
The surviving B-70 of the two built is at the USAF Museum as well. The other was destroyed in a mid-air in a formation flight conducted for a photo op.
I've seen the B-36 at the SAC museum in Omaha. Enormous airplane! They even have the XF-85 nearby in that museum, which also features an AVRO Vulcan (since were talking bombers).
Throughout its time in service, the B-36 was the subject of USAF lore, some apocryphal, some containing a grain of truth.
"If all engines function normally at full power during the pre-takeoff warm-up, the lead flight engineer will sometimes say to the Aircraft Commander (AC), 'six turning and four burning.'" Erratic reliability led to the wisecrack, 'two turning, two burning, two joking, and two smoking, with two engines not accounted for.'"
"If all engines function normally at full power during the pre-takeoff warm-up, the lead flight engineer will sometimes say to the Aircraft Commander (AC), 'six turning and four burning.'" Erratic reliability led to the wisecrack, 'two turning, two burning, two joking, and two smoking, with two engines not accounted for.'"
The 50's - early 60's were an interesting time for American military aviation. The military-industrial complex that Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about had not yet fully formed into today's oligarchy, and the many smaller aerospace firms were always innovating and competing with each other trying to get the latest contract. There was many dead ends and the "Century Series" was a failure in combat but there is no doubt that many interesting aircraft were produced.
Nice i like the 50s and 60's jets. I always liked the F-105 Thunderchief.
Last edited:
I decided to order the model for the grandson...should be a kick putting this one together!
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
A Vulcan?
In Omaha?
Wow, although I'm not too sure when our travels will take us anywhere near there.
I saw one in flight once at an airshow years ago.
A gorgeous airplane.
What would a British bomber be doing in the SAC museum?
Once upon a time, the UK played an active role in NATO (unlike today where most of Europe is content to fail to meet their NATO defense requirements and let the US make up the difference), and their V-Bomber fleet functioned as the UK's SAC.
A Vulcan?
In Omaha?
Wow, although I'm not too sure when our travels will take us anywhere near there.
I saw one in flight once at an airshow years ago.
A gorgeous airplane.
What would a British bomber be doing in the SAC museum?
Once upon a time, the UK played an active role in NATO (unlike today where most of Europe is content to fail to meet their NATO defense requirements and let the US make up the difference), and their V-Bomber fleet functioned as the UK's SAC.
Originally Posted By: Blaze
I decided to order the model for the grandson...should be a kick putting this one together!
Back in the early '80's I bought the Monogram 1/72 B36 kit. That is a huge kit. I still have it sitting WAAAAY back on a shelf in my utility room. I don't think I've even opened the box in 20-25 years.
I decided to order the model for the grandson...should be a kick putting this one together!
Back in the early '80's I bought the Monogram 1/72 B36 kit. That is a huge kit. I still have it sitting WAAAAY back on a shelf in my utility room. I don't think I've even opened the box in 20-25 years.
- Status
