B-36 Peacemaker in action by Meyers K. Jacobsen & Ray Wagner- a book review
Convair’s huge B-36 started out as a design for a very heavy bomber that could reach Nazi-occupied Europe from the CONUS and return without refueling, or conduct very long-range missions over the Pacific without the need for forward bases. A mockup was built some months before Pearl Harbor, but it would be well into the postwar era before operational Peacemakers would arrive, and by that time the B-36 would serve as a deterrent against a new adversary.
Highlights:
* 1942 artist’s conception & mockup with twin tails
* 5 XB-36 shots, including damage to main gear
* B-36A/B 15 shots, including good close-ups of the nose, tail, and dorsal turrets
* B-36C (never-built tractor-prop variant) model & mockup of wing
* B-36D, RB-36D & RB-36E 20 images; scrap diagrams of jet pod, early and later bomb bay door configurations, B-36B & B-36D canopy development, RB-36 radomes
* B-36D 3-view, 4 interior shots of RB-36D crew positions
* B-36F, B-36H, RB-36H, B-36J 7 images; scrap drawings include tail radomes, B-36H nose, B-36J (III) Featherweight conversion
* B-36 wings, 1955 17 images, including RB-36H crash at Denver and hulks at Davis-Monthan
* XC-99 4 images
* YB-60 – originally the YB-36G, the swept-wing jet-powered outgrowth of the Peacemaker created as a competitor to Boeing’s B-52.
* 4 images (including the never-flown second aircraft)
* FICON & Tom-Tom GRB-36F with F-84E and B-29 chase plane with black undersides; 3 shots of an YRF-84F hookup B-36 Tom-Tom with single F-84, ground shot of GRB-36D/RF-84K mating
* NB-36H “Convair Crusader” nuclear reactor testbed aircraft
* Serial number list
* 6 color profiles: B-36B 7th BG(H) Carswell AFB, B-36D 326th BS(H) Loring AFB, B-36D 42nd BW (H), RB-36E 72nd BS (H) “Circle-X” tail
* B-36H 7th BW (H) Carswell AFB, NB-36H
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Disclaimer: book purchased by myself
B-36 bibliography & suggested reading:
Modern Military Aircraft Anatomy edited by Paul E. Eden and Soph Moeing page 68-69 Cutaway diagram of a B-36J + Photos of a B-36A and the underside of a Peacemaker’s tail turret.
Chris Bishop The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare p.263: artwork depicting a B-36 dropping a Mk 17 H-bomb; p.275: color 3-view illustration of a GRB-36 with an RF-84K.
Donald Nijboe, Dan Patterson Cold War Cockpits p.67: photo showing the forward fuselage of a B-36 from the 4925th Test Group (Atomic)
Barry C. Wheeler Military Aircraft Markings p.92: color profiles, including a 7th BG B-36A, a B-model Peacemaker with high-vis tail and wingtips, RB-36E 492023, and B-36H 01092
Gerry Manning 1000 Preserved Aircraft in Colour p.94: photo of RB-36H 51-13730 on display at Castle AFB
Magazine Articles and Photos:
Curtiss Propellers ad, with artwork depicting a B-36 from above Aviation News December 16, 1946 p.15
Ad for Goodyear Aviation Products, showing a prototype B-36 in flight, and a close-up of the XB-36’s single wheel main landing gear. Aviation March 1947 p.4
Ad for the Timken Roller Bearing Company of Canton, Ohio, with an in-flight photo from above, showing Peacemaker 213570 Aviation March 1947 p.102
Photos: “B-36A In Production” Aviation Week October 13, 1947 p.36
“Air Force Building B-36 Fields” Aviation Week April 5, 1948 p.15 Includes an in-flight B-36A photo.
Photo: “GE Jets for B-36D” Aviation Week November 21, 1949 p.14
Photo: frontal view of a B-36 fitted with engine transport pods Aviation Week April 24, 1950 p.16
“Take a look at the Convair B-36…and see what makes it so potent” Ad for General Electric, featuring a large photo of a B-36D Aviation Week April 23, 1951 back cover
Photo taken from above a B-36 under maintenance, with engine cowlings removed. Aviation Week August 16, 1954 front cover
Photo: GRB-36 jacked up to facilitate loading an RF-84K Flight 22 July 1955 p.112
Photo: “Convair XB-36H and B-50 Escort Plane” Aviation Week August 6, 1956 p.149
Photo: “USAF’s Flying Nuclear Reactor” Aviation Week August 13, 1956 p.31
Photos (3): B-36s being broken up at Davis-Monthan Warbirds International Jan/Feb 2009 p.20-21
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