Posted on 03/13/2022 7:26:03 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Much was made of the fact that the wing of the B-36 Peacemaker was deep enough to allow engineers to enter it and maintain the engines in flight.
Conceived during 1941 in case Germany occupied Britain, when US bombers would then have insufficient range to retaliate, the B-36 Peacemaker was to be primarily a ‘10,000-mile bomber’ with heavy defensive armament, six engines and a performance that would prevent interception by fighters.
It was one of the first aircraft to use substantial amounts of magnesium in its structure, leading to the bomber’s ‘Magnesium Overcast’ nickname. It earned many superlatives due to the size and complexity of its structure, which used 27 miles of wiring, had a wingspan longer than the Wright brothers’ first flight, equivalent engine power to 400 cars, the same internal capacity as three five-room houses and 27,000 gallons of internal fuel – enough to propel a car around the world 18 times.
Pilot Lt Col Ed Sandin of the 5th SRW pioneered a hazardous technique for reaching down and inserting a main landing gear down-lock in flight after numerous attempts to make the gear lock down. The narrow crawl-way to this position over the wheel well meant that the job had to be done without wearing a parachute, while trying to avoid looking down into an open abyss below.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaviationgeekclub.com ...
Seriously, Shirley?
Agree - this article is “pop sugar” and lacking in so many ways. Thank you for posting the link with greater detail. Several years ago there was a guy who shared some funny first-hand accounts at Carswell. He told about the low pass that clipped some power lines.
A very nice find!
Many interesting bits...
“The only loss of a Peacemaker carrying a nuclear weapon occurred when B-36B
(44-92075) crashed in British Columbia on February 14, 1950.”
I did my BS & MS in engineering with slide rule, and when began working bought a TI electronic calculator for $250 (in mid 1960’s money probably $1500 in todays money) and it could do square roots!
“There’s one in the Museum of the Air Force at Wright Patterson AFB.”
Amazing. I saw this plane at Wright Patterson in 1957. Some visions stick in your mind and this is one of those.
I was in awe then and, frankly, still am.
Good stuff!
—”That 15C sold me on reverse Polish notation, but I don’t think any calculators with RPN are still being made.”
RPN makes my brain hurt, but there are RPN emulators if you want one!
It was a bomb truck designed in wartime designed to drop maximum tonnage at maximum radius in the extreme that Hitler achieved his early wartime goals.
Obviously, Hitler swallowed the blue pill and the plane was never needed, but was deployed nonetheless and served an effective propaganda role until the B52 flew in 1952 when, ironically, the Soviets deployed their first bomber capable of reaching the US (TU-195) with 'the bomb'.
I’m OK as long as the old HP lives. RPN is great; no parentheses or equals signs to enter. Just start at the inside of the calculation and work your way out.
There is also one at the SAC Museum near Omaha which is well worth visiting.
I saw a few of these flying in and out of MacDill AFB in Tampa when I was a youngster. I still remember the roar that they made to this day.
And destroyed the existing flying wing airframes. What a waste and a shame! I saw the smaller N9-M fly at Planes of Fame in Chino. Another flying wing lost forever.
B 29 behind the B 36 and B 47 behind that.
Not only drawn on vellum, but by loftsmen working on hands and knees. Anyone not familiar with the term should check it out.
Those slide rules were fun and ingenious. It forced me to know my math before making a calculation.
As one of the folks that helps maintain the planes at Pima, I have had the opportunity to get up inside this B36. The interior is nearly complete.
Yes, the B47 is further back, behind the 4 engine prop cargo plane. C54 maybe.
Blow photo up and look at cockpit...not a C 54. I said earlier a B 29 but could be a B 50 or the tanker version thereof.
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