Convair B-36 Peacemaker - A Short History (US Air Force Aircraft History)

Video from the channel A Short History about Convair, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 4:42. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The video summarizes the history of the Convair B-36 Peacemaker, an intercontinental-range strategic bomber. In April 1941, fearing that the United Kingdom might fall, the US Army Air Corps requested a bomber capable of attacking Europe from North America; the initial requirements were later reduced to a 10,000-mile range.

In 1943, 100 aircraft were ordered before a prototype existed; the aircraft was unveiled in 1945 and first flew on August 8, 1946. At the start of the Cold War it was the only US aircraft capable of carrying the first atomic bombs to the Soviet Union, and it was the Strategic Air Command's main nuclear delivery vehicle until the arrival of the B-52.

It used six Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines in pusher configuration, to which the B-36D version added J47 jet engines near the wingtips; it carried 15 crew members and up to 87,200 pounds of bombs. It was retired in 1959 without having fired a shot in combat; 384 were built.