The BIGGEST bomber that never dropped a bomb: Convair B-36

Video from the channel Aviacore DE about Convair, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 1:00:40. Language: German. Video type: Documentary.

Documentary about the Convair B-36 Peacemaker, the American postwar strategic bomber. It covers its origin, its design, its mixed piston-and-jet propulsion, the political controversy surrounding the program, life on board, its accidents and its deterrent role until the arrival of the B-52.

The project began in 1941, when the US Army requested a bomber able to attack targets in Eurasia from American territory and return without refueling. The requirement called for a range of about 16,000 km, a payload of at least 4,500 kg and a ceiling close to 12,000 m. The contract went to Consolidated Aircraft, based in San Diego, and production later moved to Fort Worth, Texas. The relocation, wartime priorities and changing requirements delayed the program. The prototype first flew in August 1946 in Fort Worth, and the aircraft reached operational units about seven years after design work began.

In 1949 the program became caught up in the so-called "Revolt of the Admirals," the clash between the Navy and the Air Force that ended in congressional hearings. Assigned to Curtis LeMay's Strategic Air Command, the B-36 served as a piece of nuclear deterrence and never dropped an actual bomb in combat. The B-52 replaced it, and it was retired from service in February 1959.

It had a wingspan of about 70 m, more than the Boeing 747's 68 m, and a fuselage nearly 49 m long. At the root, the wing was almost 2.5 m thick, and inside it there were tunnels about 70 cm wide through which the flight engineer crawled in flight to inspect the engines. A pressurized tunnel about 25 m long connected the cabins, and the crew moved through it lying on a wheeled trolley. It carried four bomb bays with capacity for up to 39,000 kg of bombs. It weighed about 77 t empty and up to 180 t at takeoff.

Its six Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major pusher engines, 28-cylinder units producing about 3,500 hp each, suffered frequent overheating and breakdowns. From 1949 four General Electric J47 jet engines were added in two pods, raising top speed from about 370 to about 670 km/h. The crew numbered up to 22 on missions lasting around 35 hours.

The video recounts the February 1950 accident over the Pacific. A B-36 carrying a nuclear weapon suffered engine fires, the crew bailed out by parachute and the aircraft crashed on Princess Royal Island (British Columbia). Surviving examples are preserved at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, a B-36J, and at the Castle museum in California.