GREAT B-36 CLIP

[Cloudchaser427]

For those of you old enough to remember Jimmy Stewart in "Strategic Air Command" in the 1950's, here is a clip from that movie. Like many of the other films of that period, Stewart played a major league baseball player in the Post WWII period who is called back to active duty service to join SAC. Anyway, whoever sent out this clip found some good pictures of the interiors and exterior of the B-36. Remember, "Six Turnin' and Four Burnin"".....the six props and the four jets that were hung out on the wing to help the production models get off the ground. The B-36 was designed during WWII when the US thought that England would be lost and we would be fighting the Germans from the US and Canada. 20It was designed to take the War to European cities from this side of the Atlantic.
Last of the piston-engined bombers…a behemoth, Worth it for the sound - six piston and four jet engines. You will also see Jimmy Stewart on the jump seat.....Look at all those instruments and engine controls at the Flight Engineer station. Also note that the Co-Pilot controls the Jet engines while the Flight Engineer controls the pistons. Makes me want to go watch the movie again (ha ha).

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/2008-4-18-B-36-SAC-Video.wmv

Solo

[SkyvanDelta]

Re: GREAT B-36 CLIP

Great video and what a beast of a machine.

Some info from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_B-36

The wing roots were thick enough, 7 ft (2.1 m), to enable a flight engineer to access the engines and landing gear by crawling through the wings. This was possible only at altitudes not requiring pressurization.[31]

The Wasp Major engines also had a prodigious appetite for lubricating oil, each engine requiring its own 100 gallon (380 L) tank. A former ground crewman has written: "[I don't recall] an oil change interval as I think the oil consumption factor handled that." It was not unusual for a mission to end simply because one or more engines ran out of oil.

Like all large aircraft powered by piston engines, the B-36 was prone to engine fires. The problem was exacerbated by the pusher configuration, which facilitated carburetor icing. The design of the R-4360 engine tacitly assumed that it would be mounted in the conventional tractor configuration - propeller/air intake/28 cylinders/carburetor - with air flowing in that order. In this configuration, the carburetor is bathed in air warmed by engine cooling and so is unlikely to ice up. However, the R-4360 engines in the B-36 were mounted in the pusher configuration - air intake/carburetor/28 cylinders/propeller. The carburetor was now in front of the engine and so could not benefit from engine heat, and also made more traditional short term carb heat systems unsuitable. Hence when intake air was cold and humid, ice gradually obstructed the carburetor air intake, which in turn gradually increased the richness of the air/fuel mixture until the unburned fuel in the exhaust caught fire. Three engine fires of this nature led to the first loss of an American nuclear weapon, described below[32] (an event known as a broken arrow in military terminology).

Training missions were typically in two parts; first, a 40 hour flight - followed by some time on the ground for refueling and maintenance - then a 24 hour second flight. With a sufficiently light load, the B-36 could fly at least 10,000 miles (16,000 km) nonstop, and the highest cruising speed of any version, the B-36J-III, was only 230 mph (380 km/h). Turning the jet engines on could raise the cruising speed to over 400 mph (650 km/h), but the resulting higher fuel consumption reduced the range. Hence a 40-hour mission, with the jets used only for takeoff and climbing, flew about 9,200 miles (15,000 km).

The B-36 was not a particularly enjoyable aircraft to fly. Its overall performance, in terms of speed and manuverability, was never considered sprightly. Lieutenant General James Edmundson likened it to "...sitting on your front porch and flying your house around."[33] Despite its immense exterior size, the pressurized crew compartments were relatively cramped, especially when occupied for 24 hours by a crew of 15 in full flight kit.

The propulsion system alone made the B-36 a very unusual aircraft. All B-36s featured six Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial piston engines. Even though the prototype R-4360s delivered a total of 18,000 hp (13.4 MW), early B-36s were slow and required long takeoff runs. The situation improved with later versions delivering 3,800 hp (2.8 MW) apiece.[19] Each engine drove an immense three-bladed propeller, 19 ft (5.8 m) in diameter, mounted in the pusher configuration. This unusual configuration prevented propeller turbulence from interfering with airflow over the wing.

Beginning with the B-36D, Convair suspended a pair of General Electric J47-19 jet engines from each wing; these were also retrofitted to all extant B-36Bs. Thus the B-36 came to have 10 engines, more than any other mass-produced aircraft. The jet pods greatly improved takeoff performance and dash speed over the target. In normal cruising flight, the jet engines were shut down to conserve fuel.

The B-36 had a crew of 15. As in the B-29, the pressurized flight deck and crew compartment were linked to the rear compartment by a pressurized tunnel through the bomb bay. In the B-36, one rode through the tunnel on a wheeled trolley, by pulling oneself on a rope. The rear compartment led to the rear turret, and featured six bunks and a galley.[20] The B-36 also tested the experimental Boston Camera.

Closeup of experimental tracked landing gear.The XB-36 featured single-wheel landing gear whose tires were the largest ever manufactured up to that time, 9 ft, 2 in (2.7 m) tall, 3 ft (1 m) thick, and weighing 1,320 lb (600 kg), with enough rubber for 60 automobile tires.[21] These tires placed so much weight per unit area on runways, the XB-36 was restricted to the Fort Worth airfield next to where it was manufactured, and to a mere two USAF bases. At the suggestion of General Henry H. Arnold, the single-wheel gear was soon replaced by a more conventional four-wheel bogie. At one point a tank-like tracked landing gear was also tried on the XB-36, but proved heavy and noisy and was quickly abandoned. .[22] [23]

The B-36 was in service as part of the USAF Strategic Air Command from 1948 through 1958.

The B-36 was progressively removed from service as the B-52 became operational in 1955. The last B-36s left active USAF service in 1959.

[SkyvanDelta]

Re: GREAT B-36 CLIP

Only four (and a half) B-36 type aircraft survive today, from the 384 produced.[38]

YB-36/RB-36E AF Serial No. 42-13571. This was the first prototype to be converted to the bubble canopy used on production B-36s. It was on display in the 1950s at the former site of the Air Force Museum, now the National Museum of the United States Air Force, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. When the museum moved to its current location at Wright-Patterson, the cost of moving the bomber was more than simply flying a different B-36 to the new location and the aircraft was slated to be scrapped. Instead, private collector Walter Soplata bought it and transported the pieces by truck to his farm in Newbury, Ohio, where it sits today in several large pieces. The bomb bay currently contains a complete P-47N still packed in its original shipping crate.

and here's the man who owns a B-36, along with lots of other mil spec planes in Newbury, Ohio.

Here is his collection viewed from a satellite
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...of%20airplanes.

and some photos of his collection here

http://www.webshots.com/search?query=Walter+Soplata+Collection

You can read about him here

Here's a 6 page story from his grandson in Air and Space Magazine:

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/soplata.html

http://www.forpilots.com/archive/rec.aviation.restoration/2/msg2134.htm

or read more from a google search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Walter+Soplata+&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

[beachboss]

Re: GREAT B-36 CLIP

I know of one at Castle AFB Museum in Atwater, California. I do not know what model it is but it is a beaut.

[jimmyboyB50]

Re: GREAT B-36 CLIP

Its a RB-36. If anyone is local or wants to travel, the museum has a open cockpit day the Sunday before Memorial day.

http://www.air-and-space.com/20020525-26%20Castle%20Museum%20RB-36H%20Interior.htm

Question for the B-36 guys. Don't know if this is standard but the RB at Castle on the aft side of the prop blades ~1.0 from the tip there is a NACA duct ~.500x ~.750, what is that for?

[BillRo]

Re: GREAT B-36 CLIP

Pima AZ is restoring another. The wing is on the fuselage but the outer wing panels are off as of a couple of weeks ago.

BillRo

[hattend]

Re: GREAT B-36 CLIP

What happened to the B-36 that was on display at Chanute AFB, Rantoul Ill? There was a B-58 there as well when the base closed.

Don

[John H]

Re: GREAT B-36 CLIP

The Chanute B36 is the one mentioned at Castle. Arrived in the fall of 1990.

John

[hattend]

Re: GREAT B-36 CLIP

That must have been a heck of a sight going down I-80.

Thanks for the info

Don

[AirDOGGe]

Re: GREAT B-36 CLIP

It actually went by railroad...

You can see photos of the move and re-assembly at: http://www.air-and-space.com/castlb36.htm