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The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" [N 1] is a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built, although it was exceeded in span and weight by the one-off Hughes H-4 Hercules. It has the longest wingspan of any combat ...
Modified version of the B-36 with swept wings and tail surfaces and powered by eight J-57-P-3 engines for evaluation against the B-52, two built. XC-99 Transport version of the B-36 using the wings, tail surfaces and six R-4360-41 pusher engines with a two-deck fuselage for 400 troops. One built and used for trials and research from 1949 to ...
The Air Force was sufficiently interested that on 15 March 1951, it authorized Convair to convert two B-36Fs (49-2676 and 49-2684) as the B-36G. Since the aircraft was so radically different from the existing B-36, the designation was soon changed to YB-60. The YB-60 had 72% parts commonality with its piston-engined predecessor.
Fortunately, the B-52 has multiple engines, but it’s a reminder that the US military is still relying on an aircraft first flown in the 1950s that has outlasted the Cold War by more than 30 years.
The B-52G entered service on 13 February 1959 (a day earlier, the last B-36 was retired, making SAC an all-jet bomber force). 193 B-52Gs were produced, making this the most produced B-52 variant. Most B-52Gs were destroyed in compliance with the 1992 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ; the last B-52G, number 58-224, was dismantled under New START ...
Convair B-36: 8 Aug 1946: Bomber: 384: 54.02 yards (49.40 meters) 76.66 yards (70.10 meters) 183.06 tons: Heaviest until the B-52, longest and widest until the Hughes H-4: Hughes H-4 Hercules (Spruce Goose) 2 Nov 1947: Flying boat: 1: 72.94 yards (66.70 meters) 106.95 yards (97.80 meters) 177.15 tons: Longest until the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and ...
O-57 Grasshopper at the National Museum of the United States Air Force A de Havilland Mosquito PR Mk XVI (F-8) of the 654th BS, Eighth Air Force at RAF Watton, 1944 North American B-25D (F-10) Mitchell photographic reconnaissance and mapping aircraft North American P-51C-5-NT Mustang (F-6C) Serial No 42-103368 of the 15th TRS at St. Dizler Airfield, France, Autumn 1944.
The nuclear arms race became of signal importance. The Air Force retired nearly all of its propeller-driven B-29/B-50s and they were replaced by new Boeing B-47 Stratojet aircraft. By 1955 the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress would be entering the inventory in substantial numbers, as the prop-driven B-36s were quickly phased out of heavy bombardment ...