Flyboys - Educate me on the B36

[herr_oberst]

Watched SAC with Jimmy Stewart last night.


WTF is with that B36 - 6 radial engines and 4(?) jets -

Were 6 engines not enough to lift the plane on takeoff, so they added the jets?

What year was that aircraft designed, mid 50's?

Cold war tactics, just fly around and let "the other guys" (rooskies) know we're up there?

(and that so called Holland Tunnel - what is that, do the wing stumps take up all that space in the tub, or is that something else?)

(Boring as hell movie, reminded me of Jimmy Stewart in "Lindbergh")

[Heel n Toe]

That thing is a piece of work, eh?

Wiki is your friend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_B-36

[fingpilot]

That was a great airplane according to the guys that flew it. The 'tunnel' was so the crew could pass from the front of the plane to the back (past the bomb bays) and stay in the pressurized comfort of (then) high altitude flight. Boeing learned a great deal from Convair about building BIG from that plane.

If you look (not even from too far away) you'll see design elements of the B-52 there.

The propellers were always an issue, they couldn't keep the engine oil warm enough at altitude to flow thru the hubs and control pitch of the blades (meaning engine RPM went out of control. In the time it takes you to say 'instant detonation', you had started melting things in any one of the triple rows of cyl heads). There were jokes about minimum number of engines required to land the plane. I have a grandfather whose logbook has a funny section about total takeoffs with 10 engines and total landings with 10 engines. The two numbers are drastically different. They ended up going with electrically controlled pitch mechanisms (which introduced a whole new set of problems).

As I remember, the jets were used at takeoff, then shut down as radials cooled after initial climb power reduction and cowl flaps went to trail. They were started inflight again at altitude when a climb was needed.

[kmhemi]

reminds me alot of a bigger version of a B29 which also had that crazy tunnel to get to the rear of the plane. If you have never heard the sound of a B29 you dont know what you're missing...those are some GOOD sounding engines. B17's sound awesome too.

[cairns]

There's one (indoors) at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH. Truly a remarkable beast.

[herr_oberst]

I did look on Wiki, and I will say, for 1941 technology that thing is awesome. I had no idea - I knew aircraft development went thru the roof during the good war, but that thing is like a spaceship compared to even aircraft from a decade earlier.

Its funny, you think you know things, then something like this appears, and you just go huh?

(the Lockheed Constellation made me do the same thing, what a beautiful airplane.)

[304065]

[daepp]

RE: the tunnel, if you ever read Catch-22, this was the tunnel Yossarian was always complaining about. His character was the tail gunner - to bail out, you had to make your way forward through the tunnel. If you get up under a B-29, you can clearly see the pressure domes vs. non-pressurized portions of the plane.

[Joeaksa]

Another major problem with the airplane was the weight. There were only 3 airports in the entire country that could handle the weight of this monster until they changed the gear over later on in production.

[daepp]

My father grew up outside of Ft. Worth where the B-36 was produced. He spoke several times f what it sounded like when a fleet of B-36's would depart the area. Apparently it was something to behold!

[fingpilot]

As I remember, there was even a version that had a tank-track type of arrangement for landing gear. Supposedly to spread the weight around.

I would have liked to see that flight test.

[charleskieffner]

ah YOSSARIAN! CATCH-22......................my ALLTIME FAVORITE FILM! the best movie EVER DEPICTING THE INSANITY OF DAYLIGHT BOMBING THE POLESTI OIL FIELDS!

actually not at all different from the stories my dad told me of flyboys in the pacific, flying from new guinea,saipan,luzon, biak.

joesph heller NAILED IT WITH THAT FLICK!


went down to san carlos messiko when i was 18-19yrs. old where it was filmed. the "CATCH-22" beach. went diving there for 2 weeks with (2) boats. had the entire bay/runway(boeing 707 strip) and palm trees and control tower all to ourselves. never saw ANYJUAN the entire time we were staying there. LOBSTER(bugs) CITY!................................

sigh...........its now a club med and the entire area is stuffed with cookie cutter condos. heard the club med went belly up.

[GO DAWG GO]

Ah the B-36 Peacemaker,

Designed during WWII in the event that Britain was lost and and the US Army Aircorps needed to strike Europe from American soil. The mammoth airplane was quite larger than the B-29 and really shared nothing with the B-52 or B-47. In my opinion it was technically more like a B-29. Pressure bulkheads and the crawl tube to the aft compartment was for the gunners. Trailing edge mounted Pratt and Whitney R-4360, 28 cylinder compound fuel injected engines serviceable in flight through the wing route access delivering 3000 HP. The aircraft had a range of 3-4000 miles IIRC. and could deliver 12-18000 pounds or various ordnance to Germany from the US. also noted was the General electric computerized remote gunnery system that operated twin 20 mm cannons on servo controlled turrets.

The aircraft remained in service until 1955ish until replaced by the B-47

Bob

Check the net, my info should be pretty close off the cuff....

[daepp]

I saw a guy at Chino building a Reno Racer using that R-4360. Very cool looking engine - I understand it won some mechanical engineering award back in the day. I always thought it was carbureted tho...

[daepp]

The Aluminum Overcast



43,000 lb Thermonuclear Bomb - 25 ft. long!

[daepp]

The tunnel as seen as it runs through the bomb bay.


The tunnel hatch


Inside the tunnel - probably a fairly terrifying journey when the plane is not straight and level...


How'd you like to hit the ground on this?

[74-911]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

My father grew up outside of Ft. Worth where the B-36 was produced. He spoke several times f what it sounded like when a fleet of B-36's would depart the area. Apparently it was something to behold!

I used to see them fly over N. TX (near Abilene) in the 50's on flights out of Carswell.. Looked like they were barely moving and an incredible drone those radials made.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by fingpilot

As I remember, there was even a version that had a tank-track type of arrangement for landing gear. Supposedly to spread the weight around.

I would have liked to see that flight test.

Agreed and this one would have been interesting to watch.

[herr_oberst]

Thanks to all the buffs who chimed in. I know the info on this stuff is available on Wiki, or just doing a google search, but to me half the fun of the OT is hearing real stories about this kind of stuff.

Also, I have no math skills at all, so it just flummoxes me that this and so much of what made the industrial nations great, is the fact that so much of these machines were designed on the drafting board using slide rules. No Cray supercomputer to help crunch the numbers. It boggles the mind. . .

Can you imagine what we could do if we could harness that kind of brain power again, with modern tools?

Oh well, at least we have realistic video games.

[RPKESQ]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Also, I have no math skills at all, so it just flummoxes me that this and so much of what made the industrial nations great, is the fact that so much of these machines were designed on the drafting board using slide rules. No Cray supercomputer to help crunch the numbers. It boggles the mind. . .

Can you imagine what we could do if we could harness that kind of brain power again, with modern tools?

Oh well, at least we have realistic video games.

What leads you to believe we are not harnessing that kind of brainpower with modern tools? I see evidence of it everyday.