***********************************************************************************
HISTORY
***********************************************************************************
The Convair B-36 was the largest bomber, in sheer physical size, that has ever gone into service with the USAF. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the B-36 was the mainstay of the USAF's long-range strategic bombing deterrent. Serving primarily as a strategic deterrent, the B-36 never saw any combat, although some B-36 reconnaissance aircraft flew some rather hazardous missions near or perhaps even over Soviet territory during the height of the Cold War in the mid-1950s.
The origin of the B-36 can be traced back to the early days of 1941, at a time when it seemed that Britain might fall to a German invasion, depriving the USA of any European allies in case of war, and, in particular, leaving the Army Air Corps without any bases outside the Western Hemisphere. Consequently, the Air Corps felt that it would need a truly intercontinental bomber with unprecedented range, one that could bomb targets in Europe from bases inside the continental USA. In search of such an aircraft, on April 11, 1941, the USAAC, in an atmosphere of high secrecy, opened up a design competition for a bomber with a 450 mph top speed, a 275 mph cruising speed, a service ceiling of 45,000 feet, and a maximum range of 12,000 miles at 25,000 feet. It had to be able to carry a 10,000 pound bombload a distance of 5000 miles away and return, and had to be able to carry 72,000 pounds of bombs over a reduced range. It had to be able to take off and land on a 5000-foot runway. These requirements were far beyond the state of the art at the time.
The two XB-36s were to be built in San Diego, with the first one to be delivered by May of 1944. At the head of the chain of command at Consolidated was I. M. Laddon, the executive vice president. Key members of the Model 36 team were Harry A. Sutton, head of the Engineering Department, Ted P. Hall, head of the preliminary design group, Ralph L. Bayless, head of the Aerodynamics Group, Ken Ward, in charge of finalizing the external shape, and Robert H. Widmer, in charge of wind tunnel testing. By this time, the wing span had grown to 230 feet with an area of 4772 square feet. The wing had a slight sweepback, and sat high on a circular-section fuselage. The aircraft was to be powered by a set of six 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney "X" air-cooled radials. This engine was based on a pair 14-cylinder R-1830 Twin Wasp engine connected together, and in 1941 existed only on paper. These six engines were each to drive a 19-foot three-bladed Curtiss propeller in pusher configuration. The engines were to be accessible for maintenance in flight via passageways in the 7.5-foot thick wing root. Six fuel tanks with a capacity of 21,116 US gallons were incorporated into the wing. The 163-foot fuselage had four separate bomb bays with a maximum capacity of 42,000 pounds. Like in the B-29, only the forward crew compartment and the gunner's weapons sighting station compartment behind the bomb bay were to be pressurized. A 25-inch diameter, 80-foot long pressurized tube ran alongside the bomb bays to connect the forward crew compartment to the rear gunners' compartment. Crewmen could use a wheeled trolley to slide back and forth. The crew consisted of 15 (pilot, copilot, radar/bombardier, navigator, flight engineer, two radiomen, three forward gunners, and five rear gunners). Four rest bunks were provided for relief. An extremely heavy defensive armament was to be provided, consisting of five 37-mm cannon and ten 0.50-inch machine guns. These guns were to be distributed among four retractable turrets and a radar-directed tail turret. The guns were to be remotely directed by gunners situated at sighting stations distributed throughout the fuselage.
On March 17, 1943, the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation merged with Vultee Aircraft, Inc, becoming the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. This name was often truncated to "Convair", although this name did not become official until April 29, 1954, when Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation became the Convair division of the General Dynamics Corporation.
The first XB-36 (42-13570) was rolled out of the Fort Worth factory on September 8, 1945. It sat on massive single 110-inch diameter main wheels, which restricted it to only three runways in the USA which had sufficiently thick concrete to support the weight of the aircraft.
The first XB-36 took off from Fort Worth on its maiden flight on August 8, 1946, remaining in the air for 37 minutes. It was piloted by Beryl A. Erickson and G. S. "Gus" Green, assisted by seven other crew members. It was the heaviest and largest landplane ever to fly up to that time. Flight tests turned up problems with the wing flap actuating system, the engine cooling was poor, and turbulent airflow off the wings caused propeller vibration which adversely affected the wing structure. The aircraft's overall performance fell below the original expectations. Engine cooling was a problem which resulted in the inability of the XB-36 to maintain altitudes over 30,000 feet for any extended period of time. The range was too short and the speed was too low. Besides the known structural limitations, the XB-36 had the single-wheel landing gear and carried only a minimum number of components, and lacked the nose armament that had been planned for the second XB-36. There were also problems with the aluminum wiring that had been fitted to save weight in place of the more reliable but heavier copper.
The initial production version was the B-36A. The first production B-36A (44-92004) retained the R-4360-25s of the two prototypes. It flew for the first time on August 28, 1947, actually beating the second XB-36 into the air by four months. Beryl Erickson was again at the controls. Although it had been decided that production B-36s should carry a defensive armament of sixteen 20-mm cannon, no armament was actually fitted to this aircraft. However, an AN/APQ-23 bombing navigational radar was installed. This aircraft was only fitted with enough equipment for a flight to Wright Field in Ohio, where it was permanently grounded so that it could be structurally tested to destruction. It was permanently designated as YB-36A.
A further 21 B-36As were completed (44-92005/92025). None of them were fitted with any armament either, at least initially. Nineteen of them were delivered to the 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy) which was based at Carswell AFB, located just across the field from the Convair factory at Fort Worth. The first delivery was on June 26, 1948. The last B-36A was accepted in February 1949. They were used exclusively for training and crew conversion.
Copyright and Distribution
***********************************************************************************
This aircraft is released as Freeware. Copyright Gary Shetter.
As freeware you are permitted to distribute this
archive subject to the following conditions,
- The archive must be distributed without modification to the
contents of the archive. Redistributing this archive with any files
added, removed or modified is prohibited.
- The included images in the paintkit are not subject to the above restriction.
you may create and distribute freely any newly created texture
packages.
- The inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another
archive without the prior permission of the author is prohibited.
This means, for example, that you may not upload an archive that uses
our visual or flight models with your own aircraft or include it in a
package containing a panel or aircraft sounds without first obtaining
the authors' permission.
- No charge may be made for this archive other than that to cover the
cost of its distribution. If a fee is charged it must be made clear
to the purchaser that the archive is freeware and that the fee is to
cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive.
- The authors' rights and wishes concerning this archive must be
respected.
Copyright 2017 by Gary Shetter. All Rights Reserved.
