Convair B-36 Peacemaker dropping its bomb load on range 1954/55

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PrisonIssuedSock@reddit

I thought the video was looping because I didn't click on it to see how long it actually was, but god damn that's just a lot of bombs

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aflyingsquanch@reddit

The B-36 could carry 132 500-lb bombs in its four bomb bays.

Overall, it could carry 86,000 lbs of ordinance. The 132 bomb limit was a size issue rather than a lift capacity issue. It quadrupled the capacity of the B-29.

It also had an insane range as it was designed without mid-air refueling in mind as it could fly up to 10,000 miles without refueling.

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FJ60GatewayDrug@reddit

The range requirement was because it was the first intercontinental bomber. Take off from the US, give Hitler our regards, and fly home. Do it again next week.

What is even crazier to me is this plane ran on gasoline. Jet fuel is very stable and relatively difficult to ignite. Gasoline looks for an excuse. And the B-36 carried something like 30,000 gallons of it. 186,000 pounds, which meant at MTOW and full tanks it could be 45% gasoline by weight.

That’s a fuckload of fuel to be hanging around in the best of times. Better hope all those airmen obey the No Smoking signs!

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PlanesOfFame@reddit

Your comment and the other one makes me imagine how it must be to fly a minimum fuel empty loaded b-36. Imagine taking 250,000 off the weight and then flying around. Certainly not nimble, but I bet it could haul around better than we would imagine it able to

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Raise-Emotional@reddit

I enjoy when people in here talk about flying Ferry Flights on empty planes and the absurd amount of power they actually have to spare. Someone said an empty 747 was like riding a rocket.

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CPTMotrin@reddit

A lightly loaded 757 is even more impressive.

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SyrusDrake@reddit

I remember taking a 747-400 from Fukuoka to Tokyo. It's about a one hour flight, and most pax were commuters, so I imagine not a lot of luggage on board either. I swear we must have used less than a plane length of runway to get off the ground...

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Connor_Olds@reddit

I wanted to take advantage of this effect on a low training sortie in the U-2. Normally those sorties carry enough fuel to land with about 25% of the total fuel capacity, but mine had a short turnaround from an earlier sortie and MX didn’t refuel it, so I would be taking off with that 25% fuel. You typically throttle back after climbing away because the engine is ridiculously overpowered at those low training weights and you can overspeed or overshoot real quick. Knowing I was even lighter, I decided to leave the throttle up and pitch for airspeed to see what the Dragonlady could do. I made it to 50 degrees nose high, with nothing but the clear California sky in front of me, before I felt too uncomfortable to continue. Ironically enough, a few weeks later, a colleague did something similar at the Travis Air Show only he kept it going until 3000 feet, when he bunted over to catch his altitude, but the negative g force actually starved the engine of fuel and he flamed out with everyone watching. He managed to restart the engine (hydrazine) and land immediately but I don’t think many spectators knew they had witnessed a rare in flight restart on a single engine aircraft

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LordofSpheres@reddit

Just checked the SAC documents for the B-36B (no jets) and the B-36H (jets).

At 170k lbs weight, which is 30k lbs over empty, the B-36B maxed out at 338 kts (389mph) at 35,500 feet, and climbed at about 2100 fpm at sea level. For comparison, at its max 326,000 lbs, that climb rate was around about 500 fpm at normal power.

The B-36H could do 382 kts at the same altitude and about 200k lbs (which is about fair, given the increase in empty weight). That's 440 mph. And it climbed at 3200 fpm at sea level. And its service ceiling was 47,000 feet.

Hell of a plane for 1950.

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CPTMotrin@reddit

Without the jet assistance, it was underpowered. The jet engines were modified to run on avgas. And they could be shut down at cruise, and had shrouds on the intake that could be closed to reduce the drag when shut down.

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FJ60GatewayDrug@reddit

Probably made flying less stressful when a couple engines inevitably decided to fail mid-flight.

six turning, four burning

Was the slogan for the plane (6 props, 4 jets), but the unreliability of the big R-4360 piston engines coupled with the unreliability of early jets led to the slogan being field modified:

two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking and two more unaccounted for

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

Was never inevitable. It wasn't unusual, but crews cheeky dark humor doesn't equal data.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

B-36 was by no means underpowered. In later years, as its mission changed, the so-called Featherweight RB-36s could literally turn inside any Soviet jet fighter that managed to get up to its flight level. The B-36 with it's gigantic wing area was happy as a clam up there; the MiG-15 could barely stay airborne, much less turn tightly.

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crdpoker@reddit

It had the capability to drop an amazing amount of...peace.

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The_Bard@reddit

Peacemaker through strengthmaker

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CPTMotrin@reddit

That’s about 4 miles of a straight line being bombed.

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plane__nerd@reddit

How are all those bombs supposed to make peace?

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aflyingsquanch@reddit

The Peacemaker was such a flawed bomber but damn if it wasn't pretty. Seeing one in person is just something else.

Insane that there was only 4 years between the first flight of thr B-29 and the B-36.

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mathew1500@reddit

That plane must be huge in person!

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

It is, by any standard, enormous. I shot this in 2009 when Pima Air & Space Museum towed their B-36 from Restoration out to display.

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myelinsheath30@reddit

You can see it in Dayton OH, worth checking out

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_HanTyumi@reddit

Great museum. Bockscar and multiple Air Force Ones (including JFK/LBJ’s) was pretty wild to experience.

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myelinsheath30@reddit

I was at WrightPatt AFB for Flight Nurse school, I went to the museum three times during my time there and was still not enough. So much history there.

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Inevitable_Cook_1423@reddit

There’s one at Merced at Castle Air Museum.

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aflyingsquanch@reddit

I've always wanted to go to Castle Air Museum. Next time we're in CA, we're doing that dammit. We drove nearly right by it two years ago when we went from Carmel to Kings Canyon/Sequoia too. We'll, within an hour or so of it at least.

Next time, its happening.

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HallEqual2433@reddit

GO! Very unique collection. All the usual bomber and fighter suspects, plus planes like the B-18 Bolo, B-23 Dragon, B-45 Tornado (one of 3 surviving).

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aflyingsquanch@reddit

Also at Pima Air & Space.

I believe there is one at the SAC museum outside Omaha too. I vaguely recall that there is one there but I could be misremembering as its been a long time.

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Jemsy1@reddit (OP)

Largest mass produced aircraft

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matron999@reddit

And that's how it makes peace, by dropping a shitload of bombs!

Maybe it should be named the 'Piece Maker'.

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NaCl3251@reddit

This is the logic that keeps the orang-utan believing he’s in the running for a Nobel peace prize…

… thanks humanity, can’t deny it’s been a ride…

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