The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" Cold War Titan

On the 1st of March 1954, the United States exploded the world's first thermonuclear bomb, code named "Castle Bravo," it was the largest nuclear device ever tested by the United States with the explosive force of fifteen- megatons of TNT. The United States military would quickly weaponize the thermonuclear bomb and code name it "Castle Romeo." The bomb weighed over 41,000 pounds and had the yield of eleven-megatons of TNT. The US Air Force needed a plane large enough to carry their new bomb, the B-36 was created to carry out that new mission. The enormous B-36 was one of the most awe inspiring aircraft ever to fly, with its graceful tubular fuselage stretching over 163 feet and a rudder the height of a five story building. With a gross weight of 265,000 pounds it was one of the heaviest aircraft to ever fly. At the tip of its nose the B-36 had a raised cockpit with a greenhouse type canopy rising a foot above the fuselage. It had a wingspan of 230 feet, and six massive 4,360 cubic-inch engines making the B-36 the largest mass produced piston engine aircraft ever manufactured. The bomber was so large its crew of 15 moved from the front to the back of the bomber by pulling themselves along a tunnel on a trolley, and slept in bunks when off duty. The B-36 was powered by an array of pusher propellers and turbojets. One pilot remarked flying the B-36 was like flying an apartment house, as it flew overhead those who witnessed it could feel the ground shake. The B-36 was nicknamed the "Peacemaker" to stress that its purpose was to prevent war through deterrence.

There were several variations of the B-36, one carried its own fighter escort, which was carried completely within its fuselage, and launched by a trapeze located in one of its bomb bays. All variations of the B-36 carried eight remotely operated gun turrets, six of which retracted and were covered by faired doors to reduce drag, all gun turrets carried pairs of 20mm cannons. The B-36 had an operational altitude of 46,100 feet a remarkable achievement for an aircraft of such great proportions. It was the first manned intercontinental bomber capable of traveling 10,000 miles without refueling. A stripped down version of the B-36 would later be used in a reconnaissance role which was capable of flying over 50,000 feet at a top speed of 423 miles per hour. The large wing area, and the two jet pods supplementing the piston engines, made the B-36 more maneuverable at high altitudes than jet interceptors of the day. The B-36 set the standard for range and payload for American transcontinental bombers. The most unusual variation of the B-36 was the NB-36H which housed a nuclear reactor located in the tail of the plane for airborne atomic tests. This plane was completely unarmed and had a distinctive cobra-like hood over its cockpit. It was used to determine the reaction of nuclear radioactivity on instruments and other operating parts of the aircraft in anticipation of atomic powered flight. This plane was not powered by the reactor. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, due to the fact if a B-36 powered by an atomic reactor did happen to crash the radiation from the core of the reactor could have escaped releasing lethal radiation over a large area.

Deployed along with the B-47, the B-36 provided the United States Air Force the means to deliver its massive thermonuclear bomb until the Boeing B-52 took over as the mainstay of America's nuclear bomber force in the second half of the 1950s. Over 384 B-36s were built . Entering service in 1948, the B-36 was the primary nuclear weapons delivery vehicle of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) until it was retired in February 12th, 1959. All but five B-36s were scrapped, the rest were sent to the US Air Force's desert graveyard in Arizona.

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