on Monday, March 29, 1954, B-36B-1-CF Peacemaker No. During missions, the B-36 normally carried a 15-man crew, but on training and proficiency flights, the number of crewmen aboard often varied.Īt approximately 5:45 p.m. For a major piece of military hardware, the Peacemaker had a relatively short life span, only 10 years. The B-36, which never saw combat, was replaced between 19 with the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, America’s first swept-wing jet bomber. Assigned to the Strategic Air Command (established in 1946) the B-36 was supposedly capable of delivering 72,000 pounds of conventional bombs or a nuclear bomb to any country in the world and return without refueling, making it a major deterrent to enemy aggression. To improve performance, the Air Force added four General Electric J47 Turbojet engines mounted in two outer wing nacelles, increasing the aircraft’s speed and altitude.
Built by Convair (Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corporation) in Fort Worth, Texas, for the Air Force, the aircraft had a wingspan of 230 feet, was 163 feet long, and powered by six Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major 28-cylinder radial engines, with the propellers 19 feet in diameter. Although the B-36 was designed during World War II (1941-1944) to replace the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the first operational model didn’t fly until July 8, 1948.Īlthough the Peacemaker had great range, 8,715 miles, it was relatively slow and considered obsolescent in the new era of jet-powered aircraft. The B-36 Peacemaker was the largest land-based bomber in the world. It is the fourth and last crash of a B-36 at Fairchild AFB during the years it is in service there (1951-1958). Of the 10 crew members aboard the aircraft, seven are killed and three survive the accident. Air Force B-36 crashes while practicing takeoffs and landings at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane County.
0 kommentar(er)
