The U.S. Air Force’s Convair B-36 Peacemaker Was a Monster
The most unique feature of the B-36 was its unusual hybrid propulsion system, combining both propeller and jet engines.
Can you name the largest piston-engined aircraft ever mass-produced? It’s the Convair B-36 Peacemaker, a behemoth with six radial piston engines and four jet engines. With the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built, the B-36 was capable of intercontinental flight without refueling—quite a feat for the 1940s, when the B-36 made its first flight.
When the B-36 entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1948, the bomber served as the primary nuclear weapons delivery aircraft of Strategic Air Command (SAC)—a role that the B-36 would relinquish seven years later to the B-52 Stratofortress, which continues to serve in the Air Force today.
History of the B-36 Peacemaker
As the war in Europe raged, American war planners recognized that if Britain fell to the Nazis, then the U.S. would lose their launching pad into Europe—and thus their ability to conduct strategic bombing missions against Germany. In preparation for what, early in the war, seemed an inevitability, the Americans began considering a bomber that could reach Europe, bomb Nazi targets, and then return to bases in North America. Flying such an extensive, two-way route would require a combat range of at least 5,700 miles.
Across the pond, the Germans were planning a reciprocal program, known as the Amerikabomber program, which the Fuhrer hoped would culminate in an intercontinental strategic bomber capable of dropping bombs on American targets. Given German resource limitations, however, the Amerikabomber program never manifested in an operational bomber—perhaps fortunately for the United States.
In America, meanwhile, the Army Air Corps sent out a 1941 request for a bomber that could hit 450 miles per hour, with a 45,000-foot service ceiling and a maximum range of 12,000 miles—something that could fly from North America to Europe and back, while operating at an altitude well above the range of Nazi antiaircraft guns. The solicitation would ultimately result in the B-36 Peacemaker, although Convair would not have the massive bomber ready for flight operations until after the war had ended in both the European and Pacific theaters. However, the new Peacemaker arrived just in time for a new conflict: the opening days of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
For Decades, the B-36 Was the Largest Plane Ever Built
The B-36 was 66 percent longer than the enormous B-29 Superfortress, and was at the time capable of lifting a heavier payload than any aircraft ever made. Only the release of the jet-powered Boeing 747 and the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, well into the jet age, would eclipse the B-36’s payload record.
The B-36’s wings were so thick—7.5 feet at their thickest—that they even contained a crawlspace that permitted engine access. The wings were extremely thick in order to create a massive reserve of space for the fuel that would be required for a round-trip flight to Europe and back. They also helped the plane achieve cruising altitudes that were then higher than any enemy fighters or antiaircraft weapons could reach.
But the most unique feature of the B-36 was its unusual hybrid propulsion system. The bomber relied on six 28-cylinder Pratt &Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engines mounted, oddly, in a pusher configuration. And if the six props weren’t enough, the B-36 was retrofitted to carry two General Electric J47-19 jet engines one each wingtip, for a grand total of ten engines.
About the Author: Harrison Kass
Harrison Kass is a senior defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
