Tag Archives: Carswell Air Force Base

26 June 1948

Convair B-36A-1-CF (S/N 44-92004, the first -A model built) in flight. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Convair B-36A-1-CF 44-92004, the first B-36A built. (U.S. Air Force)

26 June 1948: The 7th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, at Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas, received the United States Air Force’s first Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corporation (“Convair”) B-36A, a six-engine, very long range heavy bomber. Its mission was to serve as a nuclear-capable deterrent until the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress came into service five years later. A total of 22 B-36As were delivered by February 1949. These were not armed and were used for crew training. Most were later converted by Convair to RB-36E reconnaissance bombers, beginning in 1950.

The B-36A differed from the XB-36 prototype in several areas, but two features were the most apparent: The cockpit had been completely revised and now covered by a large dome. The single-wheel main landing gear was replaced by four-wheel bogies to better spread the airplane’s weight over the runway surface.

A crew of thirteen airmen with their Convair B-36A-10-CF Peacemaker, 44-92014. (LIFE Magazine via Jet Pilot Overseas)
A crew of thirteen airmen with their Convair B-36A-10-CF Peacemaker, 44-92013, at Carswell AFB, 1949. (LIFE Magazine via Jet Pilot Overseas)

The B-36A was 162.1 feet (49.4 meters) long with a wingspan of 230.0 feet (70.1  meters) and overall height of 46.8 feet (14.3 meters). The wings had 2° dihedral, an angle of incidence of 3° and -2° twist. The wings’ leading edges were swept aft to 15° 5′. The airplane’s total wing area was 4,772 square feet (443.33 square meters). Its empty weight was 135,020 pounds (61,244 kilograms). The combat weight was 212,800 pounds (96,524 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) was 310,380 pounds (140,786 kilograms).

Convair B-36A 44-92015 at Carswell Air Force Base.

The initial production version of the Peacemaker was powered by six air-cooled, supercharged, 4,362.5 cubic-inch-displacement (71.489 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major R-4360 Pusher (R-4360-25) four-row, 28-cylinder radial engines rated at 2,500 horsepower at 2,550 r.p.m. at 37,000 feet (11,278 meters), and 3,000 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m. for takeoff. Each engine drove a 19-foot (5.791 meter) three-bladed propeller through a 0.381:1 gear reduction. The R-4360-25 was 9 feet, 1.75 inches (2.788 meters) long and 4 feet, 4.50 inches (1.334 meters) in diameter. It weighed 3,483 pounds (1,580 kilograms).

Convair B-36A 44-92015

The six radial engines gave the bomber a maximum speed of 300 knots (345 miles per hour/556 kilometers per hour) at 31,600 feet (9,632 meters). It took 53 minutes for the giant airplane to climb to an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,396 meters). The service ceiling for the B-36A was 39,100 feet (11,918 meters), and combat ceiling was 35,800 feet (10,912 meters). The ferry range was 9,136 miles (14,702 kilometers).

The B-36As initially carried no defensive armament. The maximum bomb load was seventy-two 1,000 pound bombs (total, 72,000 pounds/32,659 kilograms) carried in four internal bomb bays. With a bomb load of 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms), the B-36A had a combat radius of 3,370 nautical miles (3,878 miles/6,241 kilometers).

Designed during World War II when nuclear weapons were unknown to aeronautical engineers, the bomber was designed to carry up to 86,000 pounds (39,009 kilograms) of conventional bombs. It could carry a single 43,600 pound (19,777 kilogram) T-12 Cloudmaker, a conventional explosive earth-penetrating bomb, or, later, several Mk.15 thermonuclear bombs. By combining the bomb bays, one Mk.17 15-megaton thermonuclear bomb could be carried.

The sixteenth B-36A, 44-92020, after conversion to the RB-36E reconnaissance configuration. (U.S. Air Force)
The sixteenth B-36A, 44-92020, after conversion to the RB-36E reconnaissance configuration. (U.S. Air Force)

The RB-36E reconnaissance bomber carried a crew of 22. The radial engines were upgraded to R-4360-41s which increased takeoff horsepower with water injection to 3,500 at 2,700 r.p.m. at Sea Level. Four General Electric J47-GE-19 turbojet engines were added in two two-engine pods at the outer end of each wing. These changes significantly increased the airplane’s maximum speed and altitude capability and reduced the required takeoff distance by 25%. Fourteen reconnaissance cameras were installed. There were four additional radomes on the belly and numerous external antennas for electronic intelligence gathering.

The empty weight of the RB-36E increased to 164,238 pounds (74,497 kilograms) and the maximum takeoff weight to 370,000 pounds (167,829 kilograms).

The maximum speed of the RB-36E was 363 knots (418 miles per hour/672 miles per hour) at 38,200 feet (11,643 meters). Its service ceiling was 46,400 feet (14,143 meters).

The reconnaissance bomber carried eighty 188 pound (85.3 kilogram) T-56 photo flash bombs. Defensive armament consisted of sixteen M24A1 20 mm autocannon in five remotely-operated turrets. 9,200 rounds of ammunition were carried.

Between 1946 and 1954, 384 B-36 Peacemakers were built. They were never used in combat. Only five still exist.

The first Consolidated-Vultee B-36A, 44-92004, was flown to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, for structural testing. Redesignated YB-36A, it was tested to destruction.

Convair YB-36 (B-36A) 004 under structural testing at Wright Field. (U.S. Air Force)
Convair YB-36A 44-92004 under structural testing at Wright Field. (U.S. Air Force)

The name, “Peacemaker,” was suggested by a Convair employee. It is a reference to the Colt Model 1873 Single-Action Army® revolver, the classic “six-shooter” of the American frontier, which is also known as the Peacemaker®.

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

18 April 1952

Consolidated-Vultee YB-60-1-CF 49-2676. (U.S. Air Force)
Consolidated-Vultee YB-60-1-CF 49-2676. (U.S. Air Force)

18 April 1952: Piloted by Chief Test Pilot Beryl A. Erickson, and Arthur S. Witchell, the prototype Consolidated-Vultee YB-60-1-CF, serial number 49-2676, made its first takeoff at Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas.

As a proposed competitor to Boeing’s B-52 Stratofortress, the YB-60 (originally designated B-36G) was developed from a B-36F fuselage by adding swept wings and tail surfaces and powered by eight turbojet engines. Its bomb load was expected to be nearly double that of the B-52 and it would have been much cheaper to produce since it was based on an existing operational bomber.

Test pilot Beryl A. Erickson waves from the cockpit of the YB-60. (Convair, via Jet Pilot Overseas.)
Test pilot Beryl A. Erickson waves from the cockpit of the YB-60. (Jet Pilot Overseas.)

The Associated Press reported:

New Jet ‘Rides Like Cadillac’, Crew Says After Test Flight

     FORT WORTH, April 18 (AP)—The all-jet YB-60 bomber “rides like a Cadillac” and “touched at fighter speed,” crew members said Friday after the ultra-secret global bomber completed its first test flight.

   “I came back with very little perspiration, B.A. Erickson, chief test pilot for Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp. said. “That’s the answer to any pilot.”

  Erickson tried the YB-60’s performance and capabilities only “modestly,” he said. The flight was made at a moderate altitude—”a couple of Texas miles,” Erickson said.

Rides Like Cadillac

     “The YB-60 rode like a Cadillac with no noise like a B-36—no prop noise or vibration,” Arthur S. Witchell Jr., the co-pilot, said.

“This is the Queen Mary coming in gracefully,” Erickson said.

     The YB-60, an eight-jet bomber sometimes called a jet version of the B-36, was in the air one hour and six minutes. Erickson said it “touched at fighter speed.”

The plane is about the same size as the B-36, Erickson said. “Most any B-36 pilot would feel right at home,” he said.

Higher Speed Tests

     Witchell said tests would probably be made soon at higher speeds and higher altitudes.

The plane took off with a deep roar, with a shrill, whining overtone. Several thousand spectators, including Air Force personnel from Carswell Air Force Base, home of the B-36, lined the left side of the Carswell runway and stood on rooftops.

     The spectators were able to distinguish little more than the YB-60’s extreme, almost-triangular swept-back shape.

     The YB-60 made a rendezvous in the air with a B-25 Air Force camera plane from which highly secret photographs were taken.

Valley Morning Star, Volume XLII, No. 271, Saturday 19 April 1952, Page 1 at Columns 3 and 4.

Consolidated-Vultee YB-60 (Jet Pilot Overseas)
Consolidated-Vultee YB-60 49-2676. (Jet Pilot Overseas)

The YB-60’s first flight was three days after that of the Boeing YB-52 Stratofortress. In testing, it was 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers) slower than the B-52 prototype, despite using the same engines. A second B-60 prototype was cancelled before completion, and after 66 flight hours the YB-60 test program was cancelled. Both airframes were scrapped in 1954, with the second prototype never having flown.

The Convair YB-60 was 171 feet (52.121 meters) long with a wingspan of 206 feet (62.789 meters) and overall height of 60 feet, 6 inches (18.440 meters). The wings were swept at a 37° angle. It had an empty weight of 153,016 pounds (69,407 kilograms) and gross weight of 300,000 pounds (136,078 kilograms).

The prototype jet bomber was powered by eight Pratt & Whitney Turbo Wasp YJ57-P-3 turbojet engines. The J57 was a two-spool, axial-flow turbojet developed from an experimental turboprop engine. It had 16-stage compressor section (9 low- and 7-high-pressure stages), 8 combustors and a 3-stage turbine section (1 high- and 2 low-pressure stages). The YJ57-P-3s were rated at 8,700 pounds of thrust (38.70 kilonewtons), each. The YJ57-P-3 was 183.5 inches (4.661 meters) long, 41.0 inches (1.041 meters) in diameter and weighed 4,390 pounds (1,991 kilograms). These were the same engines used in the YB-52, and were similarly mounted in four 2-engine nacelles below the wings.

Right profile of the first prototype YB-60. Note the tail landing gear strut. (Jet Pilot Overseas)
Right profile of the first prototype YB-60. Note the tail landing gear strut. (Jet Pilot Overseas)

Maximum speed was 0.77 Mach (508 miles per hour, 818 kilometers per hour) at 39,250 feet (11,963 meters) and the combat ceiling was 44,650 feet (13,609 meters). The YB-60 could reach 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) in just over 28 minutes. Takeoff required 6,710 feet (2,045 meters) and 8,131 feet (2478 meters) were required to clear a 50-foot (15.24 meters) obstacle. Maximum range was 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers) but the combat radius was 2,920 miles (4,699 kilometers) with a 10,000 pound (4,536 kilograms) bomb load.

The maximum bomb load was 72,000 pounds (32,659 kilograms). Defensive armament consisted of two M24A1 20 mm autocannon in a remote-controlled tail turret. The second YB-60 retained the upper forward and lower aft retractable gun turrets of the B-36, adding eight more 20 mm cannon.

Chief Test Pilot Beryl Arthur Erickson. (Convair)
Chief Test Pilot Beryl Arthur Erickson. (Convair)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes