The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker"[N 1] is a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built, although it was exceeded in span and weight by the one-off Hughes H-4 Hercules. It has the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft.

The B-36A included several of the new elements developed on the YB-36, including the domed canopy and the four-wheel main landing gear (as opposed to the single-wheel landing gear used on the XB-36 and the YB-36). These new features were in a sense first seen on the B-36A rather than the YB-36, because it was the former that flew first — by ...

Only four complete Convair B-36 Peacemaker air frames have survived of the 382 that were built. We have had the good fortune of viewing and photographing three of the four in a short period of time, from October 2011 - October 2012.

General arrangement of a late model B-36 illustrates the upper gun turrets in the extended position. Two turrets, each equipped with two 20mm cannon could be extended from behind sliding doors at three positions, two above and one below the fuselage.

2024年10月19日 · The B-36 was considerably more advanced than the pre-World War II bombers like the B-18 Bolo, but it was far from as advanced as the aircraft to come during the “Space Age.” Production Peacemakers had bogie main gears, and pressurized front and rear crew compartments that were linked by an innovative 80-foot “trolley” tunnel.

The complex landing gear with wheels and retractable landing gear is quite large in size and can support the sheer mass of a large aircraft on the ground. In terms of size and payload capacity, the B-36 is a monster compared to the classic "heavy" bombers of WWII.

The tricycle landing gear system’s initial main gear design, with huge single wheels found to cause significant ground pressure problems, limited the B-36 to operating from just three air bases in the United States: Carswell Field (former Carswell AFB, now NAS JRB Fort Worth/Carswell Field), adjacent to the Consolidated factory in Fort Worth ...

2021年4月14日 · The single main landing gear of the Convair XB-36. Production models used 4 wheels per strut. Another change was the addition of two General Electric J47-19 jet engines at the end of each wing, giving the B-36 a total of 10 engines and earning it …

With a range of over 6,000 miles (9,700 km) and a maximum payload of at least 72,000 lb (33,000 kg), the B-36 was the first operational bomber with an intercontinental range, setting the standard for subsequent USAF long range bombers, such as the B …

One B-36 was modified to haul the airframe of the Convair B-58 Hustler bomber. The wings of the B-58 prevented the B-36 from retracting its main landing gear, and so it had to be flow with gear down all the way through its flight, with the B-36's jet engines left powered up to …