The Magnesium Cloud
Convair’s B-36 Peacekeeper

It was mid-March, 1941 and the United States watched as Europe burned. Germany was winning almost everywhere having captured France, Greece, Crete, The Low Countries, Norway, most of Eastern Europe, North Africa and was currently romping nearly unopposed through Russia’s western half. England had been saved by the Royal Air Force, but only for the moment. Once Germany was finished conquering Russia, they would again turn west and use their now-vast military machine to quickly overwhelm the British. That would leave the German war machine staring hungrily at America’s East Coast.

America faced the very real prospect of having to fight Germany on its own with no bases within 5,000 miles of its potential enemy. We could not have attacked Western Europe as the Luftwaffe, based in England, Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, Spain and the Azores would destroy any American fleet to come within 500 miles of a conquered Europe. The same would apply to North Africa. In order to preserve its remaining territory, Russia would have signed a peace agreement ceding Moscow and all territories west to Germany and signed a neutrality pact, as did Vichy France, so America had no access to Germany from any side.

But the US military faced this nearly hopeless scenario, not by conceding defeat, but by calling for the design and construction of a 10,000 mile range Global Bomber with which to attack Germany from the air instead. Boeing, Douglas, Northrop and Consolidated (later Convair) submitted designs and Consolidated’s Model 37 won. Fortunately, the nightmare scenario described above never happened. But work on the Model 37, which was to become the B-36, continued in case America had to bomb Japan from Midway and the Aleutians. But the project’s priority was lowered.

The B-36’s priority was again reduced once bases in the Marianas were secured. Even B-29’s could reach Japan from there so the need for the B-36 was eliminated and the project just barely existed. But exist it did and the first B-36 prototype (photo 1) flew on August 8, 1946. The 200,000 pound bomber used just 4,000 ft. of runway to takeoff and only 2,500 ft. to land. Its performance was so outstanding that the Air Force took a second look and, in view of the problems then developing with a Russia-turned-Soviet-Union and with the existence of nuclear weapons, the big bomber started to look attractive again. A single, 10,000-mile range bomber moving at 300 knots while carrying 3-4 nuclear weapons would be a formidable deterrent to a Soviet invasion of Western Europe; then a very real possibility.

Starting on June 7, 1947, 95 of the B-36A bombers were built. However, these were mostly training aircraft without defensive armament. But some of these training missions were spectacular. How about an 8,000 mile flight dropping 25,000 pounds of bombs or a shorter trip to the Gulf of Mexico to drop 72 1,000 pound bombs? These were impressive numbers for its day. And the Soviet Union was watching. The B-36A could also carry 2 42,000 Grand Slam conventional bombs. Coincidentally (?), the first Hydrogen bombs had very similar weight and size.

The B-36B, the first combat version, equipped with a 37 mm tail cannon and 16 20 mm canons in turrets, nose and tail, used 3,500 hp Pratt and Whitney R-4360 engines. The B-36B’s 21,000 hp used about 36,000 gallons of Avgas in one flight. Try putting that fuel bill on your gasoline credit card.

Just as the “B” model was starting production, the Air Force was becoming a separate entity apart from the U.S. Army. The Navy saw this as a threat to their dominance and the Army people held a grudge against the upstarts in Blue. Using politicians favorable to their cause, these Services tried to get the B-36 eliminated. The Peacekeeper was the most visual part of the new U.S Air Force and discrediting it would discredit the new Service Branch. These politicians called the B-36 the “Billion Dollar Blunder” saying it was too slow and vulnerable.

The fact that no fighters of its day could reach the B-36’s 44,000 ft. plus operational altitude in time to stop the 370 mph bomber seems to have escaped the political critics. But Congress held an investigation anyway. In a surprising victory of reality over politics, the investigation concluded that the B-36 was the only viable weapon system that could deter Soviet aggression. The political critics were silenced and the U.S. Air Force remained a separate and equal Branch of the Armed Forces.

But the B-36 was just a little slow so the Air Force added four General Electric J47 Turbojets to pods mounted near the wingtips. This increased top speed to 435 mph on the “bomb run” making the new B-36D (contest photo) nearly invulnerable to any piston engined fighter. Once the first generation jets entered service, it looked like they could be a threat to the big bomber.

The Mig 15 could just reach the B-36’s 45,000 ft. cruising altitude and remain under control. While the listed service ceiling was 51,000 ft., early -15s really couldn’t get that high and still fight. About 46,000 ft. was all they could manage. Later versions were better at altitude but the early ones just fell from the sky attempting any kind of a tight combat turn above 46,000 ft.

First generation jet fighters used almost enough fuel to run a battleship in just one flight (slight exaggeration but not by much). Escort duty, so well performed by P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt and P-38 Lightning WW II fighters, was out of the question. Instead, the Air Force started arming GRB-36F Peacekeepers with the Republic F-84 fighter (photo 2). Yes, they tried a thing called the XF-85 Goblin, and it flew well, but it could not fight. But the F-84’s could fight and they could also carry a nuclear weapon up to an additional 850 miles away and return.

If you want to see this amazing aircraft in action, and not just sitting in the Air Force Museum, rent the movie “Strategic Air Command” starring James Stewart. The air shots are exhilarating and the aircraft’s abilities are well illustrated.

The B-36 was America’s only nuclear deterrent to Soviet attack for 10 full years. It flew recon over outlying portions of the Soviet Union and orbited just outside their boundaries armed with Hydrogen bombs. It never fired a shot in anger but no less kept America alive until the B-47 and B-52 bombers arrived in force. The B-36 kept the peace and protected the United States from harm for a decade. Yet it never had to kill a single enemy soldier or civilian while doing its duty. It would be hard to ask more than this from any military airplane.

The Contest Clues were:

The Convair B-36 had six engines plus, eventually, four jet engines and could fly nearly 8,000 miles – None of the other named aircraft had six engines and four jets. But the airplane in the contest photo clearly did.

The B-32 Dominator was a four-engine competitor to Boeing's B-29 -- The contest aircraft clearly had six engines, not four.

The Junkers Ju 290 was a German maritime patrol bomber that served in WW II. Its four engines gave it a top speed of 280 mph and a 3,700 mile range – The Ju 290 was a four- engined Recon Bomber used mostly for anti-convoy work. It had only four engines and looked like an airliner because that was what it originally was.

The Vimy was a biplane -- Clearly, the behemoth in the contest photo was anything but a biplane. But the Vickers Vimy was the B-36 of its day, at least when discussing size.

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