B-36 Peacemaker | Convair's massive American strategic bomber | Upscaled video

[Music] thank you [Music] it was during the early 1900s when America was starting to emerge as a World park at the first Roosevelt made his prophetic statement on International diplomacy he advice to talk softly but carry a big stick [Music] a century later when the United States stood as the world's champion against communism its big stick was undoubtedly the conveyor B-36 long-range bomber although this Mammoth aircraft was to serve throughout the 1950s it could actually Trace its origin back even before America entered the second world war 36 was to earn its act if unofficial title of Peacemaker [Music] by 1941 the United States Army Air Force had two effective heavy bombers at its disposal they were the legendary B-17 designed by the Boeing Company this superb full-engined aircraft was to serve throughout the war and the heavily armed later versions were understandably known as the flying fortresses [Music] foreign [Music] model was the Consolidated v24 liberator The Liberator featured an advanced tricycle undercarriage which permitted higher speed Landings and the design Saw Service in all theaters of the war however the larger bulkier fuselage enabled some models to be converted into transports making the B-24 while the most versatile aircraft in the American inventory Liberator like the 17 was also heavily defended and it was also able to fly slightly higher than the Fortress [Music] but more importantly it offered greater range so it was often used for maritime Patrol work flying what at the time were considered very long distances on internal fuel foreign and the B-24 were only able to make the trip from America to Europe one way in 1941 the Army Air Force also had an order another bobber ultimately able to fly still higher and further than those preceding it another Boeing design the B-29 super Fortress was undoubtedly the most powerful bomber to see service throughout the entire conflict but even though several hundred were on order there was not even a single prototype in the air a second backup concept shook the B-29 fail in any way was a Consolidated b-32 Dominator this aircraft was not produced in any great numbers but it did provide a reassuring alternative to the super fortress's phenomenal capability however in 1941 it too could only be seen on the blueprint by the middle of that year Continental Europe was in Nazi hands as the German Juggernaut enjoyed success after success [Music] [Music] more importantly although Britain had regained some Supremacy in the air it still suffered from constant punishing bombardment from the luftwaffe which devastated its people and its industry these raids often at night but sometimes in daylight were seen by the German High command as a means to bring the island nation to its knees the burning question which American tacticians struggled with was simply what would happen if the U.S was brought into the conflict and the sole remaining Allied base in Europe was to be lost to Germany [Music] one possibility American strategists considered was the development of an aircraft with such phenomenal range that it would actually be able to start from bases on the American east coast fly the entire span of the Atlantic to deliver its payload and then return to Continental America without any form of refueling or fight protection the American aviation industry had produced long-range bombers in the past the first of these was an early Boeing project the xb15 as aircraft was to have a wingspan of almost 150 feet but needed all of the Power of its four 1000 horsepower engines to lift its 35 tons of bulk into the air the second experimental long-range bomber was developed by the Douglas company the Prototype xb19 was ordered in September 1936 this aircraft with a wingspan of 212 feet was still larger than the xb15 when completed the task required 500 men 9000 drawings and 2 million man hours plus 1.4 million dollars of the military's funds it also cost Douglas an estimated 4 million over its original budget clearly developing Mammoth aircraft was an expensive business nevertheless the xb19 was a true Watershed in aviation standards not only in size but also in Innovation it was the first aircraft built with retractable tri-cycle undercarriage and designed to have power operated guns and a tail gun turret had it gone into production it would also have offered a range of in excess of 7 000 miles the information gained from the xb15 and 19 projects knowledge of the inadequacies of aircraft inventory in the early 1940s and the looming Prospect of having to wage a European war from American Shores the American defense department contemplated that problems of producing an extra long-range heavy bomber to do the round trip across the Atlantic to do this it called upon designs from Northrop and Consolidated an alternate design was nothing if not unique the concept worked on the premise that if an aircraft could be produced without the drag effect of the fuselage on a tail plane considerable range will be achieved therefore Northrop said about designing an aircraft which By Any Other Name was just a wing a flying wing and on the 25th of October 1941 an order was placed for two XB 75 experimental bombs the Consolidated design was more conventional than its competitor in shape but certainly not in size but an overall Wing area of just under 5 000 square feet of 836 was to require no less than six engines placed at the back of the wing to push its massive 163 foot fuselage to the air and on the 25th of November 1941 an order was approved for two aircraft in the hope that the first would be developed by mid-1944 at a fixed fee of approximately eight hundred thousand dollars each thank you as it happened the much-needed bomber bases in Britain were never denied to the Army Air Force and as a result the standard B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers were able to attack axis targets from 1942 onwards delivered in their thousands the fortresses and liberators were to wrench a terrible price for the enemy the longer distance as required by the Pacific Theater where amply met my Boeing's B-29 especially after the capture of the Mariana Islands in mid-1944 which gave the super Fortress the stepping stone which enabled the Air Force to reach the heart of Japan but it was one particular B-29 with one particular bond that was to bring the second world war and much military aircraft developments to an end two exceptions to this were experimental long-range bombers ordered only weeks before American involvement in the conflict but never given sufficient priority until the wars end and need to deliver a new weapon never perceived in the tactician's wildest dreams four years earlier [Music] the first Northrop b-35 was actually constructed in the open and completed in June 1946 this clever design which was the sort of controversy for many years was powered by four Pusher engines and was intended to carry a crew of nine in the pressurized Center section for its shape barely allowed the word fuselage to be applied [Music] however the radical new shape which relied upon flapperons on the end of each Wing in lieu of a conventional tail plane was never to completely overcome stability shortcomings but the Flying Wing must surely go down in history as one of the most brilliant Aviation Concepts ever conceived [Music] the first xb36 was wheeled out of the experimental Hangar just six days after Japan surrendered but it was to be August 1946 nearly five years after it was ordered before The Peacemaker was to be ready to fly [Music] the main Wheels were 100 inch amateur and the largest ever made for an aircraft but this was to prove a major weakness the six Pusher type engines were to have bare air intakes on the forward section of the Wings however this Advanced concept for the time was also to provide initial difficulties in cooling the engines and would require later modification on August the 8th 1946 the first xb-36 under the command of Captain Beryl a Erickson rolled down the Fort Worth Runway with a total crew of nine and eight thousand gallons of fuel at exactly 10 minutes past one in the morning he lifted conveyor's giant aerial Masterpiece into the air for the first time it was the biggest plane ever to fly even in Texas [Music] the flight was to continue for now more than 37 minutes during which time the undercarriage was to remain in the wheels down position as a safety precaution Ericsson's crew on this and many subsequent occasions would have put the giant aircraft through many vigorous tasks which quickly identified the problems of giantism one of the most formidable being the vibration caused by such enormous engine spaced out over the wide distances of the wing and calling was another problem especially at high altitude it was obvious that there would be many areas requiring major attention [Music] but perhaps the most fundamental was the simple concept of the massive wheel Arrangement which limited conveyors bomber to runways at least 22 inches thick and as there were only three of these available anywhere in America clearly an answer needed to be found and found quickly [Music] foreign what was considered another Breakthrough by combining four 56-inch wheels into a group under each Wing thus spreading the B-36 phenomenal weight over the much wider area thereby permitting The Peacemaker to use runways of half the previously required thickness very early in the B-36 concept conveyor could see the potential of utilizing its Enormous Wings and power plane from the transport version of the peacemakers commercial Chasm the xc99 which is ready for its Maiden flight of November 1947. still larger again than its bomber counterpart the 99 was assembled at convey San Diego operation but with wings and other common parts shipped Across the Nation from Fort Worth here at lindenberg field what had now become the world's largest plane was to demonstrate the potential that would lead to the mammoth transport and Airline Concepts that followed decades later [Music] the 99 was to attract considerable attention by Pan Am seriously considered a civil version for the west coast of Hawaii run and actually took out options on three such aircraft but has predicted the early post-war Airline boom was not to transpired for many years the xc99 was never to see civil service and the sole example produced remained in active service with the Air Force until 1957 and became particularly invaluable during the Korean War when it was used to rush essential payloads from one side of the nation to the other this aircraft too had to be modified with a new undercarriage system but when it was it proved extremely versatile and had if required the potential to lift 400 fully equipped troops yet practically it was just too soon for its time [Music] however Converse's main interest had always been with the extra long-range bomber concept and it continued to develop and refine the B-36 throughout the late 40s emphasizing that this weapon alone provided the ultra long range to strike virtually any Target in the world and returned to its base in America long range would require many hours of physical endurance for the crew and therefore inside the 36's massive fuselage adequate provision was made for sleeping quarters and a galley complete with a two burner stove ample Provisions were always provided however the center pressurized section which held these amenities was actually no less than 80 feet from the forward control area which was only accessible via a narrow tunnel spanning the distance heated food was packed in specially designed containers for conveying between the vast distances of the two pressurized sections the tunnel also served as the only means to convey a Personnel from one crew section to another and because of the distances involved a small trolley was provided to enable each member to propel himself more effectively problems generated by the size of a 36 also required other unique procedures never previously required by other aircraft immediately after takeoff and before the plane was pressurized a crew member was given the responsibility of examining certain vulnerable areas within the massive interior structure which formed the fuselage of the 36 only then would the plane be allowed to climb to higher altitudes and continue with its mission other problems in dealing with the size of a 36 counter light there was a question of how to service each of the massive aircraft which was so big that special outdoor hangers had to be constructed so that only the essential Parts could be accessible foreign and although the problems of engine vibration and cooling had been successfully resolved there is no doubt that there were grave concerns with the viability of the B-36 in competition with other alternatives [Music] firstly the Project's original competitor the Flying Wing had been upgraded to an all-jet aircraft replacing the four propellers with eight turbo jet engines Northrop hope to increase the speed and viability of its quite brilliant concept which utilized unique flap arounds shown here at the end of the wing to make up for the absence of a conventional tail plane [Music] another at more conventional competitor of the 36 also came from the past this was the Boeing b50 the aircraft was really just a standard super Fortress of second world war vintage but with more powerful engines and extended rain from the underwing mounted fuel tanks this range was enhanced yet again by Boeing's successful development of aerial in-flight refueling thus the Air Force had available to it a proven airplane combination which could fly the same range as the 36 but without having to address the problems of giantism by the late 40s due to these Innovations the future of the B-36 looked very Bleak indeed its salvation came from two major developments the first one poetically enough was also provided by consolidated's long-term competitor Boeing for Boeing developed the successful medium-range bomber entirely powered by Jets but utilizing captured German technology which showed the benefits of a swept back wing Boeing's B-47 was to have the wing that was not only swept but was so flexible that it could move within an arc of 17 feet however so that the wing would remain thin the six engines had to be mounted in pods suspended from below the outer pods contained one engine a piece of the inboard pods contained two engines which were suspended several feet below the wing surface and it was with this equipment that the engineers from both companies work together to attach to the far outside wing of Boeing's Giant with six turning and four burning the 36 was at last in part entering into the jet age the other event which was to secure the future of the 36 took place on June the 24th 1948 when the Soviets closed the gate on Berlin signaling in one step the beginning of the Cold War now the growing concerns of Communism polarized into an action which shot the West out of its post-war complacency of forces now found they were confronted with a potent adversary in a matter of days the need for an InterContinental bomber had gone from hypothetical to the very real at this stage there was no one plane in the world able to fulfill the long-range potential of the conveyor Giant and rather than cancellation orders for The Peacemaker were actually increased as concern continued the importance of America's Strategic Air Command which was responsible for long-range bombing increased considerably and it was ultimately placed under the direct command of General Curtis LeMay that may had an impeccable second world war record it started with his early involvement in the European bombardment with the Army Air Force continued to when he took command of the Pacific operations and the B-29 bombardment of Japan considered one of the great strategists in American wartime experience he also supervised the Berlin airlift it was now seen as the most qualified person to bring the Strategic Air Command including its fast-growing Fleet of 36s to the highest possible state of Reds foreign [Music] E's iron leadership of SEC the American public took comfort and the fact that although they now no longer had a monopoly on Atomic Weaponry but at least they had what was probably the best platform for delivery the B-36 so concerned was the military about protecting its InterContinental bomber that security was stepped up to effectively a wartime footing and Personnel in Sac control rooms were required to carry firearms even though they were in fact hundreds of miles inside American borders the concern to protect America's big stick even required mechanics servicing the engines to carry firearms whilst they were [Music] how did the engineer engineer checklist complete ready for takeoff over [Music] kept this complete ready for takeoff Roger give me 100 on the debt Roger and coming up engineer give me full power full power coming on that's 100 therefore temporal King they got power set everything stabilized engineer ready for takeoff Roger Cardinals Tower air force six five three ready to take off I have four six five three cars will Tower Roger clear to roll Roger 653 rolling here we go [Music] thank you foreign [Music] usually flying is single aircraft rather than in formation sex peacemakers would practice bombing rides over vast distances and that next to no notes the 36s utilized a K-1 bombing navigation system for precision accuracy the K1 system contained no less than 365 vacuum tubes and enabled the 36 to bomb at high speed in anywhere and the target was usually a radio signal from special trucks built to gauge the accuracy of sax aircraft although the fact that b-36s would have cost over 5 million dollars a piece they together with the K1 system and lemay's insistence upon constant training provided a combination which was anything if not accurate [Music] up to 35 000 and an involved heading of 197 degrees [Music] foreign the pencil in the plotter's hand represents the plane moving over the graph scale towards the target I'm Dwayne are we going to spite the enormous potential of the conveyor giant detractors often considered its large size to make it a prime target for enemy Fighters and even before the first 36 even flew the Air Force ordered a unique auxiliary the McDonald Goblin as a parasite fighter to be actually carried within the B-36 this incredible design consisted of the barest essentials and had fold Dart Wings which would enable the aircraft to be totally concealed within the 36's bomb bay never actually used with The Peacemaker its flight controllers were conducted from a B-29 Mothership and flight trials commenced in 1948. in August with test pilot Ed Scott secured in the carpet the goblin was launched by a trapeze mechanism from the B-29 the pilot successfully flew what must be one of America's most remarkable Fighters however when Scorch came to reconnect the goblin hook to the trapeze turbulence lifted the little fighter and the mother plane mechanism broke the canopy and wrenched the oxygen mask away from the pilot but Scorch was just able to regain control and crash land this tiny fighter [Music] setback did not stop development second and only other Goblin produced continued its task eventually on October the 14th 1948 a successful hookup was affected and the Goblin pulled into the 29's belly but this bomber parasite fighter combination although bold in concept was never to be adopted because it seemed to present as many problems as it tried to solve [Music] foreign [Music] parasite project involving the B-36 was a phycon fighter conveyor concept this program began in 1952 and involved mating up a republic f-84 directly underneath a modified Peacemaker there was no intention of fully consuming the f-84 within the mothercraft [Music] not until after the aircraft and its parasite were in the air would the fight of pilate enter into its cockpit and he working as a team with the highly trained boom operator who was positioned in the mother plane would attempt the delicate and skillful task of lowering the fighter via a large hydraulic operated boom to a point below the bomber where the fighter could be successfully released [Music] foreign actually proved very successful in the process of recoupling although requiring great skill was perfected to a fine art [Music] the combination of these aircraft provided many potentials especially as the pilot was able to come and go from the fighter when it was in the docked position in actual fact the final mission was really perceived more to extend the reconnaissance capacity of the B-36 the f-84 either in its straight or swept Wing form was an extremely versatile aircraft and although SEC employed it has its own fighter aircraft there is no doubt that it could perform the role of an effective fighter bomber to demonstrated so capably over Korea [Music] thank you foreign could now carry such versatile aircraft thousands of miles to the very edge of enemy territory and small compact nuclear weapons were under development at the same time it seems probable that Sac could have used its python combination in the bomb roll [Music] by the middle 50s the B-36 was fully developed and deployed at various Sac bases around the nation by the early 50s sax peacemakers were at the peak of their development with the early engine and vibration problems resolved with the support of jet power and modifications such as a new quick action bomb bay door the B-36 personified the ultimate InterContinental Atomic bomber of the era [Music] thank you [Music] but despite the technical success of the project it still was to continually suffer from political and inter-service criticism and even as early as 1949 there had been an investigation into the political influences relating to the 36 all of which came to nothing but the Navy is resentment Of The Peacemaker was stronger and probably more founded it's promised 65 000 tonne supercarrier was to have the capacity to deliver Atomic attacks on would-be Soviet industrial centers and was canceled partly because of the Air Force insistence that the 36 deterrent was far more flexible and did not represent the eggs in one basket philosophy of a carry what was equally important was that Zack claimed that was just as able to operate from the edge of enemy territory and in conditions that would have been impossible for Naval Aviation [Music] [Applause] [Music] demonstrate their point b-36s would irregularly fly from their own bases in central USA to the very edge of Soviet territory Miami trained Crews of Pilots Navigators radio operators engineers and Gunners would prepare for long hours of flights often at very high altitudes over thousands of miles to the Frozen wastelands of Alaska foreign [Music] [Music] these men would know that once into the Arctic region should their aircraft fail and crash land and some did there was very little chance of survival in the Sub-Zero and uninhabited Wilderness against these prospects the Roar of the peacemakers six piston and four jet engines must have sounded far more a blessing than a curse [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] the 90s criticism of the Pacemakers still continued one time they actually made a formal request to the Air Force for the use of a 36 to test its defensive capability against native Fighters outwardly it displayed very little defensive Armament but covered under sliding panels The Peacemaker concealed six remotely controlled turrets each with two 20 millimeter cannons these turrets could be hydronically raised as required and when used in conjunction with the forward nose turret and radar-controlled rear turret combined to offer no less than 16 cannons covering every approach for a range of over half a mile making The Peacemaker the most heavily defended aircraft in aviation history foreign Air Force Base in Alaska was a point to which many b-36s on exercise would travel here peacemakers captains would land their massive aircraft never knowing beforehand just what weather conditions would Prevail as they made their approach for some the function would be a little different than that had offered thousands of miles away but with the weather constantly changing for others following close behind visibility would be close to zero testing the Pilot's skill and resolve to the Limit foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] once done each aircraft will be quickly guided away to its service area and waiting heated buses would be quickly on hand to collect the tired and weary crew who despite the winter protection were doubtless were noticing the contrast from What Might Have Been Texas to Alaska Non-Stop [Music] [Music] so cold was the region that if aircraft had been standing for anything more than a short time the engine would require supplementary heating mainly through the giant air intakes to ensure the equipment was not frozen solid to achieve this large mobile heating plans were developed which could pipe vast amounts of hot air into and around all the Piston engines the crew compartment was also given the same treatment not merely to make the area habitable but because the instrumentation and on-board Equipment simply would not work effectively in such a cold environment foreign [Music] field and ready to go 36ers would again Brave the cold Arctic sky on the way back south leaving the area to its natural inhabitants but the real purpose of these exercises was to demonstrate that from Alaskan basins it would be just as easy to turn Northwest to Soviet territory and deliver the devastating cargo around which the 36 was developed [Music] foreign [Music] which designed the 36 won the contract for the Air Force's first supersonic bomber The b-58 Hustler which was the culmination of convey's long involvement with the Delta design it was found that moving from base to Basin as yet unflung bomber was not an easy task until it was temporally mounted under a standard 36 with its two inboard props removed to protect the Hustler wingtips [Music] [Music] perhaps this image symbolizes beyond all else the difference between the two generations of aircraft in a space of less than 10 years West will improve the speed of bomber aircraft had so radically changed the shape and size that tomorrow's medium bomber was able to fit comfortably under yesterday's heavy bumper [Music] clearly the age of giantism was coming to a close and yet Converse still held hopes for its mammoth in an upgraded form the company produced the yb60 in response to the Air Force requirement for an all-jet heavy bump they had Fort Worth in April 1952 when the 60 made its first public debut the continuation of the production line would guarantee the jobs of thousands of Staff involved and subcontractors it would have brought added prosperity to the city which had produced the world's biggest bomber foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] the yb60 was virtually a B-36 with new fully swept wings and tailplay having no defensive Armament other than the rear turret the entire rear crew and quarters were emitted added power and less weight brought the yb60 to a top speed of just over 500 miles per hour and its production was achieved in Rapid time as 70 of its components were standard to the 36. two such examples were ordered by the Air Force to test the concept but only one was to actually fly [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] enthusiasm of the test crew was not shared by the Air Force they preferred Boeing's all-new design B-52 The strato Fortress which although more expensive offered better performance in range and speed shown here next to the original Boeing heavy bomb foreign [Music] [Music] on August the 14th 1954 a ceremony of Conway's production line in Fort Worth the last b-56 was handed over to the airports final delivery from The Peacemaker plant must have been a Bittersweet Affair for the Fort Worth people because although conveyor was to continue to use the plant for many successful projects it was from this base that they produced what was for many years the biggest plane ever to fly and a plane of many would say because of its sheer size what a war without having to fight [Music] foreign

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Id: VWievlfTsmc

Length: 45min 30sec (2730 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 14 2022