B 36 Takeoff.-IT'S A BLOODY BIG UN !

[..]

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/2008-4-18-B-36-SAC-Video.wmv 

Remember, "Six Turnin' and Four Burnin"".....the six props and the four jets that were hung out on the wing to help the production models get off the ground.

Worth it for the sound - six piston and four jet engines

You will also see Jimmy Stewart on the jump seat.....

Look at all those instruments and engine controls at the Flight Engineer station.

Also note that the Co-Pilot controls the Jet engines while the Flight Engineer controls the pistons.

[chrise2469]

I know why Jimmy Stewart is there (He was an air force Reserve Brigadier General and WWII bomber pilot) but why is Harry Morgan the flight engineer?  The flight engineer sure does sound like Col Potter .

Very unique plane thanks for posting.

edit: just found out the clip is from the 1955 movie Strategic Air Command with Harry Morgan as the flight engineer 

[Valkahuna]

Thanks for posting that up. I was in the Strategic Air Command for 5 1/3 years from 1967 through '72 working, crewing, and flying B-52, KC-135 Tankers, and RC-135 Recons. I had seen B-36 footage before, and wondered why the actors were in this one. Makes sense that it was an Air Force (Air Corp) promotion flick.

Spent the last 2 1/2 years in Okinawa in direct combat support. I was (and am) happy to be able to serve my country then, and the longer I am around, the more proud I am to be a Vet.  

Thanks again! Sure brought up some good (and not so good) memories of the times and the mood in the US about being in that war. We never had the general support of the people, and that's why I am so very pro supportive of our troups fighting for us today. Those were dark days for our Nation!  

[RP#62]

Great shots.  Too bad the YB-35 didn't get the contract.  The flying wing was a much cooler airplane.

[John Schmidt]

I was in SAC also. My first assignment out of tech school in Lowry AFB was to Ellsworth AFB at Rapid City, SD. It was the mid-50's and they were just changing over from B-36's to B-52's and I got to work on a couple of the 36's. Huge a/c, scared the crap outa me once because I was working on the old bombing system and they cranked up the engines. Being a newbie I didn't know better....thought they were taking off, but were just taxiing out for an engine test run on the jets. I remember for a number of years the boys flying the 36's always won or scored real high during the Bomb Competition they had every year. Partly due to the fact they flew much slower than the B-47 and B-52. Worked on the 52's for a couple years, then transferred to Pease AFB in Porstmouth, NH where I worked on B-47's. Then froze my ass off for three years by transferring to Loring AFB in Caribou, ME to work on the Houndog missile(GAM-77) carried by the 52's. My claim to fame there was accidentally setting off the fire alarm at 0230, causing the OIC to split his head open. Seems he was asleep on one of the metal shelves in the supply room and sat bolt upright when the alarm went off. In doing so, he forgot where he was and hit his forehead on a shelf brace above him. He and I mutually agreed to "don't ask, don't tell" and nothing came of it.

During Boot Camp in San Antonio, there was an experimental a/c designated the XC-99 as I recall. That was even bigger and had eight recips....the whole building would shake when it flew over.

[musclehead]

I know why Jimmy Stewart is there (He was an air force Reserve Brigadier General and WWII bomber pilot) but why is Harry Morgan the flight engineer?  The flight engineer sure does sound like Col Potter .

Very unique plane thanks for posting.

edit: just found out the clip is from the 1955 movie Strategic Air Command with Harry Morgan as the flight engineer 

I was thinking "just the facts ma'am" going a lil further back

[Black Pearl's Captain]

You can see one in the SAC museum just outside of Omaha.

Aircraft Type: B-36J-111, S/N 52-2217A, General Dynamics

Mission: Strategic Intercontinental Bomber.

Number Built: 385

Powerplant: Six Pratt & Whitney R-4360-53 pusher-type radial engines, 3,800 horsepower each; and four General Electric J-47-GE-19 turbojets, 5,200 lbs. thrust each.

Weight: Empty 158,843 lbs., Loaded 410,000 lbs., Maximum takeoff weight 410,000.

Dimensions: Wingspan 230′, Length 162′1″, Height 46′9″.

Performance: Maximum speed 435 MPH at 36,400 feet, Cruising speed 391 MPH, Service Ceiling 45,200 feet.

Significance of Type: The B-36 was first conceived in 1941 as a transatlantic bomber to strike Europe from bases in the United States. Development of the bomber was initially delayed, and then ordered into production in 1943 for use against the Japanese home islands. However, the XB-36 prototypes first test flight wasn’t until August 1946.

The B-36 Peacemaker was the largest production aircraft ever built. Known by pilots as the “Magnesium Monster”, it reaped two other distinctions during it’s career; it was the only U.S. bomber never to drop a bomb in war-time and the only aircraft capable of attacking a target on another continent and returning to home base without having to refuel. A B-36J crew consisted of a pilot, copilot, two navigators, bombardier, flight engineer, radio operator, radar operator, two ECM operators and five gunners.

About Our B-36J-111, S/N 52-2217A : The aircraft was manufactured by the Fort Worth Division of General Dynamics Corporation and delivered to the Strategic Air Command on 22 December, 1953.

http://www.sasmuseum.com/2008/11/21/b-36j-peacemaker/

http://www.sasmuseum.com/

Raymond

[Valkahuna]

I was in SAC also. My first assignment out of tech school in Lowry AFB was to Ellsworth AFB at Rapid City, SD. It was the mid-50's and they were just changing over from B-36's to B-52's and I got to work on a couple of the 36's. Huge a/c, scared the crap outa me once because I was working on the old bombing system and they cranked up the engines. Being a newbie I didn't know better....thought they were taking off, but were just taxiing out for an engine test run on the jets. I remember for a number of years the boys flying the 36's always won or scored real high during the Bomb Competition they had every year. Partly due to the fact they flew much slower than the B-47 and B-52. Worked on the 52's for a couple years, then transferred to Pease AFB in Porstmouth, NH where I worked on B-47's. Then froze my ass off for three years by transferring to Loring AFB in Caribou, ME to work on the Houndog missile(GAM-77) carried by the 52's. My claim to fame there was accidentally setting off the fire alarm at 0230, causing the OIC to split his head open. Seems he was asleep on one of the metal shelves in the supply room and sat bolt upright when the alarm went off. In doing so, he forgot where he was and hit his forehead on a shelf brace above him. He and I mutually agreed to "don't ask, don't tell" and nothing came of it.

During Boot Camp in San Antonio, there was an experimental a/c designated the XC-99 as I recall. That was even bigger and had eight recips....the whole building would shake when it flew over.

JS,

I went to basic in Amarillo, tech school at Chanute AFB in IL, (we even had and learned about a B-58 there) then went to Loring AFB and froze my butt off for almost two years there as well. Met my wife there, and am still married to her, so the freezing was worth it! 

[John Schmidt]

I went through missile school at Chanute, seems like it was around 1960 or '61. Second daughter born there that summer, got back to Maine in time for cold weather.

When do you come down to Daytona, I'm in the Orlando area?!

[Jess from VA]

Cool plane before my time.  I spent five years in SAC, and always loved watching the big BUFFs roaring down the runway taking off nose down.  

I worked two aircraft accident investigations on B-1B bombers.  Several of them actually lost inboard engines in flight.  It turned out GE (who made the jet engines) used a substandard alloy in a fan blade retaining ring, and when they failed while the jet was turning a bazillion rpms, the fan blades flew out like a buzz saw and cut the motor mounts.... and fuel lines.  The engine departed the plane (fortunately to tumble into a farmers field), and the crew hit extinguisher buttons to douse the flames and did an emergency landing.  The one that landed at Pueblo CO around '88-90, the crew did not know they lost an engine from the plane until they landed, got out and looked.  You cannot see the engines from the cockpit of the plane.



Bringing our nukes to your door.

The B-1B Lancer	powered by Aeva

I got to fly in KC-135, KC-10, C-130, C-141, C-5A, C-12, C-9, and an F-16B.  Tried like hell to get rides in an F-4 and B-52, but no luck.  

Also remember the SAC motto  "To err is human, to forgive is not SAC policy."  LOL

[TomT]

Jess,
Ahhh, That's my plane!!! I worked for Rockwell International in Columbus, OH while they were building the B-one. In fact the last 45 ships have main landing gear that I machined. I love going to airshows and asking the pilots which ship # their B1 is and if it is one of mine I like to take pride in telling them so!
Still one of the best bombers out there.
Love that picture!
Thanks for posting it.
TomT in Lynchburg

[shortleg]

  Here is the one they should have kept.
Convair B-58 Hustler-"MITO Take-Off"-1963-Part ll/ll (External Embedding Disabled)
          Shortleg[Dave]

[shortleg]

Here is a better one of B-58

B-58	powered by Aeva

[Ramjet]

My favorite    SR-71 Blackbird

[..]

As a teenager I worked at RAF Cottesmeore one summer preparing the grounds for an airshow.

A couple of days before the show I was out on the side of the main runway pounding in wood poles and stringing rope to keep spectators back.

One of these planes came down the runway abut 100 feet off the ground. At the end oif the runway the pilot pulled the stick straight back, hit the afterburner and went straight up and out of sight in what seemed liek a couple of heart beats.

Just like the plane in the video does at about 1 min 37 secs. Gave me get goose bumps when I saw that on the video.

English Electric Lightning Tribute (External Embedding Disabled)

[shortleg]

  Here is the only plane that made my
Dad cry.
  We had gone to an air show at the local
Navy air station when he told me how one had saved
his whole group when he was in the 1st Marines in WW2
        Shortleg[Dave]

F4U Corsair	powered by Aeva

[Master Blaster]

Was a wonderful time, the transition period from piston to pure jets.  Lotsa experimentation going on.  Loved the B36, You could hear it long before it came into sight, it had a unique sound so you knew what it was.  You had to look high because they usually flew in thin air, way above the clouds.  As a very impressionable youngster in the early 40s living around San Antonio and Austin, I got a love of flight watching the mock dogfights that were part of the WW11 training enviroment that filled the sky.  I remember running around in circles with my arms streched out like wings and imitating the show going on overhead on the ground with my kiddy pals.  The sounds of those old piston aircraft was so awesome, and we tried our hardest to duplicate it in our games.  Never lost my love or desire for flight.  Ideally I wanted to be a fighter Jock, preferrably flying P38s, but ended up going into Helicopters, the nearest I got to my dream was flying Cobras, the first gunship.  Got in 30+ years of flight and thousands of hours before hanging it up.  Still miss it sometimes.

[Valkahuna]

I went through missile school at Chanute, seems like it was around 1960 or '61. Second daughter born there that summer, got back to Maine in time for cold weather.

When do you come down to Daytona, I'm in the Orlando area?!

JS

I'm planning on going down on November 4th. We stay through end of April or mid May. I'm in Edgewater.

[Valkahuna]

My favorite    SR-71 Blackbird

When I was based in Okinawa the SR71 Blackbirds were flying from there. It was almost comical. The flight schedule for them was supposed to be secret. They would roll the Blackbirds out of their hangers, and sometime they were even partially covered. They even kind of shielded them with their support vehicles. At the last  minute, they would start engines, go to the end of the runway, and take off. As soon as they got airborne, they would put them into a vertical climb so that by the time they got to the end of the runway, they were straight up and barely a speck in the sky.

It's a good thing too, because what we could never figure out is why every time an SR71 would launch, there was a crowd of local Okinawans standing at the fence of the base by the end of the runway. As a matter of fact, when we saw a crowd gather there, we knew something was up.

We even had a squadron of specially equipped KC-135 Tankers that were used to In-flight refuel the Blackbirds. They used a special fuel so the tankers had to be dedicated. I loved my job then, but hated all of the military BS that went along with it. I mean, we were fighting a war, and they would worry about how far "beyond the vermillion corner of my lips" my mustache extended. Oh well, I guess you need to enforce discipline no matter when or where. Far cry from how things were when I flew into Thailand, Guam, or the Philippines though. Only landed in Vietnam twice. And that is a story by itself.

[Rocketman]

It's a good thing too, because what we could never figure out is why every time an SR71 would launch, there was a crowd of local Okinawans standing at the fence of the base by the end of the runway. As a matter of fact, when we saw a crowd gather there, we knew something was up.

We even had a squadron of specially equipped KC-135 Tankers that were used to In-flight refuel the Blackbirds. They used a special fuel so the tankers had to be dedicated.

Couldn't be that they had previously seen the specially equipped tanker take off, could it?

I wish I could have seen one of those blackbirds fly.  Never did.

[X Ring]

I was in SAC also. My first assignment out of tech school in Lowry AFB was to Ellsworth AFB at Rapid City, SD. It was the mid-50's and they were just changing over from B-36's to B-52's and I got to work on a couple of the 36's. Huge a/c, scared the crap outa me once because I was working on the old bombing system and they cranked up the engines. Being a newbie I didn't know better....thought they were taking off, but were just taxiing out for an engine test run on the jets. I remember for a number of years the boys flying the 36's always won or scored real high during the Bomb Competition they had every year. Partly due to the fact they flew much slower than the B-47 and B-52. Worked on the 52's for a couple years, then transferred to Pease AFB in Porstmouth, NH where I worked on B-47's. Then froze my ass off for three years by transferring to Loring AFB in Caribou, ME to work on the Houndog missile(GAM-77) carried by the 52's. My claim to fame there was accidentally setting off the fire alarm at 0230, causing the OIC to split his head open. Seems he was asleep on one of the metal shelves in the supply room and sat bolt upright when the alarm went off. In doing so, he forgot where he was and hit his forehead on a shelf brace above him. He and I mutually agreed to "don't ask, don't tell" and nothing came of it.

During Boot Camp in San Antonio, there was an experimental a/c designated the XC-99 as I recall. That was even bigger and had eight recips....the whole building would shake when it flew over.

John, you may have met my Dad, Tom Akers.  He was at Ellsworth during that time working on a/c radar and comm systems.

Marty

[Valkahuna]

It's a good thing too, because what we could never figure out is why every time an SR71 would launch, there was a crowd of local Okinawans standing at the fence of the base by the end of the runway. As a matter of fact, when we saw a crowd gather there, we knew something was up.

We even had a squadron of specially equipped KC-135 Tankers that were used to In-flight refuel the Blackbirds. They used a special fuel so the tankers had to be dedicated.

Couldn't be that they had previously seen the specially equipped tanker take off, could it?

I wish I could have seen one of those blackbirds fly.  Never did.

Sorry, I've been gone for a while. They would not have known which Tankers were which, since they looked the same externally, and there were Tankers taking off all the time. Besies, the Tankers assigned to refuel the Blackbirds took off long before, since their air speed was much lower, they had to leave much earlier to be on "station" when the Blackbirds got there to refuel.

Yes, they were a spectacular aircraft that still holds most if not all of the speed over distance records even today long after they've stopped flying! 

[rockrat]

Second note to John, you might have met my Dad.  He was stationed at Pease during the late 50's and was transferred in '61.   He was a bombadier/navigator in the B-47's and was the man to beat when it came to the bombing games.  He went by "Bud"  G..  349 Bomb Sqd., 100th Bomb wing.
I remember being in one of the B-47's when they were doing an engine test. 
Dad went on to run the Minuteman missle systems