Convair B-36

John Lutz, e-mail, 21.08.2010 08:42 Ivan, "I have heard that there was an on board communication tunnel complete with a one man trolley for the rear gunners. How did this operate? Any specs? Regards" Ivan Skillian That's correct. It was a pressurized tunnel, approximately 4' in diameter, that ran from the forward bulkhead of the rear gunners compartment, along the upper Bombay compartment and opened at the rear bulkhead of the radio operators compartment. I don't recall the actual length, but I would estimate 150 feet(half a foot ball field). In the tunnel was a flat sled on a monorail, as I recall. At the top of the tunnel(inside) was a rope for the person traversing the tunnel to pull himself through. The person (normally a gunner or an in- flight maintenance person, as I was) , would lay down on the sled, on their back . All crew members had parachutes in the event of an emergency. But, in order to traverse the tunnel, we actually had to take off our parachute and put it on our chest in order to have sufficient room between the top of the tunnel, where the rope was, to facilitate room to maneuver our arms to pull our self through. reply

Stuart Fields, e-mail, 26.05.2010 23:14 Fld Maintenance at Ramey A.F.B Puerto Rico 55-56. Engine change, cylinder change, turbo chance carburetor and fuel feed valve change. Those 4360s just never accumulated many hours without replacement or parts. You could stand inside the fuel cell near the fuselage. Also you could get very high off the fumes of the 115 /145 even after the tanks had been purged and had a fan blowing air thru them. Looked for a 72nd wing hvy bomber patch but couldn't find one. They must have had one at one time.... reply

Bert Fletcher, e-mail, 27.08.2010 02:08 The tunnel in the B-36 was 80 feet long. reply

Herk Snyder, e-mail, 17.04.2010 15:42 I flew the big bird as a bombardier,navigator and Engineer. On a long mission, takeoff Fri.aft and land Sat aft. early Sat. we were asked by a National Guard Pilot if he could make a few passes at us. After a couple of runs at us he pulled up on our left wing and said,"Do you guys know your number six isn't turning? I answered ,Oh yeah we shut it down yesterday! Not true of course but make for a fun story. Regards, Herk Snyder, Col. USAF ret. reply

Tom Drodge, e-mail, 29.03.2010 03:52 Hi, I have been trying to get some info. on a convair U.S. B36 nuclear bomber peacekeeper plane that crash in nut cove, nl, canada on mar. 18th, 1953 taking the lives of 23 people including Brig. General Richard Ellsworth the commander in charge. I would like for someone who had flown that same night across the atlantic ocean on the other flights, the same night of the crash. also i would like to haer from relatives who had love ones die that same night in he crash. I am currently doing some research for a book. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks from Tom Drodge reply

robert Burns, e-mail, 22.03.2010 23:01 I wqas in Tac 729th bomb ersquadron K9 Korea in 1950 51 and transferred to ecm operator rb 36 ti rapid city afb in 52-54 flying rb 36 .we were a P crew and would like to hear from others..Would have stayed in but in late 1954 we were approaching landing when we heard one of our own did not make it.it caught dune on approach and we had to assist in search and pick up of our buddies..36 wqs a great aircraft and gotta love the spot promotions reply

Bruce Bixby, e-mail, 22.03.2010 17:13 I was trained as a B-36 electronic (electronic basic at Keesler AFB) gunner at Lowery AFB in 1952-3, after training, assigned to Fairchild AFB initially to the 92nd A&E (Aircraft and Electronic)squadron where I armed, repaired and disarmed all eight turrets of the planes of the Wing as required. Later I was assigned to Boardman Bombing /Gunnery Range(Oregon) TDY as a gunnery instructor. Finally assigned to a combat ready crew as a LLAft waist gunner in the 92nd Bomb Wing (326 Squadron) Lt Col Dauherty, captain. We flew typically every two weeks for 20 plus hours on simulated bomb runs with gunnery attacks thruout the western USA, Canada and Alaska. Near the end of my 4 yr enlistment, my crew was TDYed to Japan, I was asked to extend 6 months to go with the crew but stupidly declined.I was then reassigned to a crew in the 99th RBW in the 347th RBS to complete my tour. It was a great life and looking back realized what a great time it was. reply

Jerry D. Watson, e-mail, 03.09.2010 17:48 My Dad, C.J. Watson, was a crew member at Carswell until he went to B-52 school in 58. Retired as a Chief in 64, Altus AFB, and always spoke with great affection for the Peacemaker. I was born to sound of 36 engines in 52 and also had a career in the Air Force, Munitions, for 20 years. reply

Paul PUrdy, e-mail, 05.02.2010 04:01 I flew the B-36 from 1956 to 1959 when they retired the last one in February. I was at Biggs AFB, TX, 95 BW, 335 BS. Great airplane and a whole lot more fun to fly than the B-52. I ended up with about 1700 hrs in the B-36 and over 10,00 in the B52. Other than being almost deaf I enjoyed every moment of the time. reply

Roland Sigler Msgt Retired, e-mail, 24.01.2010 19:51 Was assigned to 492 bombsqd 7th bomb wing Carswell AFB. I was a radio ECM operator gunner. I flew from 1949 - 1960. Our crew major J.B Upton was selected as the best crew in SAC ands was featured in the Aug 27 1951 Life Magazine. Would like to know if there is any other crew member still living I would like to hear from them please E-Mail me as soon as possible. reply

Bill Bradley, e-mail, 18.01.2010 18:51 I flew in the B-36 as a K Series Bomb Navigation System Technician from Carswell AFB from 1952-54.We flew around the US Radar bombing various cities, went to Morocco once with just one plane , to check out the facilities for future flights. While visiting the Pima Air museum in about 1989, I bought a B-36 baseball cap and later that day while I was wearing that cap, a fellow came up to me and introduced himself and said that he was the last person to fly the B-36. He was still employed by Mc Donnell Douglas at that time. reply

Paul Gettinger, e-mail, 15.01.2010 03:13 I was assigned to the 5th bomb wing at Travis AFB from 1951 to 1955. I was a ECM technician and enjoyed the deployments that was a part of being in SAC. I never got to fly aboard the aircraft during my career in the Air Force but it later played a part in my future life. Once when I was on leave back in Missouri a funny thing happened. My father was listening to a radio broadcast of a St. Louis Cardinal ball game by Harry Cary. Harry's famous phrase was " Holy Cow". During this game he said to his side kick "Holy Cow" look at the size of that aircraft flying over the stadium. I told my Dad, that's one of my aircraft, a B-36. He said how do you know and I replied-its 6 prop engines have this resonance of it's own, and anybody working on this aircraft didn't have to see it to know what it was. After my discharge from the USAF I went to work for McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis. A new job assignment came up and the supervisor was looking for people that had big aircraft experience. Most of the old timers I worked with had only fighter aircraft experience since the company was a fighter manufacture. In the interview form I had to fill out it asked how many engines did the aircraft have? I put down 10. When I was called up for interview the supervisor asked (smart ass) what aircraft has 10 engines? The reply, the B-36 with ten, six recips and four jet. I did get the job which turned out to be an assignment to Hollaman AFB crewing a B-47. I still have a B-36 ash tray in solid crome, I dont smoke, but I cant part with it as it came from the BX at Travis way back in the 50's reply

Kenneth Wheeler, e-mail, 05.01.2010 05:45 I was stationed at Travis AFB, Ca from mid 54 to mid 58 in the 5th A&E Sqdn. as munitions and weapons tech. It was an awesome aircraft. I did get to fly once on one as a maintenance tech on the bomb release system. Turned out that moisture was getting into the bomb release unit and freezing in the unheated bomb bay. This gave a false light indication on the cockpit bomb release panel. We actually had an incident of a 100 pounder falling off the rack because of it from the jar of the doors closing. That gets your attention. No explosion. Most of the 100 pounders were practice with a small smoke charge for spotting on range drops. reply

Richard McClanahan, e-mail, 07.09.2010 20:56 I was stationed at Travis AFB in Fairfield Ca. from 1957 to 1961. When I arrived there the B-36 was being replaced by B-52's. I remember at night pulling your beds away from the windows. Sometimes the windows would shatter during take off.They were a wongerful machine. Richard McClanahan [ discharger in 1961 ] reply

Bert Fletcher, e-mail, 09.11.2009 01:24 For about three years, 1951-1953, B-36's used to fly directly over our home on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, usually at what I would guess to be about 30,000 feet. Usually one plane at a time, but sometimes a small formation. They were flying from Carswell AFB to Alaska and return. One morning a formation of about 4 or 5 flew over at what I would guess to be only about 10,000 feet. The noise was overwhelming! And they were leaving contrails at that low altitude. Cold! When they came over at high altitude, always flying north, you could hear (And see) the plane(s) from horizon to horizon for about 15 minutes. The drone was awesome. I enlisted in the Air Force in 1955 and worked on TB-25's at Bolling AFB, DC, and Lowry AFB, Colorado. The 25's went to MASDC in 1958 and I was discharged in 1959. I really enjoyed those 4 years. reply

roly hampden, e-mail, 23.10.2009 19:05 Who is this turd (below) reply

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