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Strategic Air Command

Old 16th Jul 2009, 21:33
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Strategic Air Command

I've just finished watching the above-named film. Worth seeing just for the air-to-air shots of the B-36. I remember seeing it back in the fifties, when it was one of the movies that convinced a small boy that being a pilot was the only worthwhile career. Fifty years and a whole career in aviation later and I think I was right.

An interesting aside: in the film James Stewart is supposed to be an ex B-29 driver recalled to active duty. At one point he is getting quite excited when he is describing the B-36 and says "I used to think the B-24 was a whole lot of aeroplane." Perhaps a Freudian slip, since I believe he was actually a B-24 skipper in WW2, and presumably the director never picked it up.
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Old 17th Jul 2009, 03:30
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Thumbs up

Had a crawl through the nose compartment/s in the B-36 the other day. What an amazing aircraft!! It's fascinating to look at the layout and component design of that era, let alone the size of the overall machine!!!

G'day

PS in a unique bit of multi-tasking, the pilot controlled the jet while the F/E's looked after the recips.
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Old 17th Jul 2009, 08:25
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since I believe he was actually a B-24 skipper in WW2,

A good read about a really modest bloke!


http//www.amazon.co.uk/Jimmy-Stewart-Bomber-Starr-Smith/dp/0760328242/ref=sr_1_1/279-6780080-4276509?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247819101&sr=8-1
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Old 17th Jul 2009, 09:14
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Seeing a B-36 fly over my home when I was a kid remains one of my ever-lasting memories. Saw some on the ground, too, in the USA in the 60s. They're only "tiddlers" compared to some of today's aircraft but they were monsters in their time.
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Old 17th Jul 2009, 11:36
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I saw one when I was a kid too. When I told my older brother (who'd just joined the ATC)I'd seen a plane with 6 engines on the back of the wings, he hit me saying there were none in the country! (Must've been about 1954 - could have been the same one!)
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Old 17th Jul 2009, 12:26
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B-36 Length 162ft 1in
Span 230ft

747 Length 231ft 10in
Span 211ft 5in

C5 Length 247ft 10in
Span 222ft 9in

AN124 Length 225ft 8in
Span 240ft 6in

Wingspan-wise, certainly no "tiddler" - even today.
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Old 17th Jul 2009, 15:03
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Wingspan-wise, certainly no "tiddler" - even today.
That enhanced wingspan allowed the aircraft to deliver the weapon from 40,000 feet...and 50,000 feet with the 'featherweight' models.
Slow?
Yes, except over the target, and retreat (which was 410 knots TAS).
A high flyer?
Absolutely.

When one flew overhead (and I personally saw many in southern California at the time), the sound was unmistakable.
Not engine noise, propellor beat.
It would rattle windows for at least two minutes.
Three aircraft together (often seen)...the ground shook for three minutes.
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Old 17th Jul 2009, 21:37
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In a conversation with W/Cdr Ken Wallis of autogyro fame, he revealed that he flew them on detachment to SAC, on 24 hour missions over Japan, and never without an engine failure!!.
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Old 17th Jul 2009, 21:43
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It's probably known by some of you that one actually landed on Salisbury Plain, after becoming lost in a snow storm. Very little damage was caused, being confined to the nosewheel u/c doors when it went through a barbed wire fence. A temporary road was constructed, and it was towed to Boscombe Down, where it eventually departed. Sounds unlikely, but it did actually happen, and I am sure there are people out there who know more about the incident than I. I know pictures of it in the middle of a field were published in Aviation News at the time.
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Old 17th Jul 2009, 22:01
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I posted some screen shots grabbed from Strategic Air Command in these threads:

http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...ate-1950s.html (posts 8 and 31)

...and http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...ilm-why-6.html (post 103)
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 04:49
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This may be the episode......
Vendio.com

The road in the background is the Salisbury/Old Sarum - Amesbury road.

Aeroplane Monthly July 1994 edition
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 17:20
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I saw Six B36s Flying

I remember as a young boy my Father kept me home from school!!!
Early 1950s
We lived on the Bristol side of Bath.

Outside the house on a promise of something special.

Then it appeared, A B36 overflying quite high, going westward.
Then I realised how special when Five more B36 flew over at intervals, stacked at ever lower altutudes.
The last one seemed to fill the sky, all this and the never to be forgotten sounds of the Engines.

Very much worth a day off school!!!!!

OPF
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 17:22
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In about 1955/56 it used to fly over school( Ashford. Middx) ,at dinner time conveniently, but with a f-84 Thunderstreak? slung underneath. As others mention -the Sound!! And it was bigger than the Brabazon!
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 17:58
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Robmack, Brab was Bigger!!

The Brabazon was bigger in every way than the B-36, other
than Wingspan which was the same.

B36 Wingspan 230', Lenght 162', Height 46' 9"

Brabazon Wingspan 230' Lenght 177' Height 50'

What was bigger than the Brabazon was the XC-99
Double decked Civil prototype derived from the B-36

XC-99 Wingspan 230' Length 182' 6", Height 57' 6"

I saw theXC-99 in the 90s at Kelly Air Base, San Antonio Texas.
It was in a sorry sad state, not sure if it still survives.

Last edited by Old Photo.Fanatic; 18th Jul 2009 at 20:07.
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 18:35
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<<I saw one when I was a kid too. When I told my older brother (who'd just joined the ATC)I'd seen a plane with 6 engines on the back of the wings, he hit me saying there were none in the country! (Must've been about 1954 - could have been the same one!)>>

Could have been, T. I lived in Morden and it was routing Lydd, 7Oaks, Epsom, Woodley, Green One. I can still hear it!
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 18:46
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Thanks, Aviate 1138, that is the one. I only ever saw one flying, and that was when I was spectating at Farnborough. One appeared to be climbing out of/over Blackbushe, and the noise, even at that distance, was unlike any other aircraft I had heard. Interesting to read about the Thunderstreak slung underneath. There were about 4[?] built under the FICON programme. I saw one in the museum at Chino, CA. It has a large hook ahead of the cockpit, and otherwise looks like a standard F84F, but with an anhedral tailplane.
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 18:50
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I was once told that, when the luckless aircraft commander finally made it to Boscombe Down, there was a transatlantic telephone call waiting for him.

It was Curtis E LeMay. 'Old IronAss' told the poor sod, in words of few syllables, that henceforth he was busted to Second Lieutenant....

No idea whether or not this was true - but allegedly it's the sort of thing LeMay would do.....
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 19:44
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It was Curtis E LeMay. 'Old IronAss' told the poor sod, in words of few syllables, that henceforth he was busted to Second Lieutenant....

No idea whether or not this was true - but allegedly it's the sort of thing LeMay would do.....
My father told me that you had one chance with LeMay, you did it right all the time, or else. There were no second chances under LeMay.
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 22:19
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  • 4× General Electric J47 turbojets, 5,200 lbf (23 kN) each
  • 6× Pratt & Whitney R-4360-53 "Wasp Major" radials, 3,800 hp (2,500 kW) each

Did they ever get all those working at the same time??
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Old 18th Jul 2009, 22:52
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Gen. Curtis E. LeMay

The story went in USAF that Gen Curtis E. LeMay once drove into a SAC base without stopping, pulled up 200 yds into the base and court-martialled all the guards for not opening fire at him.

Word went round SAC like wildfire and the next time he tried it, the guards opened fire. This time he court-martialled them all for missing.
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