Strategic Air Command

[Groundgripper]

For all you B36 enthusiasts;

according to my TV guide for next week, the film Strategic Air Command is on BBC2 on Monday 24th October from 13:10 to 15:00.

So send the wife and kids out for the afternoon, take the phone off the hook, turn the volume right up and remember what the "aluminum overcast" sounded like at close quarters.

As it's on BBC you won't even be distracted by any adverts, either.

GG

(Yes, I do mean aluminum, it's an american aircraft and it's their name for it!)

[Conan the Librarian]

Cheers GG! I shall endeavour to record it. Many Moons back, B 36s were based here at Fairford and although well beore my time, I have often wondered what it mut have been like to live here back in the 50s. Apparently, one cre bailed out of a 36 over the airfield at Fairford (Kempsford corner) and whilst they floated to earth, the A/C buggered off to make its own equally ungraceful landing at Lacock in Wiltshire.

Heady times... but I still think LeMay was a loony.

Conan

[Dr Illitout]

IMHO it's the best aviation film ever made and its got Jimmy Stewert in it!.

Rgds Dr I

[allyn]

Here is some info on the B36:

http://www.cowtown.net/proweb/b36net/

[TURIN]

Jimmy STEWART is in it also Dr!;)

[Dr Illitout]

This web site has the sound of a B-36!!!

http://www.air-and-space.com/b-36%20variants.htm

It was taken from the first scenes of the film, at the base ball ground.

Play it LOUD!!!!!

rgds Dr I

[TURIN]

So that'll be your new ringtone then will it??

Go on, you know you want to!:ok:

[vector4fun]

If any of you are ever in the neighborhood of Omaha or Lincoln, Nebraska, there's a very nice B-36 at the SAC Museum located just north of I-80 about half way between said cities.

I'd seen them before as a child, from a distance, but never before was close enough to touch one. My God, that is a huge airplane.

http://www.strategicairandspace.com/general/general.htm


There's also a darn nice golf course about 4 miles south too.....

[MReyn24050]

In January 1952 a B36 landed short of Boscombe Down at night following a snowfall.

www.7bwb-36assn.org/salisburyUK.htm (http://www.7bwb-36assn.org/salisburyUK.htm)

[PaperTiger]

I was at Pima (Tucson) last week, and the "Carswell" B-36 is now in pieces round the back. Ask nicely and they'll let you poke around it. Restoration (to static :D ) is estimated at 2-3 years.

For completeness, surviving B-36s (http://www.air-and-space.com/b-36%20survivors.htm).

[Cornish Jack]

Conan
The one which cruised around after the crew had departed managed to come to earth in THREE counties!! It, apparently crashed on the boundaries of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. My brother was one of the many RAF tasked with crash-guarding the remains.
In those days they were frequent visitors to the UK - "four burning, six turning" and their instantly recognisable engine noise indicated their passage even above cloud.

[Atcham Tower]

The B-36 crashed in woods near Lacock. There are still bits there, including half-buried engine parts!

[Footless Halls]

Anyone else watching "Strategic Air Command" at the moment?

Shakespeare it ain't, but the flying sequences are terriffic.

[pulse1]

I took a neighbour of mine flying last week and he was telling me that he was RAF fire crew at Boscombe Down when the B36 crash landed near Old Sarum in 1952. He says that they were not allowed near the wreckage. USAF crews came in quickly to secure it.

[ORAC]

Crap movie, apart from the airyplanes. Totally miscast, wayyyyyy too old, him and his wife. (And, yes, I just finished watching it, which proves what a sad bar steward I am...)


Much, much better was "A Gathering of Eagles" with Rock Hudson, the remake of "Twelve O'Clock High".

(Although, one has too wonder if he took any of the rest of the cast for a bit of personal one-on-one stick time....)

[chevvron]

Way back in the early 50's, we lived near Bovingdon, so there were always different types of 'aeroplanes' going over.
One day (I was about 4 years old) I heard a 'plane, looked up and saw this aircraft with 6 propellors on the back of the wings. I ran indoors and told my elder brother (he would have been about 7 so would have known everything).
He hit me, telling me no such 'plane existed!
NB: I wouldn't think it landed at Bovingdon, but it was heading that way about 3 miles away.)

[MReyn24050]

I took a neighbour of mine flying last week and he was telling me that he was RAF fire crew at Boscombe Down when the B36 crash landed near Old Sarum in 1952. He says that they were not allowed near the wreckage. USAF crews came in quickly to secure it.
Not sure about that one as it is not in the B36 Peacemakers website list of mishaps. An aircraft did land short of Boscombe Airfield Jan 1952 but was recovered and flew back to the states. See Post#9. The Amesbury Salisbury road can be seen behind the aircraft.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/sabamel/B36Boscombe.jpg

[Roadtrip]

Heady times... but I still think LeMay was a loony.
Conan

Lemay was no looney. He was a dead serious tough guy who was a major reason why the Japanese Empire was defeated without the loss of hundreds of thousands more Americans, Brits, and Aussies. After the war he turned a demoralized ramshackle strategic air force into the world's most powerful.
In large part because of the ground-work that he laid, the Soviet Empire disintegrated and re-emerged as a fledgling democracy.

Some people think Bomber Harris was a nut too, which he was most definately not.

"Strategic Air Command" was ok, but was way too propoganda-like for my tastes. Also, Jimmy Stewart was getting a little long in the tooth to be believable playing a major league pitcher. "A Gathering of Eagles" was a great movie and showed a much more realistic view of life in a strategic bomber wing. Still can't get over the imagery of Rock being a homo.

[etsd0001]

Lemay was no looney.

It's my understanding that it is only because Kennedy kept him on a tight leash that the Cuba crisis didn't turn into the end of the world.

[barit1]

Sad coincidence: June Allyson, Jimmy Stewart's co-star, has died this past week. :sad:

[ORAC]

Still can't get over the imagery of Rock being a homo.
Today 18:00 Many of those who served, no doubt including Colonels, were, and did there job as well as any other man....

[Footless Halls]

Classic thread creap - I post a note about a film about B36's (and B47's), and 3 hours later we have postings about homosexuality.

Getting back again - did anyone spot the model of the B52 in the General's office at the end of the film? That struck me as odd. Was it an early example of Boeing 'product placement'.

[ORAC]

Well its certainly an anachronism. The B-47 entered service in 1951, assuming he is on his "21 month" reinlistment, it cannot be later than 1952. The first B-52 prototype didn't fly till 1954, the movie was made in 1955.

I presume that SAC just stuck in evrything they could find for PR.....

[Mycroft]

You're almost certainly right ORAC, just an anachronism; however in the plot he re-enlisted full time; so the 21 month limit is not important. Also although the B52A did not fly until 1954; the YB52 flew in April 1952, about the same time SAC had 45 B47s to do the Japan flight (let alone have enough left to carry on with the real job) and the model may have existed pre-flight (it is definately one of the prototypes as it has a B47 sytle cockpit.
It was rather strange to see all the crew of a B36 wearing parachutes at 40,000'

[Brian Abraham]

Husky voiced June Allyson - one to make a pubescent boy fall in love, and Grace Kelly, but I digress. Absolutely loved the movie (pubescent boy) but the one I would love to see again is "Flying Leathernecks". Made an impression (pubescent boy again) all those F4U's.

[Groundloop]

Sad coincidence: June Allyson, Jimmy Stewart's co-star, has died this past week. :sad:


That's why the BBC showed it yesterday!

[BEagle]

I remember seeing 'A Gathering of Eagles' in the local Gaumont years ago. 1963 or '64? Quite a good movie - hope to see it again some time.

Sadly, not available on DVD as far as I can establish.

[John Eacott]

Going slightly OT, but does anyone know what the USN were doing operating B-47's? I took this shot at Roosevelt Roads in the early 70's:

http://www.helicopterservice.com.au/photos/pprune/USN%20B47's%20at%20Roosevelt%20Roads.jpg

[barit1]

At least one USN B-47 had some kind of large APU to generate vast KW of electricity, and a large aircooled dummy load bank resistor in the bomb bay. It was later modified (1970) as an engine testbed for the TF34.

[Evileyes]

"Two modified B-47Es, redesignated EB-47E, were loaned to the US Navy for electronic warfare tests. The long-range external wing tanks were replaced with a variety of pods filled with electronic countermeasures equipment, and more chaff dispensers were installed. These two planes remained operational with the Navy long after after the last USAF B-47s had been retired. One of these, an EB-47E-45-DT, had the honor of making the last flight of a B-47 when it was ferried in the late 1970s with civil registration N1045Y from Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona to an aviation museum in Colorado."

[John Eacott]

Eyes,

Ta: I'll have to see if I can tweek the picture to get some better markings. And to highlight the Gannet parked between the B47's ;)

[411A]

My neighbor, a retired USAF Colonel, flew the B-36 (and later, the B-52) and mentioned that his personal altitude record in the PeaceKeeper was 46,000 feet, and he had photos to prove it.

How do piston engines operate at 40,000 feet plus?
Apparently quite well, as each engine not only was a supercharged, but had TWO turbochargers as well.

A quite unique design.

BTW, if you ever noticed a B-36 overhead at high altitude, the noise heard was not engine sounds, it was propellor beat (noise).
Stratocruisers made a similar sound at high altitude.

[Final 3 Greens]

411A

In terms of impressive piston engined ceilings, you might be interested to note that a reconnaissance Spitifre Mk19 made it to over 50,000 feet on a single RR Griffon engine.

This in the early days of the Comet, when the Spit was doing a met flight before the shiny new jet arrived in the Far East.

It came back down a lot faster than it went up, logging m0.94 at one stage:eek:

[treadigraph]

All pusher prop designs I've heard flying seem to have a distinctive sound - Cessna 337, VariEze, Piaggio Avanti and 166, etc - presumably this is something to do with the disturbed airflow through the prop disc?

Love to have heard the B-36 in flight! I 've seen a couple of KC-97s overhead in the mid-70s, not sure how high they were and I regret that I can't remember how they sounded!

[Nogbad the Bad]

but the one I would love to see again is "Flying Leathernecks". Made an impression (pubescent boy again) all those F4U's.

Actually it was more the F6Fs that grabbed my attention. Thank goodness some had the sense to make their films in colour [THUMBS]

[Gordon Fraser]

One of the highlights of my spotting career when when I saw my one and only B36, in 1957,at altitude near Greenham Common. I still have the photographic proof and vividly remember the unique throb of the engines.
Happy days!!

[Farmer 1]

Totally miscast, wayyyyyy too old

I presume you mean James Stewart, Orac. Don't forget, he flew at least one mission in Vietnam in a B52, at the age of 58(?).

[MReyn24050]

Eyes,
Ta: I'll have to see if I can tweek the picture to get some better markings. And to highlight the Gannet parked between the B47's ;)
Not skilled at this at all but the Gannet is a Gannet AEW.3
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/sabamel/GannetAEW.jpg

[pulse1]

In the mid 50's a B47 beat up the whole of South Wales and most of Gloucestershire. I was just leaving school when he came over and then carried out a tight turn over the town at about 500', frightening lots of dear old ladies. According to the papers, the pilot was fed up and wanted to go home.

[glhcarl]

.
BTW, if you ever noticed a B-36 overhead at high altitude, the noise heard was not engine sounds, it was propellor beat (noise).
Stratocruisers made a similar sound at high altitude.
When I was about ten I was playing in my back yard and I heard a strange noise. It went on for about fifteen minutes, then I saw them way up in the sky, three B-36's. It took about ten minutes for them pass over and out of sight and the noise could be heard for at least fifteen more minutes. When they were visable the ground actually vibrated.

[Gordon Fraser]

I have just watched my VHS copy of “Strategic Air Command” for the first time in years. The flying sequences are superb although the story line is poor. It is really a fine propaganda film, extolling the virtues of SAC in the dangerous fifties. I found it quite confusing with Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson playing ‘happy families’ and found myself wondering at times why Glenn Miller was flying a B36?
There is a ‘howler’ in the scene where Stewart and his fellow pilots are briefed on the new B47. Behind the briefing officer there is a wall size map of the world showing how SAC can reach across the globe. If you watch for close-ups over the officer’s left shoulder you will see that SAC shows the United Kingdom with a misshapen Scotland separated from England by a channel of about 20 miles of ocean. Were SAC anticipating not only a political but also a physical split?

[Footless Halls]

What's the howler?

[Duckbutt]

I have played a bit with the photo of the B47's, perhaps the result is of interest?

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b229/Twyler/USN20B47s20at20Roosevelt20Roads.jpg