B-36 over Manchester late 1950s
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B-36 over Manchester late 1950s
Burtonwood in news today as proposed site for new 'super prison' which prompts me to make this post.
As a ten or eleven year old around 1957 I lived in Rusholme, just a couple of miles south of Manchester city centre. I remember one evening, not too late, when people all around were brought out of their houses by the tremendous earth-shaking rumbling of a huge aircraft which was circling continuously for what seemed an age. There was very low cloud at the time which probably amplified the noise but on a couple of occasions the huge silhouette of a Convair B-36 could be made out and , Boy, was it low! The intrusion by this behemoth with its six pusher piston engines was treated as a major incident by the press and people were talking about it for weeks.
Can anyone throw light on this? Was it simply hopelessly lost, burning fuel or some Yank's idea of a joke by deliberately frightening the life out of the good citizens of Manchester?
As a ten or eleven year old around 1957 I lived in Rusholme, just a couple of miles south of Manchester city centre. I remember one evening, not too late, when people all around were brought out of their houses by the tremendous earth-shaking rumbling of a huge aircraft which was circling continuously for what seemed an age. There was very low cloud at the time which probably amplified the noise but on a couple of occasions the huge silhouette of a Convair B-36 could be made out and , Boy, was it low! The intrusion by this behemoth with its six pusher piston engines was treated as a major incident by the press and people were talking about it for weeks.
Can anyone throw light on this? Was it simply hopelessly lost, burning fuel or some Yank's idea of a joke by deliberately frightening the life out of the good citizens of Manchester?
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My Mother-in -law tells the same tail. She was moving into her new home in Ashton-on-Mersey and remembers "three large aeroplanes with propellers on the back of the wings" flying over the house. She said that they were flying into Burtonwood. I am sure if I asked her she would remember the exact date, proberbly the time, wind direction, cloud base, what was playing on the radio etc, etc!
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Remember the occasion too
If I can find the article I will copy over, but looking for a needle in a hay stack suggests I won't find. Brushing the cobwebs aside, I think the occasion had something to do with the Korean War and the USAF were moving part of their bomber fleet a bit closer to the target area. The article, as I recall, listed all the relevant B36 tail serial numbers. Might have been 10+ aircraft in total. What a sound!
If I can find the article I will copy over, but looking for a needle in a hay stack suggests I won't find. Brushing the cobwebs aside, I think the occasion had something to do with the Korean War and the USAF were moving part of their bomber fleet a bit closer to the target area. The article, as I recall, listed all the relevant B36 tail serial numbers. Might have been 10+ aircraft in total. What a sound!
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B-36 over Manchester late 50s
For over fifty years I've assumed it was one B 36 circling over Manchester that evening. ANW's mention of several aircraft offers a more feasible explanation. They would have been spaced at short intervals flying east just 20/25 miles from takeoff before setting up a formation at altitude.
You can hear a sound clip here :-
B-36 Sound
There is plenty of stuff on You Tube which includes that incredible noise.
You can hear a sound clip here :-
B-36 Sound
There is plenty of stuff on You Tube which includes that incredible noise.
Last edited by mephisto; 10th Oct 2008 at 16:58. Reason: put west instead of east
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When I worked at Preston Radar in the early '70s, I was told a tale of a B36 that wanted to land at Burtonwood. Unfortuneately, it was dark, and the a/c Captain could only land in daylight, so he was asked to "hold". The night watch went home, but forgot to hand over the holding B36. At about 10am, a plaintive voice came over the RT to ask if he could land yet? Apparently he was low on fuel....3 hour endurance left...
watp,iktch
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When I worked at Northern Radar back in '76 on my watch was an old boy called Eric Davies. He had been a D man at Preston and told me the same story.
Clint.
When I worked at Northern Radar back in '76 on my watch was an old boy called Eric Davies. He had been a D man at Preston and told me the same story.
Clint.
I lived near Bovingdon as a child. I the early '50s (52 or 53-I would have been about 4 years old) there was always a plethora of types in and out, both RAF and USAF. One day I saw this big aircraft with 6 engines on the back of the wings. I ran indoors and told my elder brother who had just joined the ATC. He hit me because he said I was lying!! Looking back I doubt if it actually landed at Bovingdon but it was certainly low over Chesham.
B-36
Impressive aircraft, only saw one a couple of times when I was very much younger, but it made a lasting impression.
Impressive aircraft, only saw one a couple of times when I was very much younger, but it made a lasting impression.
Last edited by Warmtoast; 6th Mar 2011 at 18:08. Reason: To restore moved photo
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I remember once at my aunts [in Hyde] I heard a terriffic noise, looked around and there was a KB29...[looked like a B29, not KC97] re-fuelling 3 F84Gs..., this was about 1957ish
bb
, this was about 1957ishbb
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My father flew the B-36 and as a young child I crawled all over them. We were based at Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas. To this day I could still tell if a B-36 flew over me, not that one ever will again of course, because no other aircraft in the world made the noise that a B-36 made.
I am rather confused about the 'not landing at night' statement, as I remember being at Base Ops with my mother and watching my father come home from overseas assignments and land at night more than a few times.
Perhaps it was an inferior British airfield?
(Just kidding.
)
On a personal note. Nearly all of my father's photos were lost when the massive level 5 tornado destroyed my mother's home in March of 1999 in Oklahoma City. I'm talking about pictures from World War II, the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, the non-war years (the B-36 and others) and Viet Nam. Damn shame really.
Okay, to lighten up the mood. When I received my Boeing 727 type rating I called my father to tell him about my major accomplishment. He laughed and said, "Well hell boy, you still have never pushed up ten throttles for takeoff and you never will."
I immediately replied, "Well hell, neither have you. You had two flight engineers sitting behind you in that thing handling the throttles for you."
"Just a minor technicality my boy, just a minor technicality." He replied.
(By the way, I did meet Jimmy Stewart, more than once.)
I am rather confused about the 'not landing at night' statement, as I remember being at Base Ops with my mother and watching my father come home from overseas assignments and land at night more than a few times.
Perhaps it was an inferior British airfield?
(Just kidding.
)On a personal note. Nearly all of my father's photos were lost when the massive level 5 tornado destroyed my mother's home in March of 1999 in Oklahoma City. I'm talking about pictures from World War II, the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, the non-war years (the B-36 and others) and Viet Nam. Damn shame really.
Okay, to lighten up the mood. When I received my Boeing 727 type rating I called my father to tell him about my major accomplishment. He laughed and said, "Well hell boy, you still have never pushed up ten throttles for takeoff and you never will."
I immediately replied, "Well hell, neither have you. You had two flight engineers sitting behind you in that thing handling the throttles for you."
"Just a minor technicality my boy, just a minor technicality." He replied.
(By the way, I did meet Jimmy Stewart, more than once.)
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You might want to rush out and get the DVD "Strategic Air Command" starring Jimmy Stewart, and of course the mighty B-36, in fact I should do that myself. Made a great impression on this 12 year old when it came out.
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I do have it Brian, trust me. My father flew quite a bit in that movie, mostly for the background shots.
I believe that Jimmy Stewart was a Colonel back when the movie was made and he was in the 'O' Club quite a bit while they were filming at Carswell. I can also remember my mother and her friends being all excited about meeting June Allison. My mother always said that Jimmy Stewart and June Allison were proper 'movie stars', not the rabble of today's time.
I believe that Jimmy Stewart was a Colonel back when the movie was made and he was in the 'O' Club quite a bit while they were filming at Carswell. I can also remember my mother and her friends being all excited about meeting June Allison. My mother always said that Jimmy Stewart and June Allison were proper 'movie stars', not the rabble of today's time.
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I don't recall the flight in question, but I do remember the "hearts and minds" operation around the same time in which the cousins flew a Sqdn of B29's around the North West...solid cloud on the day...well more or less....so only the odd glimpse of them over Altrincham.....also recall a Scimitar doing a couple of low level orbits one day for reasons that were never apparent.
Burtonwood as a prison eh ?.......equidistant from Manchester and Liverpool I suppose so convenient for visiting.
Burtonwood has it's own place in my (limited) aviation history....Aug 24 1968 and Krystal went on his first solo foray there in a Cadet Mk 3.....and managed to miss the "rather long runway" completely on his second solo...thus setting the trend for years to come.
Burtonwood as a prison eh ?.......equidistant from Manchester and Liverpool I suppose so convenient for visiting.
Burtonwood has it's own place in my (limited) aviation history....Aug 24 1968 and Krystal went on his first solo foray there in a Cadet Mk 3.....and managed to miss the "rather long runway" completely on his second solo...thus setting the trend for years to come.
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There was a B-36 that landed near Boscombe Down, actually on the wrong side [about a mile short?] of the Salisbury/Amesbury main road, in an adjacent farmer's field! After some landscaping/fence bashing I think the B-36 was towed up the slope and onto RAF Boscombe Down ground! I think "Aeroplane" or "Flypast" had an article on it some years ago. Strong machines with strong undercarriages! I think a hard frost/snow cover helped.
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It is, perhaps, not generally known, that Wng Cmndr Ken Wallis, yes, he of autogyro fame, spent some time flying B.36s on secondment to SAC. Spent a lovely afternoon in conversation with him when he opened our village fete 18 months ago. Tales of 24 hour misssions in these aircraft, constant engine failures etc. Top man.Saw only one '36 myself. VERY strange noise. Nothing like it.
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Using the gun sight fitted in the Hunter required the wingspan of the target aircraft to be set, so as to enable accurate ranging/deflection during the “attack”. During bomber affiliation exercises, if the target was the Convair “Aluminum Overcast”, however, a major drawback was that the gun sight range scale did not go up as far as 230 feet; IIRC the solution was to set 70 feet and range on the tailplane. 
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Absolutely and totally off thread. Con, the mere mention of June Allison takes me back as well, any movie she was in was a good movie for this love struck teenager, that husky voice. I wont go on.
In 18 October 1956 eleven B-36 bombers of the 11th Bomber Wing spent a week at Burtonwood. One had engine trouble at night and had to circle for many hours to burn off fuel keeping most of West Lancashire awake.
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There was a B-36 that landed near Boscombe Down, actually on the wrong side [about a mile short?] of the Salisbury/Amesbury main road, in an adjacent farmer's field! After some landscaping/fence bashing I think the B-36 was towed up the slope and onto RAF Boscombe Down ground! I think "Aeroplane" or "Flypast" had an article on it some years ago. Strong machines with strong undercarriages! I think a hard frost/snow cover helped.
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Thanks Mel. That's the one!
Looking at the pic it seems likely the move was made using the B-36 engines and not being towed. Lots of melted snow in the background. I presume that is the A345 Salisbury/Amesbury road? Or maybe the Winterslow road?
Looking at the pic it seems likely the move was made using the B-36 engines and not being towed. Lots of melted snow in the background. I presume that is the A345 Salisbury/Amesbury road? Or maybe the Winterslow road?