B36

[DenverDude2002]

Just got to thinking, what ever happened to the B36's after retirement? Are there any that could be fixed up for an airshow? That would be one sweet @ss plane to see up close and walk around in. The B17s and B25's and B29s are ok, but KMON, a B36 would just be sweet! I know I need to stop watching old 50s movies with Jimmy Stewart

 

[Vector4fun]

Visit the SAC Museum; halfway between Lincoln and Omaha, just north of the interstate. That sucker dwarfs a B29....

 

[Smoking Man]

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/

B-36
XB-70

etc.

 

[EagleRJ]

For a while, there were plans to return the last plane off the line, the City of Fort Worth, to flying condition, but the Air Force put the kibash on the idea. It's probably the most complete restoration existing even though it doesn't have a permanent home yet (they want to display it outdoors at DFW airport even though it's fully restored).

These sites have the locations of the surviving B-36s:

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

http://www.visi.com/~jweeks/b36/

 

[bobbysamd]

B-36

Good website selections above.

The B-36 is one of my favorite airplanes. Revell made a great B-36 model kit, which resulted in a huge (for a model) airplane.

I have a vague recollection of seeing a B-36 making an approach to Lowry AFB in Denver around 1957 or so. I was about six years old at the time, so, yes, the recollection is extremely vague.

 

[DenverDude2002]

Did that thing land at Lowry?

 

[DorkProp]

You simply must fly to DAY and go to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patt. There you can walk around/under/whatever almost every warplane you can think of. My favorites: B-36, XB-70, SR-71, YF-22, F-117, B-52... You can also walk through several of the old Air Force Ones, including the 707.

Speaking of the Revel B-36 model: My father built that model for me when I was very young. He did a very professional job with it and it hung from my ceiling for years. It was huge! When I was arount twelve or thirteen I was really into, um, burning things and blowing stuff up. That great old model became a test bed for explosives -- namely, black-cats. After I finished blowing the plane to bits, I set it on fire. There is still an airplane-shaped silhouette on my mom's back patio where the plastic melted and left a toxic sludge. Gosh, I really wish I still had that model! Sadly, many of my GI Joes met the same fate in the match-stick towers of death I built for them.

 

[Big Duke Six]

Something tells me that since they were nuclear-capable, most of them were decommissioned and then destroyed on a schedule as part of arms limitations agreements. I'm sure most of the B-47's, B-58's and D model Buffs met the same fate. It would look great on the air show circuit though!

 

[Metro752]

Is there one at Chanute AFB (closed) in Rantoul, IL?

 

[TrafficInSight]

Something tells me that since they were nuclear-capable, most of them were decommissioned and then destroyed on a schedule as part of arms limitations agreements. I'm sure most of the B-47's, B-58's and D model Buffs met the same fate. It would look great on the air show circuit though!

Nah, they were phased out before anybody had ever heard of arms limitation. In those days they could care less about history and just turned them all into beer cans.

The Castle museum in Atwater CA has one. The B-36 is one of my favorites... I asked a guy who flew them one time how long the missions usually lasted and he said "Oh, a long mission could last about 36 hours." I was amazed and I asked him why so long? he said "Well... it takes a long time to fly 10,000 miles at 275 knots."

classic