Convair B-36 Peacemaker makes low pass over Fort Worth neighborhood
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- Опубліковано 25 гру 2010
- Convair B-36 Peacemaker makes low pass over Fort Worth neighborhood. Neighbors in the Ridglea area south of Carswell AFB reported TV antennas snagged from roofs and structural damage to some homes.
See: www.7bwb-36assn.org/reflect.ht... - Авто та транспорт
BUZZ JOB
Quite often, the B-36 would be called upon to demonstrate how quickly
it could get off the ground, especially when loaded with a minimum
amount of fuel. On a Sunday afternoon in October 1954 a group of firemen
were having a convention in town and were on a tour of the Base. In
order for a person to draw his flight pay he was required to fly at
least fours a month, and 100 hours each year. Thad Neal's crew was
scheduled for a two or three week leave in October, so in order to get
in the required flying time this pilot proficiency mission was set up
for the crew. I believe it was on a Sunday afternoon.
Before leaving home for the Base that morning, Thad called and told
me to have Rin (my wife) standing by with the movie camera. I knew he
had visitors and that he wanted them to get a good look at the plane, so
I expected that it would be a low flyover but had no idea just how low
he planned on making it.
The visiting firemen were on the ramp at the time of our take off so
Thad was directed to make a maximum performance takeoff and then come
around with the low pass over. With a minimum fuel load the B-36 really
got off the ground in a hurry. We taxied onto the runway heading south
and set the brakes. Thad called for full power on the six recips and
four jet engines. That old bird started to stutter and seemed to skid
until the brakes were released. I don't think we used a thousand feet of
runway before breaking ground. We leveled off at four thousand and
headed to the north end of Eagle Mountain Lake at 4,000' before turning
south and heading for the north end of the runway. When over Eagle
Mountain Lake the plane turned south. With "six turning and four
burning" the plane headed directly for the north end of the runway. In a
shallow dive with full power the plane skimmed down the runway at
almost no altitude. I don't know how fast we were going but it had to
be at least 180 mph. Thad kept right on the deck for the whole length of
the runway. I was sitting in the glass nose and had a good view. The
operators in the GCA shack along side the runway took a dive for the
ground as the plane approached with the props almost ticking the
concrete.
Thad had originally planned on flying directly over his house.
Between the Base and West Ridglea the ground rises maybe a hundred feet
so. Thad could not get a true bead on his house from the low altitude so
he flew down the road where Ridgmar Mall sits today. Climbing over the
small ridge he soon spotted his house just a wee bit off to the left.
Still following the terrain he pushed the nose down a bit again but did
not dare to drop the wing in a turn. After crossing he ridge, the land
gradually gets lower until it reaches Mary's Creek. We stayed on the
deck all the way and then part way down highway 377. Then we climbed
back to altitude and my log book show we flew for six hours.
Trinka was in her front yard filming the approach, until frightened,
when she dropped the camera. Rin had heard us takeoff so she got our
camera and sat on the back porch to wait for the next event. It came so
fast and caught her by surprise so that all she could do was step off
the porch and shoot between the two houses. She did get a short blip of
film as we passed about a block away. She did run out front and got a
few feet as we few down the hill to the Creek, then she went in the
house and poured herself a stiff drink.
As we flew down the highway I recall seeing cars stop and people head
for the ditches. Several years later I was telling this story to some
co-workers at General Dynamics and one man told me that he was one of
those that had sought shelter in a ditch.
We landed and went home to prepare for our vacation not realizing the
furor that was going on in Headquarters. One man had called in
demanding that his TV antenna be returned. He claimed that a jet pod had
removed it from his roof. One character even claimed that the jet
exhaust had set fire to a phone pole. There were claims about cracked
plaster and pictures that had fallen from the walls.
There was such a fuss raised that General Jack Ryan the 19thAD CO had
to take some action. Early the following morning before we could get
away, Thad called and said not to leave. General Ryan wanted to talk
with all of us. We met at his office and one by one had to go in to give
our version of the whole episode. When it was all over he had to fine
Thad. I believe it was for $250.00 and he was taken off the promotion
list for a couple of years, but as he left the General's office, General
Ryan told Thad that was the best buzz job he had ever heard of. It
didn't hurt his career either. He would serve as a Commander at Wichita
Falls, and then in the Pentagon before going to Florida. He retired as a
Lieutenant Colonel.
Thad was killed in a crash in the early 60's while training in
C-123's in Florida. The training was preparing him for duty in Viet Nam,
defoliation, I think they called it. In the middle of a low altitude
turn he lost an engine and went down.
Thanks
Great story, thanks!
Thanks for posting, it's nice to get the back story.
It's strange that someone who couldn't be bothered to read it, would take the time to post a comment criticizing you for posting it.
I never said you criticized the story, by your own admission you didn't even read it. I said you criticized him for posting it.
I never accused you of hypocrisy, you're the one who pointed out your own hypocrisy.
Learn to read.
Commentor1 Damn, you're getting awfully upset over a single sentence in a comment section. I apologize if I hurt your feelings. Why don't you go roll a fatty and chill out?
I wasn't calling you a hypocrite, and honestly didn't think about it being hypocritical until you suggested it yourself. I just thought it was strange that someone looked at the post and thought "I don't have time to read that", but took the time to criticize the person for posting it, especially given that it has quite a few thumbs-up.
There are many times I see a short vid like this and wonder what the story was behind it. He was good enough to post the story for anyone who cared to read it. I don't see that as something to be criticized and discouraged. I wish more people would do it.
Ntm, you keep telling me to learn how to read (which is ironic, considering the nature of the argument), but anyone with good reading skills could have skimmed over the story and got the gist of it, and not fretted over the fact that they didn't want to take 5 minutes to read it. They have courses to teach you that. You might want to consider signing up for one. It's a good skill to have.
At age-12 in 1953, I could hear the awesome drone of a B-36 flying overhead higher than 30,000 feet while lying in bed in the middle of the night. It was common then, and during the day, I used to watch them flying overhead at high altitude with a telescope. I could always hear them first before I could see them. In 1955, my dad was stationed on the island of Guam and I got many close looks and an inside tour at Anderson Air Force Base. What an amazing bird !!
They did have an unusual sound.
Thank you for this. A step into the past... I envy your experiences of living through the times when radials ruled the skies
Proud to say my Father made every propeller blade on all B-36's I even have a cross section of one...
Great bomber..
My Grandfather served as a crew chief in US Air Force and would be working and maintaining these aircraft.
With its 6-engines turning and 384 B-36s made, that means your dad:
Suppllied blades for 2,034 engines
(not including service and replacements)
Made a total of at least 6,912 individual blades
Making 864 blades per year, coming out to just under 4 blades made per day.
He must have been spinning with all the prop blades he had to quickly fab up each day
I think the greatest bomber ever made
. But they should have used aluminum rivets instead of steel because they rusted..
That's great! My dad help design the intakes on the F4 phantom at MIT.. which later on the Russians copied exactly on the MiG 23..
I was a child living on Hamilton Street in Fort Worth...My Dad used to take me as close as he could get to Carswell to see the B-36's launched and recovered...The sound of those engines at full power is now burned into my memory...It was the beginning of a lifelong love affair...
Six turning, four burning!
Too bad there's no sound. That would have been incredibly loud but music to my ears. The "big stick" had such a unique sound, with six turnin' and four burnin'.
they could wake up the dead !!!
Home 8mm movies just didn't have sound... Thankfully, AVHistorybuff didn't add in any cheesy music or b-roll sound.
@@beeleo actually yes they did if you had the compatible camera and right film there was a magnetic strip on the side that would record sound. I have one that still works, costs $105 for processing and scanning 11 minutes of movie these days.
My dad was stationed at Kirkland AFB in Albuquerque, NM in 1950, and I used to watch B-36's fly slowly over the city preparing to land. The inside of the house and windows shook when it got down low, but the sound was beautiful! I was also fortunate to see the flying wing (B-49) flying in circles above the city, but I only saw it fly twice.
12 years later, while flying C-130s in the Air Force, I flew with an Aircraft Commander who had flown in an RB-36 squadron with Francis Gary Powers. He said that they flew well above 50,000 feet with only their jet engines running at that altitude. He also told me that they routinely flew over China and Russia with impunity in the mid-50's until the U-2 took over that mission.
Thank you for sharing that interesting story! My Dad was an engineer where they built the C-130's and we went a tour of the assembly line.
Lies, they weren't capable of doing that over russia.
Unlikely….. I don’t believe there are generators on any of the jets. / former B-36 flight line mechanic.
I saw a B-36 one time when I was young, it shook the earth, I will never forget that. Thanks, great film.
My Father was a Flight Engineer at Convair in AF Acceptance, Air Materiel Command. I got the see them all time from our house on Garza Street. We were under the approach path to Runway 36. On a Sunday, we went to the Plant, to see them in production, and they put me in the tail gunner simulator, this was 1953, so I played the very first video game, 20 years before any other kid had one.....I watched the filming of Strategic Air Command, and of course, went to the first showing in Ft Worth. There is nothing like being a former Ft Worth resident and seeing this....
Would you be able to email me micasadegarza@yahoo.com? I live on Garza now and have been trying to do research on the history of the area and possibly of my home. I wonder if you were on my section of Garza? The planes fly DIRECTLY over my house. I LOVE it!
My grandfather also worked at Convair back then. They lived up on the hill...right under the big water tower which was literally in their backyard. He retired in 72 working for GD. Had a lot to do with the B-36, B-58 and finally the F-111 projects. Worked on radar systems...specifically the terrain following feature in the later years.
IIRC: 1711 Garza Street was the address...
There was no faster commercial jet than the Convair 880 and I loved flying on that thing back to college after a weekend at home. Too bad it drank fuel like a drunken relative at a family re-union.
I lived on the North side of Fort Worth in early 1950s, 1950 to 1956. My Dad worked for Convair building the B 36. I remember he took my brother and I out to watch the last B 36 built, take off. . That plane would be the last to fly when it was flown into what was Great Southwest(Carter Field) Airport in 1959. I remember all those B 36 planes flying over the house on North side. The Engines would make the house shake and the windows would rattle. The B 36 was one large plane.
In the mid 50s my family lived in Tennessee.. and I remember laying on our lawn and looking at one of these amazing bombers flew over.. it seemed to be in slow motion.. and the sound vibrated the ground and I'll never ever forget that EVER.. I've never seen a aircraft since that made that big of an impression on myself.
I used to be in the Civil Air Patrol as a kid and we used to get to clean the old planes there at the Great Southwest Air Museum that used to be at the entrance to General Dynamics. They had the old B36 there that I think was the last one in Fort Worth. Incredible film. My dad also used to work on the B36 back around the time of this filming. Thank for posting.
I stood at the Air Force museum at Wright Patterson, looking all around the bomber room, amidst the various types, including the B17 and B29, trying to locate the infamous "Peacemaker" until one of my buddies advised me to "look up". That's how big it was! Thanks for the post, man!
I remember making a model of this plane as a kid. Wish I had it today. Something very unique about the B-36
Hey, did anybody else see that "Double Stacked Yagi" VHF TV antenna?? He also had a UHF TV stub - ahhhhh, da good old days!
Michael Donavon Yeah I was noticing the big antennas they had to have in those days to pick up the Dallas stations from west Ft Worth, before the transmitters all moved to Cedar Hill. Used to see the same thing in northeast Dallas in reverse.
+Michael Donavon oh dear...an antenna nut! Let me guess; a HAM operator? (I love antennas, too.)
In the USA SSB was in a mid 1980's high end desktop Dynascan 139 Cobra CB radio that had the old 23 channels, ie before 40 channel CB. Legally I think the ancient FCC rule is one is not suppose to talk or try to talk to another station more than 250Km away. for AM here it is 4 watts and 12 watts PEP on SSB. With that 12 watts and a decent mobile antenna I worked Australia and NZ and even South Africa and Europe from my car in the late 1980's early 1990's.
The answer is simply that we are near the bottom of the solar cycle (fewer sunspots) and will remain so until sometime around 2029, unfortunately.
What a wonderful world. Was a young boy then. And was dreaming about running a wire to my friends house so we could do Morse code.
I was five years old when my dad took me to Lowery Air Force Base (now called Buckley Air Base) in Denver, Colorado for an open house. On static display was one of the few B-36's still commissioned next to one of the new B-52's in service at that time. Both aircraft had bomb bay doors open. I remember being in awe. Been an avid plane watcher and recreational pilot ever since.
My Grandpa loved the B-36 planes the best. He was a Denver guy and loved the Rumblers coming out of Lowry Air Force Base!
"Look mommy. There's an airplane up in the sky."
Did did did did did you see the frightened ones
Mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?
C J he’s referring to a Pink Floyd song called “Mother”, it’s a great song. You should check it out!
C J didn’t sound like it, but fair enough.
C J lol
I heard and saw the awsome B-36s when we lived under the flight path to Davis Monthon AFB in the early 1950s in Tucson AZ. I have never heard another airplane that sounded like the B-36. You could hear them coming for 2 minutes before they were overhead. They were fazing the B-36 out and the B-47 was constantly going overhead and doing touch and go approaches with their drouge parachutes dragging behind. What a time I lived in.
I grew up in that neighborhood, but during the 1980s, so B-52s were already in play by then. There were some low passes with the Stratofortress, but not quite like that. My father grew up in the same neighborhood and he remembers the incident.
When I was a kid in the late 1950's, early 60's the B-36 Bombers flew over the Central Valley in California in formations of 4-6 airplanes. They were always quite high and what was remarkable is that even at substantial elevation, the out of phase/sync engines of the various planes would make a low speed oscillation which sounded sort of like "wow-wow-wow-wow" which was quite loud. You could hear them arriving for miles. I lived next door to Castle AFB but they never seemed to land there.
My Father-in-Law was an electrician/gunner on B-36s out of Carswell. My wife was born in Ft Worth and told me that when the B-36s would fly over the base housing area, stuff would fall out of cabinets, and off shelves. None of the bases my Father was stationed at had B36s so I never got to see one in the air. DAMN!
We used to go to Fort Worth every Year when I was a kid in the late 40's to mid 50's from Chicago to visit my dads mom and his brothers .I used to love looking up in the sky and see theme flying .One time they had 3 props on one side shut down Dad said it was for test was a great time to be a kid
What an amazing time it must have been to live in America back then.
It was real good. Believe me.
I was a kid in the fifties, born in 1946. It was a great time. As a young boy I loved all the new jets and my friends put up numerous plastic models of them and WWII aircraft and hung then in our bedrooms. The model companies I recall were Revell, Monogram, and Aurora. Most models cost a dollar. Today they run from 15 dollars to over a hundred dollars and more. We collected baseball cards for fun, not money, traded them and collect comics and traded them too. We played marbles at school and spun wooden tops, and yoyos. What a simple time. I guess I am nostalgic in my later years, but I did have a great childhood.
Hah! That sure depends on where you were, what you were doing, or what kind of person you happened to be born as...
Rose tinted glasses strike again.
Back when America was great...
…unless you were a woman, or black, or non-white, or non-Christian, or gay, or lower-class. So basically, the majority of the population. Plus the looming threat of a nuclear holocaust hanging over everyone. Yup, sounds great to me, lol.
Looking at all those TV antennas on the roofs reminds me what a common site that used to be.
I was stationed at Biggs AFB in El Paso in Feb 1959 when the very last operational B-36 (J Model) took off to be retired. The 95th Bomb Wing had been operating there. It was am amazing aircraft.
Grew up in River Oaks by the base...didn't get to see the '36 but was there when the B-58's were launching...and the B-52's. In the mid-60's, always thought about it, as I lay down for the night 'bout 10:00 ish, the B-52's would start running up. some people complained about it but to me, it always sounded like security. I, and my home were safe when those engines were turning... Thank you Military men and women, you are still providing SECURITY to this grateful man!
I lived in Ft Worth as a kid and people would tell me about the B-36 presence in the 1950s. We often parked near Carswell and watched the B-58 (Hustlers) depart. I always wanted to see a B-36 fly but never did.
Also...makes me want to watch my DVD of Strategic Air Command with Jimmy Stewart. Great movie with my surround sound on (but wife hates it😡).
Great movie! Love him too.
I like that movie too. It has gorgeous Technicolor.
My mother said that you had to wait for it to pass over you before you could talk on the phone.
And I did rattle the house and dishes. I got to see one back in the mid 60's setting on the Tarmac
at the old Greater Southwest Airport. My dad before he passed that you don't realize how big it until you're standing underneath it. Truly awesome Footage.
One of my earliest 1950's memories of childhood is standing in our backyard in Loma Portal, a neighborhood of San Diego, CA, USA. We were almost directly lined up with the end of Lindbergh Field, next to the Convair (formerly Consolidated Aircraft) factories. The B-36's were being retrofitted or refurbished and had to lumber up and over our neighborhood. I recall the wingspan filled the sky between our house and back hedge. The noise was not only deafening but the physical vibrations were like a pounding on your chest. They were so slow, it was a wonder they could get enough lift to clear the terrain. Guess the original engineers had never been out of Kansas or Texas.
with "6 turning and 4 burning" I'm sure the earth shook alright!
when the 4 burning were turbojets, that were much louder than today's jet engines,
and with the biggest piston engines ever made, times 6. it had to really rumble!
When I was young, I saw a B-36 Peacemaker fly over our town at roughly 2500 ft. (as verified by my father.) The noise, even at that altitude, was deafening and cause houses, cars, trees and my insides to shake and rattle.
I'll bet that was a Hell of an experience to see and hear in Fort Worth!
Wish I'd been there !!
I never got to see one in person, a little young I guess, but we lived on the approach to RG airbase in Missouri, and the C124's (soon to be Hercs and C5's, Starlifters) flew in day and night during the late Vietnam war, about a thousand feet up, I suppose. Those 4360's at takeoff power had a big-block rumble that is unforgettable. Dad hated them the worst for all the RF interference with our TV set!
Awesome vintage footage
If you counted the dimples on a Spaulding Golf ball for pro tournaments back in the late 60s, you'd find the 336 spark plugs (at 2 each for the 168 cylinders) matched the number of dimples that kept the aerodynamics of the balls the same. My brother worked in their quality control section making sure each ball bounced exactly the same height back in the late 60s
Note the large "buzz numbers" painted on the fuselage just aft of the cockpit. That's why they were put there. To report an aircraft "buzzing". (I would have remained silent)
Back in the good ole days at Ft . Bliss, my barracks was right under the takeoff pattern from Biggs AFB, or so it seemed. Those suckers would work the mortar from between the bricks in that building. Would love to hear that unique sound again.
If it ripped TV antennas off of roofs, wouldn't it have sustained some minor damage? Also, I got to tour the B-36 "City of Fort Worth" when it was at Great Southwest airport. This was back in 1976, when a group of guys, operating on a shoestring, were trying to get it restored. The one name I remember was a guy named John Irons. They also had an ADM-20 Quail missile decoy (designed for the B-52).
I lived at 4711 Garza St when this happened. My Dad was a Flight Engineer and AF M/SGT at the Convair Plant in flight acceptance...AMC. not SAC. Quite a famous incident for sure...It was taked about for years, especially the TV antennas missing and other damage....Ceiling Plaster and other damage as well.....
Back when you can have fun.. unsafe but fun..wish i was there to see it happen..
God I bet that sounded AWESOME!! LOVE the 36 !!!
I wish one of those was still flyable for airshows and demonstrations. What a glorious machine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There was a group that started a project to return one of these to flying status back in the'70s, I believe, and it turned out just too much for them, in Indiana, maybe. It truly takes huge resources of man power and money to support warbirds and this one is just over the top. Some crews back in the day mentioned that the bird would break down from sitting on the ramp alone. I have a book called "Magnesium Overcast" that tells the B-36 story superbly. You might find a copy in a library.
There's enough money, resources and technology to get one flying again... It would actually be better than the original. What is lacking is the passion on the part of that damned Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. They're just not into historical aviation, unfortunately...
Well; it was, I guess, a glorious machine, but not really needed. Only reason the beast was so big (and needed six engines) was that some general, somewhere, did not believe in in-flight aerial refueling. Once that was perfected then no need for the B-36. I used to believe that had it remained in service into the Vietnam War then it would have been an excellent aircraft for close air support. However, it's smaller cousin, the B-50d (I think), the ones with only four recip engines along with the same four jet engines, started coming in for Programmed Depot Maintenance in 1965 and were found to have serious cracking in their structure. They were grounded immediately. The C-130s took up the close air support for the rest of the war instead.
there is one getting ready now do a search here for b 36 peacemaker. it may be a stalled project.
@@JungleYT maybe Elon Musk?
*My mother was 7 months pregnant with me in October, 1954 (I was born in December 1954) and she, my father, and my brother were living in Fort Worth at the time this 8mm movie was taken. Who knows? I might have heard that plane flying over that day while relaxing inside the womb.*
I would have wet my pants in excitement if I saw this. As a young child in the late ‘50’s I saw a B36 with chase planes fly over at high altitude and it made a wonderful droning engine sound unlike anything else.
I would still wet my pants in excitement...
Thanks for sharing a moment in time.
I wish this had sound ! I remember them as a kid.
I was born in December of '54. I remember having to dive under school desks during drills and hearing the air raid sirens being tested in and around Hayward, California during the Cuban Missile Crisis. That was cool.
Wow! Great vintage video. Reminds me of living on base as a kid. This reminds me of the first C5As flying over Travis AFB 1960’s!
WOW! So proud to be a Fort Worth Native! Our city BUILT this! One crashed into Lake Worth and part of it is still in the mud at the bottom. I think only 1 survives to this day, and it was restored in the last decade in Fort Worth. But alas, it is sitting in the dessert in a western state...
i can confirm from personal experience that it is not the only one left.
Really? I read that they were all totally destroyed. Do you have a link you could please be so kind to share of where the other one is? Any info would be much obliged. Thanks.
SAC museum in Ashland NE has one of the 36J's
That's awesome thanks for sharing.
You can also see a B36 in Dayton, Ohio at the National Museum of the US Air Force. www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=360
Awesome footage!
I was a turret & radar mechanic on the B36 in Roswell, NM plus I got to fly on them a few times. Great old bird!
Obviously very rare and precious film. Can't believe I've never seen it before!
Thank you so much for sharing your magnificent home movie!😀✈️📽️
My father grew up in the Camp Bowie area...My G-Father worked at Convair/GD from 43-73.
Always said that he could hear a B-36 a couple of minutes before it came into sight! Would rattle the walls.
Awesome, thanks for sharing
Couldn't take the time to read the story? It was such a good read I read it three times!! Thanks for posting!
I would have enjoyed that. We lived about 100 miles NE of FW/Carswell and used to see these flying all the time.
It was the 1950's-60's. Most TV stations in those days were located on a mountain top or a 1/4 mile tall tower which sometimes was 50 miles away from the house. Hence the tall antennas. My TV station in those days was 60 miles away and when it faded out because of weather, you just waited until it "un-faded".
Its amazing to see all the TV antennas on each and every house back then
The B-36 had the three-blade propellers and the plane sounded like a chain saw when it flew over (see the opening scene in Jimmy Stewart's Strategic Air Command). The B-36's in Roswell used to fly over oue house and my mom said the china in the china cabinet shook and the nails backed out of the walls....
my grandparents lived int Ft. Worth. There was a static display B-36 next to the air base and I would frequently visit it. There were B-52s based there and I used to watch them do touch and gos all day and into the night. It seemed like they were always flying around up there.
I was visiting my aunt who lived near Ellington AFB (at that time in the early '60s), when two B-58s treetop buzzed the houses at military power. My aunt could not get to the toilet fast enough.
LOL, I bet she was not happy about that. But it is funny now.
Ridglea West, between 4900 blocks of Gilbert and Roanoke.
I can't imagine the noise....it would be a sweet symphony of 168 cylinders and four J-47's.
My father was a crew member on the B-36 at Carswell. Even looks like our street!
Thanks!
I was a 5 year old at Ellsworth AFB, SD when two B-52s did the same thing. They were 50' in altitude, wingtip-to-wingtip, as they flew over the base houses to impress their wives. I promptly ran inside and told my sleeping mother. She was not impressed. I was.
Just looked up at the plaque above my desk that my grandpa got when he retired from the Ft. Worth Lockheed plant back in 1999. B-36 is one of the planes on there. Before he retired he was an engineer for the flight control systems on the F-16.
To BFK et.al. yes it was built in Air force plant 4 what was at the time being leased by the Convair Co. The one you are referring to was not rebuilt but was on static display with a B-58, KC-97 and a few others but the B-36 had it's wing roots cut in compliance with the SALT I treaty since it was capable of delivering a thermonuclear weapon. Although the feasibility of an aircraft that slow begs the question of rationalization. I was a volunteer member of the Great Southwest Aerospace Museum which was right outside the gate of plant 4 and I helped work on some of the birds many years ago. It's true the -36 went to Pima. The movie Strategic Air Command with Jimmy Stewart (who really was an officer) has several good film clips of the area a couple good sound bites and some great photography enroute to Elemdorf AFB.
The B-36 did, on occasion, actually drop live thermonuclear weapons. These drops were peacetime (in the open air testing era) but did occur and the blasts were substantial to say the least. In fact, it was the first aircraft that carried thermonuclear weapons as the first H-Bombs were too big to fit on any other plan. Within a year or two that had been solved with the development of somewhat smaller H-Bombs; ones the B-47s and B-52s could carry. The B-36 was no longer needed at that point and was retired soon afterwards.
i remember a few low fliers from barksdale over shreveport back in the '60's . that was so cool.
How I wish that was with sound.
A little off the top please... and watch the antennas. 📡
Hey thanks, I was stationed at Carswell but it was long after the B-36 was gone. I worked B-52Ds when I was there. Was that neighborhood part of Base Housing? I remember the houses looked the same when I was there back in 1975. I was told that there was a B-36 in Lake Worth at the end of the runway, but don't know how true it is. When I was there the F-16 was being built across the runway and the day I got there they bellied an F16 in. I still Miss that B-52. SAC Trained Killer Forever!
What a great clip. My father flew C-97s for the majority of his flight time in the USAF/ANG and the C-97 looks tiny compared to this.
Grew up with 'em on base housing; we could FEEL the earth shaking; and the BRAKES squealing almost 2 miles away. THEN came the B-52s and the alert facility doing 24/7 during Oct 63. Tough time for a kid.
When I was boy in the fifties living in North Dallas I would hear that drone sound of the B-36 before seeing it. They were something else. Also, got my fill of aircraft from Carswell flying high above smashing the sound barrier. The explosions were teeth rattling.
I grew up off of Ems street in the Ridglea neighborhood and vividly remember waking up well before dawn to the windows rattling and the cacophonous noise of bombers doing touch-and-go runs at Carswell AFB. It didn't take long for mom and dad to realize why the real estate agent only showed that house certain times of the day and why it was dirt cheap.
Wow ! Convair aerodynamic designs truly scream 1950s 1960s reto and I love it !
lots of my grandfolks live in river oaks next to GD and convair and worked there
It was beyond sound, we used to park off the end of the runway, and have the whole car shake, with our insides sloushing to the beat as they flew over.
I moved to El Paso in 1953 the same year one flew into the west side of mount. Franklin. I think it was in November tragic. Nice video thank you.
I love the first clip, seeing all the antennas on the roofs of the house's! Such simpler times even tho people had to bust their asses working and taking care of the family without all the amenities of today. Now, everythings readily available at the tip of your finger. I'd go back to them days anytime!
The pilot's name was Thad Neal. Click "Show more" and follow the link for the full story.
My uncle flew B-36's out of Wright Patterson. Long missions to Johannesburg, et. al. Having flown B-17's in the war, he didn't like the aircraft: couldn't see the engines. One time, he came in for landing and the tower said his engines were on fire. BTW, he flew the B-17 that went under the Golden Gate bridge on the eve of Pearl Harbor. Later in (his) life, I was privileged to go up with him in a light aircraft certification. I watched in wonder as he made that plane fly itself, hands off the controls.
loooool holy fuck that must have been loud ...
But I don't think they took out TV antenna, prob just knocked them down with the Jet / Prop wash.
In the 50's a B-36 out of Ellsworth made a low pass over downtown Rapid City during the AF Day Parade. The left jet nacelle clipped the Axel Johnson Hotel Sign...put a pretty good groove in the Aircraft Aluminum. Another 3 ft closer and we would have had B-36 all over Rapid city.
When I was a kid growing up in Sherman TX in the mid sixties, a B36 visited Perrin AFB for an airshow. It flew directly over my house. It was the most awesome sight I had ever seen. You could hear it before you could see it. At that moment I realized what a truly powerful nation we were. I went to the airshow, and there was talk that it was going to be deployed with the Arcangel strikes in Vietnam. (Correction: Operation Arc Light) The decision should've been made to do just that, so we could have got our money's worth.
I believe our country earned many times the cost of the entire B-36 program by preventing military conflicts during its era.
@@AVhistorybuff That's exactly how my Dad felt about the program. Everybody's dad including mine was employed in building parts for the B36 in North TX. I delivered a lecture to young people, how Amon Carter and the B36 program transformed the Texas economy from cattle and cotton to high tech.
I just wish the FA-18's refueling at PHX would fly low!
Damn, such a glorious sight & sound!!
Do you know what the street this was filmed from?
Too bad no audio, but that bird is so cool^^
Used to visit the one at Amon Carter (Greater Southwest) airport on our bicycles... lived in Euless in the '60s. Never saw one fly... that plane's at Pima, on my bucket list.
I have video footage of an early B-36 (no jet engines) making a pass over an airshow escorted by P-82 twin Mustangs. It made two low passes and flew of and the mustangs landed. Pretty neat footage.
I flew with United out of of TN. and had a chance to talk to the Capt. of that DC-8 who flew the B-36 stationed at RAMEY FIELD in Aguadilla, PR. They had the B-36 and B-58 if I recalled correctly. Later the B-52.
I would have loved to have seen one on the air! Seen 2 on the ground @ Castle& Pima museums. It's hard to believe that something that big can fly. My dad rembers hearing them more often but he did see one once.
I lived close to a sac base in the late 70's used love the sound of F111's taking off I would never think of complaining.. that's the sound of freedom and protection! If a B36 flew over low that would be awesome please do it again!!👍✌️🇺🇲
If you look up 4808 Roanoke in Google Maps Street View, and swing around across the street, you can see 4809, the house with the gable in the middle, where the B-36 can first be seen flying past. There's a cargo trailer parked in front. The plane was flying south, east of Roanoke, so it was probably flying along Marks Place, the street just east of Roanoke.
Kind of fun seeing TV antennas again.
Holy Moly!! Such a shame there's no sound.... just imagine the noise of the thing....
Cool. A low pass with a B36. Whomever lived in the area where they would take off from, experienced low passes on every take off and landing. They probably hated the noise and the potential danger, but it was a thrill to the watchers.
I saw a b36 peacemaker at USAF museum in Dayton Ohio, its a huge aircraft