The plane is the last one built a J model. The last one to leave Fairchild AFB in 1956=57. I have flown in this plane many times. My first introduction and initiation to the B-36 was to climb out the AC window on the side of the dome and walk down the long fuselage to the wings. I'll never forget my time in the big stick. Good to see it being taken care of.
Magnificence performed for this restoration. Think of the research, difficult parts search and work to put this bird back to such glory and great period shape. What a thankless job the volunteers and others did for us: THANK YOU SO MUCH!
When I was in 5th grade, I remember hearing the unique sound and watching 6 B-36's fly over our playground at recess. Been in love with it ever since. One day when my wife and I were visiting Pima Air and Space Museum, I saw the aircraft sitting in sections by the back fence. I promised myself to follow the restoration progress and to return when it was finished. It was well worth the return trip to see it in all it's glory. 👌Not a short drive from San Diego.
I don’t know what your talking about this bombers been in Fort worth Texas area and was restored at a rented hanger at general dynamics Across from Carswell AFB back in 92 or 93 Thats why its called the city of fort worth. The idiot mayor at the time didn’t buy it when it came up for auction so it it was shipped to pima. We want it back!
I got to go through one of those big beasts in 1957 at the age of 10. There was one setting with the nose wheel off the end of the runway at Socorro NM when I was on the school bus one Monday morning, I ask my dad to take me up to see it after the dismantling crew got the nose of the plane back on land, thankfully the guys at the airport there were friends of my dad and they let an avid aircraft modeler and lover take an inside look and guided tour, what a birthday present that was. The plane had been flown in for dismantling and was taken to a weapons testing facility nearby. They never brought in another one as the air strip was too short, lots of B-29's but that was the only B-36. I even got to go back through that tunnel on a little pull cart. Not too many years later as an airman on a SAC base myself I wished I had been there when the 36's had been but the B-52 we had were just as impressive. Thank you for putting this video up so old airmen can see and remember.
Thank you so much for posting this. My dad was a bombardier in B-17s, B-29s, B-36s and B-47s. He always had a great deal of fondness for both the B-17G and the B-36. I was born after his retirement from SAC so I never got to see all the cool stuff my brothers and my sister saw. They actualy got to tour the flight line on a regular basis and probably got to see the interior of the B-36 befor anyone else in the public did. I never got to so I am glad to see this. Thank you again.
Thanks for posting this! I worked on the restoration with the old guys back in the mid-1990s on this B-36. I'm glad to see the interior we worked on remained intact! There was virtually nothing remaining inside this plane when the restoration began. It was gutted. We pieced together the interior with what we had available and did our very best to get it as close to original with what we had. The plane was in storage for years after we finished. I'm glad it finally found a home out in Arizona.
I worked on this B-36 in Fort Worth as well. I fixed the door in the aft compartment. And helped in the rest of the aft compartment. Sanded all the old paint on the fuselage,aft of the wings. Helped with reskinning the tops of the wings, and helped with the prime and paint of the aft fuselage. I was attending Texas Aero Tech at the time.
@@44WillysMB I was just volunteering at the time. I remember the texas aerotech guys being there then also. We probably worked together. The old guys had me climbing around in that wing bucking rivets.
I've walked around a B-36 at Wright Patterson Air Force base museum in Ohio. I wanted to go inside but I knew the museum staff would say no. Thank you for uploading this video.
My dad, Ronald G. H. Smith was a crew member on a B-36 from 1950 to 1953 he was stationed at Travis AFB. The B-36s Nick name "The Peacemaker" was something that impressed him. This is how he lived the remainder of his life. He also devoted his life as a teacher of Aircraft mechanics. He put over 3,000 students to work over 45 years of teaching his trade. Not only did he teach the proper methods, he also taught his enthusiasm and love of both flying and mechanics of these aircraft. It seemed as I grew up, all his teachable moments with my three younger brothers and I started out with something to do with the B-36. Dad passed in 2011 at the age of 78 after a very long battle with COPD. The doctors told him in 1992 that he only had 5 years to live. He showed them!
Good morning Misters, thank you for your very important and historic informations, abaut of historic aircraf B-36 Convair. This is for first ocassion. Thank you. Edgar H. Ayala C. Quito, Ecuador, Sud America.
Thanks for posting this AVHB; I just found it after watching the Discovery Channel doc. I grew up in Dallas and saw one of the last B-36s parked at a big aviation facility next to the highway back in 68-69. I was about 11 y/old, and we were on our way home from a fishing trip to Lake Texoma. My friend's Dad was a drinker, and somehow we ended up near Ft. Worth and there she was. He wouldn't even pull over so we could gawk, so this is a great surprise for me and long overdue. Thanks to all those responsible for saving and restoring this big bird.
I was so proud to be able to work along side of the many men who originally built and flew this extraordinary military bomber. Restored mostly in Fort Worth in the early 90's. Spending time hearing the real life stories of those who flew missions in it will be remembered by me for life. Shame that this awesome effort and this aircraft's legacy was not able to be keep it in Fort Worth, Texas.
Thanks for the tour, especially the interior. As a kid I saw a B-36 pass over the playground behind my school in 1954. There was an Air Force Base (Seward) about 12 miles away but the bomber was too heavy to land there. Instead it landed at the airport at Nashville which had reinforced runways. I love going to air museums but am not satisfied staying out of the airplanes. My father was a pilot in the air national guard and I had the privilege of being able to "play" in many of the old WWII classics and the new jets. My playthings included the RF51F, the B36, the B25, the T6, the T33 and the RF80. Once a B29 flew into Nashville during the 50s but couldn't leave due to a mechanical problem. Another ramp-rat and I got to explore the aircraft every Saturday for several weeks. Eventually it was repaired and went back to its National Guard unit. An F86D landed and became stranded at BNA. That F86 is now on permanent display at Nashville's Centennial Park. One more thing. I visited Pima in 2004 but don't remember seeing a B-36. I'm guessing it came in sometime after 2004. I can't believe I would have missed it. Once again thanks for the view and the video.
I attended Ryder Technical Institute in Dallas in 1974 and as a lifelong Aircraft “Nut” I spent many of my days off at the old Carswell AFB where there were several DC-4’s and this B-36. Being from OKC and a stranger to the area I had a bit of time to explore and a group called the “Peacemaker Society” were attempting to restore this aircraft and I was allowed inside as a “Hang around” kid, I was 18 at the time. Great to see the old girl in good condition all these decades later!
THANKS! They have done such a superb job or restoring the old girl to exhibit quality. THe guys at PIMA rock! I was ina dn around this aircraft several times as she sat for years at Amon Carter Field, before DFW was built. It was in sorry shape the last years, and survived being taken apart twice for transit. I remember hearing them go overhead when we lived in Ft. Worth almost 70 years ago.
When I was young, the summer of 1979 my fam and I were driving close to Carswelll AFB. This aircraft was being put together right along the runway outside the base. F-105's were doing touch and goes. Loud as hell. Anyway, the kind folks restoring this beast let me crawl all over the inside of the aircraft along with my brother and sister. Fine memories, and I'm glad this 36 survives to this day.
My dad was in SAC from 1950 to 1954 He was in SAC at South Dakota Air Force Base in 1952 on an B-36 with a Crew know as the Mighty Mites due to the Crew's Stature... Anyway, later the Base was called Ellswoth Air force base due to an ill fated B-36 aircraft and crew which came down in, I believe was Norway along a Mountain side during a snow storm. My dad was a rear turret operator and Flight Electrician on the Aircraft not the one that crashed!!!
Thanks for the Video. I remember that in 1961 there was a B-36 parked at the old Consolidated plant (USAF #4). It was quite impressive to see it from the highway. My ex-wife lived at Will Rogers Field when it was still a Goverbment installation. My mother-in-law said that B-29's flew in there quite often. One day a B-36 made an emergency landing OK but when it got on the taxiway the landing gear sank thru. The wing extended over the fence over the roofs of the houses. this was was circa 1950.
This is the one! I grew up in Euless, TX in the '60s... this was on static display at Greater Southwest airport... we could ride our bicycles up to it and check it out. I never knew how special a plane it was at the time... good to see it preserved.
Thank you! I've been trying to find some photos/video that show the full layout of the front. Till now I had to imagine how it all connected. Yours was the first that showed the hatchway between the radio control, the navigator in the lower nose, and the flight deck up the ladder.
I wish it was still in Ft. Worth. I used to take my 31 year old son to see it when he was about 4. It was outside the main entrance to General Dynamics now Lockheed Martin at aircraft plant 4. It would be cool to be able to take his sons to see it where he saw it along with the other planes that were in that little museum.
A friend of mine who lived in the north of France at the B36 time, told me that he saw some of them flying above his house with a characteristic loud noise of piston and jet engines. An impressive aircraft, an impressive restoration...
Thank you for this video. Thank you Mr. Bergeron for the work you've done to help preserve the B-36's that survive today. I read that one person (Walter Soplata) who's collected various warplanes has a B-36 disassembled in his yard.
wkat950 Yup. I live about 4 miles from him (he's in Newbury, OH, and I'm in Burton, OH). While he doesn't have much of the B-36, he DOES have the wings laying on the ground. It's been quite a few years since I've been there, but it was amazing seeing those enormous wings right up close.
There is nothing like the smell of an old bomber. Sweat, urine, cold lunches, rubber coatings, sealants. and fuel. Hours and hours the crews spent in this space doing stressful work. The excitement at takeoff when the gear is up and all six get tuned in by the engineer and the engines are working in harmony. The sheer feeling of tremendous power from the noise and vibration which turns into sort of a song. And the joy of coming home and sticking a landing and the squeal and grown of the breaks and then suddenly the silence when all that power is shut down. And then to spoil the mood, de-breifing followed by a hot meal.
I've only seen one of these partially at the Wright-Pat AFB in Dayton, along with the humongous single main gear tire. Seeing this video, makes me thing that the "The Can" area must have been a very toasty area with all the heat coming from so many radios, which were probably mostly vacuum tubes radios. Thanks for sharing and keeping one of these big airplanes around.
This a great Quality restored aircraft! My Dad was assigned to a B-36 back in 1952 while in SAC stationed at South Dakota Air force Base. In 1953 hie was transferred to another Flight crew but his previous crew crashed over Newfoundland and General Ellsworth Passed away with all the flight Crew. My dad has mention this mishap and felt very bad on losing some good friends.
I was just at that museum a couple of weeks ago and seeing this B-36 was awesome, but I do like the B-52s more!! I really enjoyed this video & thanks for sharing!!
I visited the Pima Air Museum this past Saturday, 4 May 13, and the B-36 is still on display. I didn't know it was there and was surprised and delighted to see it. Like most people I'd only ever seen one in pictures. It's worth the price of admission just to see the B-36 up close and personal. How I would have loved to get inside and look around!
They really need to get this up under a shelter. The one at Castle is in pretty sorry shape. Would Love to see the Pima crew tackle restoring that one as well. I saw it at Chanute in the 1980s. Great job moving it out here to California, but it's now in need of repair.
The 10,000 lb. non nuke bombs built for the B-36 were dropped from our C-130B models known as Operation Commando Vault during the Vietnam war. We blasted chopper landing zones with them. We dropped all that the USAF had in storage and it worked so well they built us 15,000 lb. bombs called BLU-82's. Later used in Desert Storm.There is video on u tube showing us dropping one. Guy speaking on video says it left a huge hole. It did not as we used fuse extenders called, yep, "Daisy Cutters". Blew trees away without making a hole.
Unsure if the sections of a B-36 are still at the late Walter Soplata's aircraft junkyard in NE OH but there was the possibility of a fifth bomber being partially reconstructed. I have seen the four that do exist including the one in this program which originally was by Amon Carter airport in Dallas. That is where the vandalism took place. My first time to see and hear the 36 was over Colorado Springs in probably 1947. Never to be forgotten.
Superb interior condition! My Father-in-Law flew B-36s out of Carswell A.F.B. as an electrician/gunner. He has some great stories! We swap tales regularly as I was Naval Aircrewman in EC-121M, EP-3E AND EA-3B aircraft.
I'm so glad to know this is in Arizona as I drive through Tucson every summer on my way to New Mexico!!!!! Pima always interested me BUT know that I know a B36 is here I'm stopping!!!! My late father remembered these as a young man and when he worked in the air national guard. What a shame vandals had to destroy the original equipment. Can you enter the plane as part of the tour? Why is the canopy glass painted over?
Thanx so much. I enjoyed the video. I remember seeing the B36 on display at Chanute AFB in 1973, when I was just an Airman Basic in Missile training. I loved the plane so much, it's the reason I went on to learn to fly and finally become a B777 Captain. Thanks Again!!
I stopped there in August 1977 on my way driving home to Kaufman Texas after my discharge from USMC at MCAS Yuma,Arizona where I served the last three months of my hitch (1973-1977).The place was closed that day,so all I could do was stand there and look through the fence at the B-24.Very disappointed I was,dad was a 26 mission B-24 veteran with 8th AAF and I so wanted to get inside that fence and TOUCH that thing!! Since then though,I've visited with Diamond 'Lil and All American several times each,always a moving experience.Too bad dad died before we could have done it together.
I grew up fairly close to Carswell AFB in Ft. Worth. I used to see B-29's and later B-36's flying around our area. YOu could hear them coming from miles away.
I was a member of the museum when I lived in Arizona. One of the wonderful places on earth. Is this the plane that was on display at the fence outside of Carswell AFB many years ago? There was also an atomic bomb on a stand under the wing. It was huge. The next time that I was at Carswell, the plane was gone. Beautiful airplane. I left Arizona before this plane arrived at PIMA. Stunning restoration everyone. You've done a wonderful thing. Thanks for posting this video.
I just recently saw this thing out at PIMA and it is amazing! I kind of wish that PIMA had the spare resources to restore it back to flying condition, but I wouldn't want to see it destroyed in some accident during a flight.
I was Stationed at NAS Fort Worth JRB when they had announced plans to restore a B-36. Their hopes were to field a hanger or build a shelter there. Looks like that did not happen but good that she finally has her a resting place to preserve history. My Step Mom was a Rosie Riveter at Air Force Plant #4 working during the Big War working on the tail sections of B-24's and later B-29's.
Thank you for posting this and thank you to the skilled individuals who put the time into the interior. Its sad that for the forseeable future the work will go unseen by visitors. I finally got down to the Pima Air and Space Museum today to see it up close finally and it is an impressive sight to say the least.
There's also a bit of the north-south runway still existing north of 183. In a cruelly ironic move, they build a road on the old runway and named it Amon Carter Blvd. On the satellite view you can see a curved row of trees on the west side outlining the old entrance road. The swimming pool of the condos to the south is about where the B-36 was parked for so many years. The terminal building was a glorious, gilded masterpiece of Art Deco design. A terrible shame they didn't save it.
To set the record straight: AFAIK, ***ALL*** the interior restoration work was done my volunteers in Fort Worth in the 1980's and 90's, BEFORE the aircraft was remanded to Pima. I worked on the plane when it was on display in Fort Worth in the 1970s, and the interior was TRASHED by vandals. Those Texas volunteers did an amazing job! I give credit to the Pima crew for their work on the exterior of the plane, but the interior was ALL done in Texas before the plane was moved to Arizona.
I grew up in Arlington, TX. I remember seeing B-36's flying. Back in the early 60's I would ride my bike to Great Southwest Airport and look at the B-36. Back then they had a guy who worked there and answered questions as well as let you go all through it. Then in 1970 while on my way to Viet Nam I help work on the plane. They were trying to restore it to flying condition. The problem was that it was "on loan" to the city of Ft Worth as long as it was on display. If it was made flyable it would revert back to active Air Force inventory. The restoration people were in talks with the Air Force and Ft Worth to get it flyable as a museum. I had super 8 movies of #2 engine starting with me as one of the fire guards. I went of to play war and other Army duties, so I lost track of the aircraft.
I was stationed at Chanute AFB, ILL in the 1980s... The Peacemaker stationed there was moved to California - followed me in a sense - out to Castle. It's now in pretty bad shape. I wish the crew that restored the Pima bird could get to it. I even considered writing George Lucas about maybe helping, since the bridge of the Millennium Falcon looks so much like the flight deck of a '36...
In 1961 there was no B-36 at Plant 4. There was a B-36 at Greater Southwest airport, though. It had landed there in 1958 or '59. I helped disassemble it in the late 1970's to be moved to just outside the gate at Plant 4. That aircraft (the last B-36 built) is now at Pima.
According to docents at the USAF museum as of April 2013, the XC-99 will be moved in pieces to Davis-Monthan for very long-term storage. The estimate is that it will take ten years and *many* million dollars to restore.
JetMechMA, I was there. There were NO instruments on the flight deck. The seats were gone. The pilot's panel was missing entirely. There were bullet holes in the glazing, and several of the panes had been replaced by sheet metal. One time we came out and there was a new hole in the radome, with marks that looked liek it was made with a Phillips screwdriver. Another time we came out and caught some yahoo trying to load the cart from the communication tube into his trunk. Vandals were real.
I looked all through this for any updated comments about the interior and could find none. Sad to say, Corrie, all that great work was for naught. I have interior photos from just before it was closed up at Pima and it is no longer the one you worked on. That said it is magnificent in it's current form.
The interior was restored by an army of volunteers in Ft. Worth prior to the USAF transferring custody to Pima. I worked on the plane in the late 70's as we moved it from Greater Southwest Airport (where it had sat since its final flight in 1959) to Carswell AFB, across town. I helped take the monster apart. In the early 70's there was a move to restore it to flying condition! For details, google "Saving the Last Peacemaker"
I was a commissioned flight engineer on the B-36D and J model aircraft. I tried everything to get permission to see inside, including going through a relative who is a Lt. Colonel at NASA. Even he couldn't get the Air Force to budge. Makes you wonder what the point was in all that restoration when no one can see it in person. I don't know what model aircraft that is, but it doesn't look anything like the inside of the D's and J's I am familiar with. Especially the flight engineer console.
I took the "before" interior photos in 1977-78, when the airplane was at GSW - you can see the original terminal building in the background, just as in the 1955 movie "Strategic Air Command" when June Allyson calls Jimmy Stewart. Those photos are on the "Saving the Last Peacemaker" CD.
I saw a B-36 crash on the runway at Travis AFB in California. I was in 2nd grade and we lived on base housing. No insult but this aircraft was a freaky looking bird to say the least. With it's long (neck) nose/fuselage it reminded me of a goofy water bird. Watching them circle and land it looked like slow motion because of the wide turns they made to line up with the runway. Still it brings back fond memories of being an Airforce brat.
I remember seeing a Movietone documentary where we could see the flight engineer crawl into a tunnel that gave access to the piston engines in flight. Unfortunately I never could see that film again.
@completeaerogeek ~ Subsequent to my first posts I have learned that the original B-36 was not equipped with the J47 jet engines. Beginning with the B-36D the jets were added and then retrofitted to all existing models. I've read there were also alot of problems keeping all six 4360's turning and that engine fires were a common problem because the "pusher" design did not allow adquate air flow around the engine for cooling purposes. Your VID is interesting and enjoyable. Thanks........
I didn't even know the B-36 existed till a few months ago and since then I've been enthralled with it. I've studied it. Too awesome for words. The video helps so much but; the missing instrumentation still pains me. The engineering station is like a vision from a dream. Those gauges, switches, breakers, and rotary knobs are addicting. You just can't replace them with a bunch of LCD screens and get the same appeal. I'm from the 70s yet I miss that era of interface something terrible. Thanks
The XC-99 landed at Fairchild several times when I was there. That flight engineer console is nothing at all like the D and J models I flew on as an Aircraft Performance Engineer (fancy name for flight engineer.) Probably not many that were built in that configuration. At least I never saw one.
The jet engines ran on standard aviation fuel/// A good book to read on the B-36 is Magnesium Overcast. one b-36 had ten miles of wiring in it just an amazing aircraft/// what is it there is only 5or6 b-36$left out of 359 or something like that the one at Pima is a b-36 J AM I Wright and that is the last one to roll off the production line i hope i am right on that if not please let me know. thanks.
AVhistorybuff I’m assuming a lot of the restoration is cosmetic? At one time there was nothing but near empty instrument panels, I cannot imagine sourcing/paying/installing all the instruments for no flight status? Ps: She’s lookin good in the Az sunshine with a lot of her sisters!
@@patchescessna7348 Sorry for seeing this a year too late. Actually very little cosmetic work was done. The airplane was re-skinned with aluminum and all Magnesium was removed. Glazing was re-created and installed. Actual instruments were located and installed. Exterior lighting is wired and ready for activation. The airplane was to be our city's centerpiece but politics wanted the money instead.
Hi Don, Good to hear from you! All is well. I am still in the Yukon...now retired from my government job. Had much excitement finding an old Gold Rush era sternwheeler in 2008....it was last seen in 1901 when it sank in Lake Laberge, Yukon. Always looking for more history out there....would love to find the C-54 missing since 1950 with 44 USAF people on board....disappeared in the Yukon without a trace. Take care, Doug
If i'm not mistaken..i believe there is a xc-99 being restored at wright patterson AFB in dayton ohio. Not sure on the progress thou. last i heard it was at a standstill.
There's some good online footage of the turrets. On this aircraft, a Featherweight III, the turrets were never installed. The mountings and gun bay doors were, though. (Typically the aft upper turret doors were opened during bomb runs to avoid blowing them off. )
Thanks for the info. I had assumed that it was plant #4. I did not live in the area but was on a trip from a different state. That Greater Southwest Airport.. what is it called now? On this same trip we went to a place at Dallas-Love Field that had binoculars you could be money in. We were able to see some B-17's parked at somebody's ramp. Do you know anything about these B-17s? Thanks again.
Is this the same B-36 that sat at Amon Carter Airport right next to Euless Texas?...if so, I have been inside that aircraft countless times when I was a kid growing up. It was open for tours on the weekends. My father was an aircraft mechanic and worked on these planes when they were still in service.
The plane is the last one built a J model. The last one to leave Fairchild AFB in 1956=57. I have flown in this plane many times. My first introduction and initiation to the B-36 was to climb out the AC window on the side of the dome and walk down the long fuselage to the wings. I'll never forget my time in the big stick. Good to see it being taken care of.
Magnificence performed for this restoration. Think of the research, difficult parts search and work to put this bird back to such glory and great period shape. What a thankless job the volunteers and others did for us: THANK YOU SO MUCH!
When I was in 5th grade, I remember hearing the unique sound and watching 6 B-36's fly over our playground at recess. Been in love with it ever since. One day when my wife and I were visiting Pima Air and Space Museum, I saw the aircraft sitting in sections by the back fence. I promised myself to follow the restoration progress and to return when it was finished. It was well worth the return trip to see it in all it's glory. 👌Not a short drive from San Diego.
I don’t know what your talking about this bombers been in Fort worth Texas area and was restored at a rented hanger at general dynamics
Across from Carswell AFB back in 92 or 93 Thats why its called the city of fort worth. The idiot mayor at the time didn’t buy it when it came up for auction so it it was shipped to pima. We want it back!
I got to go through one of those big beasts in 1957 at the age of 10. There was one setting with the nose wheel off the end of the runway at Socorro NM when I was on the school bus one Monday morning, I ask my dad to take me up to see it after the dismantling crew got the nose of the plane back on land, thankfully the guys at the airport there were friends of my dad and they let an avid aircraft modeler and lover take an inside look and guided tour, what a birthday present that was. The plane had been flown in for dismantling and was taken to a weapons testing facility nearby. They never brought in another one as the air strip was too short, lots of B-29's but that was the only B-36. I even got to go back through that tunnel on a little pull cart. Not too many years later as an airman on a SAC base myself I wished I had been there when the 36's had been but the B-52 we had were just as impressive. Thank you for putting this video up so old airmen can see and remember.
Thank you so much for posting this. My dad was a bombardier in B-17s, B-29s, B-36s and B-47s. He always had a great deal of fondness for both the B-17G and the B-36. I was born after his retirement from SAC so I never got to see all the cool stuff my brothers and my sister saw. They actualy got to tour the flight line on a regular basis and probably got to see the interior of the B-36 befor anyone else in the public did. I never got to so I am glad to see this. Thank you again.
Thanks for posting this! I worked on the restoration with the old guys back in the mid-1990s on this B-36. I'm glad to see the interior we worked on remained intact! There was virtually nothing remaining inside this plane when the restoration began. It was gutted. We pieced together the interior with what we had available and did our very best to get it as close to original with what we had. The plane was in storage for years after we finished. I'm glad it finally found a home out in Arizona.
I worked on this B-36 in Fort Worth as well. I fixed the door in the aft compartment. And helped in the rest of the aft compartment. Sanded all the old paint on the fuselage,aft of the wings. Helped with reskinning the tops of the wings, and helped with the prime and paint of the aft fuselage. I was attending Texas Aero Tech at the time.
@@44WillysMB I was just volunteering at the time. I remember the texas aerotech guys being there then also. We probably worked together. The old guys had me climbing around in that wing bucking rivets.
I've walked around a B-36 at Wright Patterson Air Force base museum in Ohio. I wanted to go inside but I knew the museum staff would say no. Thank you for uploading this video.
My dad, Ronald G. H. Smith was a crew member on a B-36 from 1950 to 1953 he was stationed at Travis AFB. The B-36s Nick name "The Peacemaker" was something that impressed him. This is how he lived the remainder of his life. He also devoted his life as a teacher of Aircraft mechanics. He put over 3,000 students to work over 45 years of teaching his trade. Not only did he teach the proper methods, he also taught his enthusiasm and love of both flying and mechanics of these aircraft. It seemed as I grew up, all his teachable moments with my three younger brothers and I started out with something to do with the B-36.
Dad passed in 2011 at the age of 78 after a very long battle with COPD. The doctors told him in 1992 that he only had 5 years to live. He showed them!
Good morning Misters, thank you for your very important and historic informations, abaut of historic aircraf B-36 Convair. This is for first ocassion. Thank you. Edgar H. Ayala C. Quito, Ecuador, Sud America.
Thanks for posting this AVHB; I just found it after watching the Discovery Channel doc.
I grew up in Dallas and saw one of the last B-36s parked at a big aviation facility next to the highway back in 68-69. I was about 11 y/old, and we were on our way home from a fishing trip to Lake Texoma. My friend's Dad was a drinker, and somehow we ended up near Ft. Worth and there she was. He wouldn't even pull over so we could gawk, so this is a great surprise for me and long overdue.
Thanks to all those responsible for saving and restoring this big bird.
This is that aircraft.
I was so proud to be able to work along side of the many men who originally built and flew this extraordinary military bomber. Restored mostly in Fort Worth in the early 90's. Spending time hearing the real life stories of those who flew missions in it will be remembered by me for life. Shame that this awesome effort and this aircraft's legacy was not able to be keep it in Fort Worth, Texas.
Thanks for the tour, especially the interior. As a kid I saw a B-36 pass over the playground behind my school in 1954. There was an Air Force Base (Seward) about 12 miles away but the bomber was too heavy to land there. Instead it landed at the airport at Nashville which had reinforced runways. I love going to air museums but am not satisfied staying out of the airplanes. My father was a pilot in the air national guard and I had the privilege of being able to "play" in many of the old WWII classics and the new jets. My playthings included the RF51F, the B36, the B25, the T6, the T33 and the RF80. Once a B29 flew into Nashville during the 50s but couldn't leave due to a mechanical problem. Another ramp-rat and I got to explore the aircraft every Saturday for several weeks. Eventually it was repaired and went back to its National Guard unit. An F86D landed and became stranded at BNA. That F86 is now on permanent display at Nashville's Centennial Park. One more thing. I visited Pima in 2004 but don't remember seeing a B-36. I'm guessing it came in sometime after 2004. I can't believe I would have missed it. Once again thanks for the view and the video.
I attended Ryder Technical Institute in Dallas in 1974 and as a lifelong Aircraft “Nut” I spent many of my days off at the old Carswell AFB where there were several DC-4’s and this B-36. Being from OKC and a stranger to the area I had a bit of time to explore and a group called the “Peacemaker Society” were attempting to restore this aircraft and I was allowed inside as a “Hang around” kid, I was 18 at the time. Great to see the old girl in good condition all these decades later!
THANKS! They have done such a superb job or restoring the old girl to exhibit quality. THe guys at PIMA rock! I was ina dn around this aircraft several times as she sat for years at Amon Carter Field, before DFW was built. It was in sorry shape the last years, and survived being taken apart twice for transit. I remember hearing them go overhead when we lived in Ft. Worth almost 70 years ago.
When I was young, the summer of 1979 my fam and I were driving close to Carswelll AFB. This aircraft was being put together right along the runway outside the base. F-105's were doing touch and goes. Loud as hell. Anyway, the kind folks restoring this beast let me crawl all over the inside of the aircraft along with my brother and sister. Fine memories, and I'm glad this 36 survives to this day.
My dad was in SAC from 1950 to 1954 He was in SAC at South Dakota Air Force Base in 1952 on an B-36 with a Crew know as the Mighty Mites due to the Crew's Stature... Anyway, later the Base was called Ellswoth Air force base due to an ill fated B-36 aircraft and crew which came down in, I believe was Norway along a Mountain side during a snow storm. My dad was a rear turret operator and Flight Electrician on the Aircraft not the one that crashed!!!
Excellent!! I´m a plastic modeler, and this video is plenty of good and reliable information. Thank you!
Thanks for the Video. I remember that in 1961 there was a B-36 parked at the old Consolidated plant (USAF #4). It was quite impressive to see it from the highway. My ex-wife lived at Will Rogers Field when it was still a Goverbment installation. My mother-in-law said that B-29's flew in there quite often. One day a B-36 made an emergency landing OK but when it got on the taxiway the landing gear sank thru. The wing extended over the fence over the roofs of the houses. this was was circa 1950.
This is the one! I grew up in Euless, TX in the '60s... this was on static display at Greater Southwest airport... we could ride our bicycles up to it and check it out. I never knew how special a plane it was at the time... good to see it preserved.
Thank you! I've been trying to find some photos/video that show the full layout of the front. Till now I had to imagine how it all connected. Yours was the first that showed the hatchway between the radio control, the navigator in the lower nose, and the flight deck up the ladder.
I wish it was still in Ft. Worth. I used to take my 31 year old son to see it when he was about 4. It was outside the main entrance to General Dynamics now Lockheed Martin at aircraft plant 4. It would be cool to be able to take his sons to see it where he saw it along with the other planes that were in that little museum.
A friend of mine who lived in the north of France at the B36 time, told me that he saw some of them flying above his house with a characteristic loud noise of piston and jet engines. An impressive aircraft, an impressive restoration...
Thank you for this video. Thank you Mr. Bergeron for the work you've done to help preserve the B-36's that survive today. I read that one person (Walter Soplata) who's collected various warplanes has a B-36 disassembled in his yard.
wkat950 Yup. I live about 4 miles from him (he's in Newbury, OH, and I'm in Burton, OH). While he doesn't have much of the B-36, he DOES have the wings laying on the ground. It's been quite a few years since I've been there, but it was amazing seeing those enormous wings right up close.
There is nothing like the smell of an old bomber. Sweat, urine, cold lunches, rubber coatings, sealants. and fuel. Hours and hours the crews spent in this space doing stressful work.
The excitement at takeoff when the gear is up and all six get tuned in by the engineer and the engines are working in harmony. The sheer feeling of tremendous power from the noise and vibration which turns into sort of a song. And the joy of coming home and sticking a landing and the squeal and grown of the breaks and then suddenly the silence when all that power is shut down. And then to spoil the mood, de-breifing followed by a hot meal.
I've only seen one of these partially at the Wright-Pat AFB in Dayton, along with the humongous single main gear tire. Seeing this video, makes me thing that the "The Can" area must have been a very toasty area with all the heat coming from so many radios, which were probably mostly vacuum tubes radios. Thanks for sharing and keeping one of these big airplanes around.
This a great Quality restored aircraft! My Dad was assigned to a B-36 back in 1952 while in SAC stationed at South Dakota Air force Base. In 1953 hie was transferred to another Flight crew but his previous crew crashed over Newfoundland and General Ellsworth Passed away with all the flight Crew. My dad has mention this mishap and felt very bad on losing some good friends.
Ive been to Pima once many years ago, and I so much want to go back to see this marvelous beast.
I saw this plane on its final flight.I was 8 years old.What a sight that was!
I was just at that museum a couple of weeks ago and seeing this B-36 was awesome, but I do like the B-52s more!! I really enjoyed this video & thanks for sharing!!
I visited the Pima Air Museum this past Saturday, 4 May 13, and the B-36 is still on display. I didn't know it was there and was surprised and delighted to see it. Like most people I'd only ever seen one in pictures. It's worth the price of admission just to see the B-36 up close and personal. How I would have loved to get inside and look around!
They really need to get this up under a shelter. The one at Castle is in pretty sorry shape. Would Love to see the Pima crew tackle restoring that one as well. I saw it at Chanute in the 1980s. Great job moving it out here to California, but it's now in need of repair.
The 10,000 lb. non nuke bombs built for the B-36 were dropped from our C-130B models known as Operation Commando Vault during the Vietnam war. We blasted chopper landing zones with them. We dropped all that the USAF had in storage and it worked so well they built us 15,000 lb. bombs called BLU-82's. Later used in Desert Storm.There is video on u tube showing us dropping one. Guy speaking on video says it left a huge hole. It did not as we used fuse extenders called, yep, "Daisy Cutters". Blew trees away without making a hole.
Unsure if the sections of a B-36 are still at the late Walter Soplata's aircraft junkyard in NE OH but there was the possibility of a fifth bomber being partially reconstructed. I have seen the four that do exist including the one in this program which originally was by Amon Carter airport in Dallas. That is where the vandalism took place. My first time to see and hear the 36 was over Colorado Springs in probably 1947. Never to be forgotten.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLANES.
Superb interior condition! My Father-in-Law flew B-36s out of Carswell A.F.B. as an electrician/gunner. He has some great stories! We swap tales regularly as I was Naval Aircrewman in EC-121M, EP-3E AND EA-3B aircraft.
Lots of vacuum tubes to shake and short out....amazing that it ever completed any successful mission...,. Very complex for that era
I'm so glad to know this is in Arizona as I drive through Tucson every summer on my way to New Mexico!!!!! Pima always interested me BUT know that I know a B36 is here I'm stopping!!!! My late father remembered these as a young man and when he worked in the air national guard. What a shame vandals had to destroy the original equipment. Can you enter the plane as part of the tour? Why is the canopy glass painted over?
Thanx so much. I enjoyed the video. I remember seeing the B36 on display at Chanute AFB in 1973, when I was just an Airman Basic in Missile training. I loved the plane so much, it's the reason I went on to learn to fly and finally become a B777 Captain. Thanks Again!!
I stopped there in August 1977 on my way driving home to Kaufman Texas after my discharge from USMC at MCAS Yuma,Arizona where I served the last three months of my hitch (1973-1977).The place was closed that day,so all I could do was stand there and look through the fence at the B-24.Very disappointed I was,dad was a 26 mission B-24 veteran with 8th AAF and I so wanted to get inside that fence and TOUCH that thing!! Since then though,I've visited with Diamond 'Lil and All American several times each,always a moving experience.Too bad dad died before we could have done it together.
Fantastic plane! Thanks for sharing, and greets from the Netherlands!
Convair knows how to style planes.
Would love to see one fly again
I grew up fairly close to Carswell AFB in Ft. Worth. I used to see B-29's and later B-36's flying around our area. YOu could hear them coming from miles away.
Cool video.
six a turnin and four a burning, and awaaaaayy we go ! ! ! !
There's a B~36 on a mountain near El Paso Texas.
Went down in 1953.
Is it scrapped or are all the gauges still in it?
There is scattered wreckage due to the plane flying into the mountain. Very little is left.
I was a member of the museum when I lived in Arizona. One of the wonderful places on earth. Is this the plane that was on display at the fence outside of Carswell AFB many years ago? There was also an atomic bomb on a stand under the wing. It was huge. The next time that I was at Carswell, the plane was gone. Beautiful airplane. I left Arizona before this plane arrived at PIMA. Stunning restoration everyone. You've done a wonderful thing. Thanks for posting this video.
I LOVE that BIG bastid !!! We have one RB-36 out here a Castle AFB Museum and she is HUGE. I wish I was old enough to remember hearing one fly :( :::
This plane looks like it's ready to fly right now. Very impressive.
I just recently saw this thing out at PIMA and it is amazing! I kind of wish that PIMA had the spare resources to restore it back to flying condition, but I wouldn't want to see it destroyed in some accident during a flight.
very true! About 20 years ago a B-29 was lost as the pilot tried to fly it straight up and it stalled and crashed!
I was Stationed at NAS Fort Worth JRB when they had announced plans to restore a B-36. Their hopes were to field a hanger or build a shelter there. Looks like that did not happen but good that she finally has her a resting place to preserve history.
My Step Mom was a Rosie Riveter at Air Force Plant #4 working during the Big War working on the tail sections of B-24's and later B-29's.
Thank you for posting this and thank you to the skilled individuals who put the time into the interior. Its sad that for the forseeable future the work will go unseen by visitors. I finally got down to the Pima Air and Space Museum today to see it up close finally and it is an impressive sight to say the least.
Fantastic plane and vid! Thanks for sharing, and greets from the Netherlands!
amazing aircraft for it's time ..
There's also a bit of the north-south runway still existing north of 183. In a cruelly ironic move, they build a road on the old runway and named it Amon Carter Blvd. On the satellite view you can see a curved row of trees on the west side outlining the old entrance road. The swimming pool of the condos to the south is about where the B-36 was parked for so many years. The terminal building was a glorious, gilded masterpiece of Art Deco design. A terrible shame they didn't save it.
Thank you for making this, an excellent record of a historic airplane!!
To set the record straight:
AFAIK, ***ALL*** the interior restoration work was done my volunteers in Fort Worth in the 1980's and 90's, BEFORE the aircraft was remanded to Pima. I worked on the plane when it was on display in Fort Worth in the 1970s, and the interior was TRASHED by vandals. Those Texas volunteers did an amazing job!
I give credit to the Pima crew for their work on the exterior of the plane, but the interior was ALL done in Texas before the plane was moved to Arizona.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH for not only posting this, but for giving proper credit! Major props! (pun intended!)
I grew up in Arlington, TX. I remember seeing B-36's flying. Back in the early 60's I would ride my bike to Great Southwest Airport and look at the B-36. Back then they had a guy who worked there and answered questions as well as let you go all through it. Then in 1970 while on my way to Viet Nam I help work on the plane. They were trying to restore it to flying condition. The problem was that it was "on loan" to the city of Ft Worth as long as it was on display. If it was made flyable it would revert back to active Air Force inventory. The restoration people were in talks with the Air Force and Ft Worth to get it flyable as a museum. I had super 8 movies of #2 engine starting with me as one of the fire guards. I went of to play war and other Army duties, so I lost track of the aircraft.
I was stationed at Chanute AFB, ILL in the 1980s... The Peacemaker stationed there was moved to California - followed me in a sense - out to Castle. It's now in pretty bad shape. I wish the crew that restored the Pima bird could get to it. I even considered writing George Lucas about maybe helping, since the bridge of the Millennium Falcon looks so much like the flight deck of a '36...
Looks great Guys and girls.:) Was there last year had a blast.
Love to see .exiting instruments.
In 1961 there was no B-36 at Plant 4. There was a B-36 at Greater Southwest airport, though. It had landed there in 1958 or '59. I helped disassemble it in the late 1970's to be moved to just outside the gate at Plant 4. That aircraft (the last B-36 built) is now at Pima.
According to docents at the USAF museum as of April 2013, the XC-99 will be moved in pieces to Davis-Monthan for very long-term storage. The estimate is that it will take ten years and *many* million dollars to restore.
JetMechMA, I was there. There were NO instruments on the flight deck. The seats were gone. The pilot's panel was missing entirely. There were bullet holes in the glazing, and several of the panes had been replaced by sheet metal. One time we came out and there was a new hole in the radome, with marks that looked liek it was made with a Phillips screwdriver. Another time we came out and caught some yahoo trying to load the cart from the communication tube into his trunk. Vandals were real.
I remember when I first became a pilot all the instruments looked to modern.....boy do I feel old now..
Congratulations!! Y enjoy very much the tour in this giants.
Amazing job, gentlemans.
I looked all through this for any updated comments about the interior and could find none. Sad to say, Corrie, all that great work was for naught. I have interior photos from just before it was closed up at Pima and it is no longer the one you worked on. That said it is magnificent in it's current form.
The interior was restored by an army of volunteers in Ft. Worth prior to the USAF transferring custody to Pima. I worked on the plane in the late 70's as we moved it from Greater Southwest Airport (where it had sat since its final flight in 1959) to Carswell AFB, across town. I helped take the monster apart. In the early 70's there was a move to restore it to flying condition! For details, google "Saving the Last Peacemaker"
I was a commissioned flight engineer on the B-36D and J model aircraft. I tried everything to get permission to see inside, including going through a relative who is a Lt. Colonel at NASA. Even he couldn't get the Air Force to budge. Makes you wonder what the point was in all that restoration when no one can see it in person.
I don't know what model aircraft that is, but it doesn't look anything like the inside of the D's and J's I am familiar with. Especially the flight engineer console.
I took the "before" interior photos in 1977-78, when the airplane was at GSW - you can see the original terminal building in the background, just as in the 1955 movie "Strategic Air Command" when June Allyson calls Jimmy Stewart. Those photos are on the "Saving the Last Peacemaker" CD.
The movie “ Strategic Air Command” with Jimmy Stewart also has a good interior tour of the B-36.
I saw a B-36 crash on the runway at Travis AFB in California. I was in 2nd grade and we lived on base housing. No insult but this aircraft was a freaky looking bird to say the least. With it's long (neck) nose/fuselage it reminded me of a goofy water bird. Watching them circle and land it looked like slow motion because of the wide turns they made to line up with the runway. Still it brings back fond memories of being an Airforce brat.
That plane was sitting at greater southwest airport in Texas
Amazing to see 🇺🇲🦅👍
It’s pretty damn spacious for a combat aircraft
@SaucyJake They did. It was called the XC-99.
I would love to see footage of the inside of both bomb bays.
At one point in the early 70's they ran all six recips - one at a time, because they only had one set of engine instruments.
It's the last B-36 built; B-36J-III #52827. A Featherweight III model. Guns and crew comfort items were never installed.
great job guys !!!!!!!!!!! respect
Thank you!
I remember seeing a Movietone documentary where we could see the flight engineer crawl into a tunnel that gave access to the piston engines in flight. Unfortunately I never could see that film again.
B-36 has a 6 ft. wing root with access doors..you are correct sir.
how does that thing sit outside and stay so pristine?.......
@completeaerogeek ~ Subsequent to my first posts I have learned that the original B-36 was not equipped with the J47 jet engines. Beginning with the B-36D the jets were added and then retrofitted to all existing models. I've read there were also alot of problems keeping all six 4360's turning and that engine fires were a common problem because the "pusher" design did not allow adquate air flow around the engine for cooling purposes. Your VID is interesting and enjoyable. Thanks........
I didn't even know the B-36 existed till a few months ago and since then I've been enthralled with it. I've studied it. Too awesome for words. The video helps so much but; the missing instrumentation still pains me. The engineering station is like a vision from a dream. Those gauges, switches, breakers, and rotary knobs are addicting. You just can't replace them with a bunch of LCD screens and get the same appeal. I'm from the 70s yet I miss that era of interface something terrible. Thanks
Very nice thanks.
I was there and saw the plane last week, it’s amazing even a better presence than a B52
The XC-99 landed at Fairchild several times when I was there.
That flight engineer console is nothing at all like the D and J models I flew on as an Aircraft Performance Engineer (fancy name for flight engineer.) Probably not many that were built in that configuration. At least I never saw one.
This video was top shelf
The jet engines ran on standard aviation fuel/// A good book to read on the B-36 is Magnesium Overcast. one b-36 had ten miles of wiring in it just an amazing aircraft/// what is it there is only 5or6 b-36$left out of 359 or something like that the one at Pima is a b-36 J AM I Wright and that is the last one to roll off the production line i hope i am right on that if not please let me know. thanks.
Thank you for posting this! The restorers did a beautiful job. (It takes a special kind of asshole to vandalize a historic aircraft like this.)
I was involved with its restoration at Fort Worth before it went to PIMA.
AVhistorybuff I’m assuming a lot of the restoration is cosmetic? At one time there was nothing but near empty instrument panels, I cannot imagine sourcing/paying/installing all the instruments for no flight status?
Ps: She’s lookin good in the Az sunshine with a lot of her sisters!
@@patchescessna7348 Sorry for seeing this a year too late. Actually very little cosmetic work was done. The airplane was re-skinned with aluminum and all Magnesium was removed. Glazing was re-created and installed. Actual instruments were located and installed. Exterior lighting is wired and ready for activation. The airplane was to be our city's centerpiece but politics wanted the money instead.
Excellent work on the video....great looking B36! Cheers...Doug Davidge
+Doug Davidge Thanks, Doug ! Hope you are well.
Thanks, Doug! How is the great frozen north? Found any more broken arrows lately? Hope you are well. Don in Cowtown.
Hi Don, Good to hear from you! All is well. I am still in the Yukon...now retired from my government job. Had much excitement finding an old Gold Rush era sternwheeler in 2008....it was last seen in 1901 when it sank in Lake Laberge, Yukon. Always looking for more history out there....would love to find the C-54 missing since 1950 with 44 USAF people on board....disappeared in the Yukon without a trace. Take care, Doug
If i'm not mistaken..i believe there is a xc-99 being restored at wright patterson AFB in dayton ohio. Not sure on the progress thou. last i heard it was at a standstill.
There's some good online footage of the turrets. On this aircraft, a Featherweight III, the turrets were never installed. The mountings and gun bay doors were, though. (Typically the aft upper turret doors were opened during bomb runs to avoid blowing them off.
)
I think it is the last B-36 that had engines running (in 1971).
Thanks for the info. I had assumed that it was plant #4. I did not live in the area but was on a trip from a different state. That Greater Southwest Airport.. what is it called now? On this same trip we went to a place at Dallas-Love Field that had binoculars you could be money in. We were able to see some B-17's parked at somebody's ramp. Do you know anything about these B-17s? Thanks again.
ART-13 and a BC-348 at the radio station.
Is this the same B-36 that sat at Amon Carter Airport right next to Euless Texas?...if so, I have been inside that aircraft countless times when I was a kid growing up. It was open for tours on the weekends. My father was an aircraft mechanic and worked on these planes when they were still in service.
Interesting. I wonder if it was because it was a Featherweight III plane.