Author Topic: B-36 Tornado Damage... WOW (Read 888 times)

Bodhi · « **on:** May 01, 2004, 10:29:34 AM »

Check out these photos of the damage to these wings of B-36's back in the 1950's caused by a tornado.... amazing!

http://www.cowtown.net/proweb/tornado/tornado.htm

rpm · « **Reply #1 on:** May 01, 2004, 12:38:36 PM »

They were lucky the Convair (now Lockheed) factory wasn't destroyed. It's on the opposite side of the Carswell.

Replicant · « **Reply #2 on:** May 01, 2004, 02:24:54 PM »

The B36 is a beaut!

Only when directly compared to a B29 do you realise just how big this plane was!

Tarmac · « **Reply #3 on:** May 01, 2004, 02:30:48 PM »

What's the story behind the one in that pic, replicant? Why's the cockpit all fudged up? It's missing the jet pods too -- is it an early prototype?

pugg666 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 01, 2004, 02:32:43 PM »

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Only when directly compared to a B29 do you realise just how big this plane was!

Ya, dimension wise it's even larger than a B-52, and a little better looking too

gotta love them props

it even had a larger conventional bomb load.

Replicant · « **Reply #5 on:** May 01, 2004, 02:42:07 PM »

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Originally posted by Tarmac
What's the story behind the one in that pic, replicant? Why's the cockpit all fudged up? It's missing the jet pods too -- is it an early prototype?

I think the early versions didn't have any jet pods.

I believe the photo is to simply illustrate how big the plane is compared to its predecessor.

Tarmac · « **Reply #6 on:** May 01, 2004, 02:46:43 PM »

Yeah, the jet pods were added later.

I was referring to the cockpit/canopy. It's in-line, like a B-29's. The B-36's I've seen all had bubble canopies above the fuelage, kinda like a Lancaster. Was that an early canopy (pre-jetpod)?

Replicant · « **Reply #7 on:** May 01, 2004, 02:50:45 PM »

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Originally posted by Tarmac
Yeah, the jet pods were added later.

I was referring to the cockpit/canopy. It's in-line, like a B-29's. The B-36's I've seen all had bubble canopies above the fuelage, kinda like a Lancaster. Was that an early canopy (pre-jetpod)?

I hadn't noticed that until you mentioned it! I scanned the image years ago but will try and remember which book I scanned it in from and see if it mentions anything.

texace · « **Reply #8 on:** May 01, 2004, 04:02:40 PM »

The jet pods weren't added until later. That plane in the pic may even still have the old "runway breaker" main wheels. I think that's a B-36A. It deffinatly is an older model, possibly the first production model. The nose was different, obviously. The D model (I tihnk) added the jets, the bogeys for the mains and the Plexiglas nose.

rpm · « **Reply #9 on:** May 01, 2004, 09:09:48 PM »

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Originally posted by texace
The jet pods weren't added until later. That plane in the pic may even still have the old "runway breaker" main wheels. I think that's a B-36A.

IIRC B36's were based at Carswell because it had the longest, strongest runway in the nation at that time. That runway was shared by Convair and Carswell.

texace · « **Reply #10 on:** May 01, 2004, 10:47:41 PM »

Yes, Carswell Air Force Base was the base for the B-36, but there was another in Colorado, I think. Carswell was SAC for the longest time until they shut it down and made it NAS JRB.

Carswell has the longest runway behind Edwards.

gofaster · « **Reply #11 on:** May 03, 2004, 09:30:14 AM »

There's a certain beauty to those big silver birds. I can't quite put my finger on it, but they just look so .... clean I guess. Maybe its the silver paint that makes them look so sleek and ngelic.

rpm · « **Reply #12 on:** May 03, 2004, 09:35:17 AM »

I still enjoy watching "Strategic Air Command" with Jimmy Stewart. Great B-36 aerial shots. I would have hated living in Lake Worth back then. Those big birds were loud.

texace · « **Reply #13 on:** May 03, 2004, 11:50:15 AM »

You've got no idea.

Well, neither do I, but my family has stories about the Big Stick.

My father used to live in this town many years ago, when he was still in elementery school (the same one I went to.) Every day a B-36 would fly over, sometimes several times. They rattled the windows on all of the houses in the flight path, and school was said to run about 15 minutes longer because the teachers had to wait for the noise to subside. They could be heard (from Lake Worth) as far away as Arlington and felt as far away as Waco (on a good day)

There's also a story that my father tells me about the time a B-36 side blister blew out and landed in their back yard. My grandfather, who was a Flight Surgon and a bird Colonel (Forrest Giles...look him up) called the base and within ten minutes a truck arrived with MPs inside, and they loaded the blister up and drove it back to the base.

I wish just once I could hear one, or see one fly over. I'd die a happy man. Now, we just have to put up with the B-52...