The USAAC sent out the initial request on 11 April 1941, asking for a 450 mph (720 km/h) top speed, a 275 mph (443 km/h) cruising speed, a service ceiling of 45,000 ft (14,000 m)-beyond the range of ground-based anti-aircraft fire-and a maximum range of 12,000 miles (19,000 km) at 25,000 ft (7,600 m). The USAAC therefore sought a bomber of truly intercontinental range, similar to the German Reichsluftfahrtministerium's (RLM) ultralong-range Amerikabomber program, the subject of a 33-page proposal submitted to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring on. The United States would need a new class of bomber that would reach Europe and return to bases in North America, necessitating a combat range of at least 5,700 miles (9,200 km), the length of a Gander, Newfoundland– Berlin round trip. At the time, the threat existed that Britain might fall to the German 'Blitz', making a strategic bombing effort by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) against Germany impossible with the aircraft of the time. The genesis of the B-36 can be traced to early 1941, prior to the entry of the United States into World War II. All but four aircraft have been scrapped.ĭevelopment The prototype XB-36.

With a range of 10,000 mi (16,000 km) and a maximum payload of 87,200 lb (39,600 kg), the B-36 was capable of intercontinental flight without refuelling.Įntering service in 1948, the B-36 was the primary nuclear weapons delivery vehicle of Strategic Air Command (SAC) until it was replaced by the jet-powered Boeing B-52 Stratofortress beginning in 1955. arsenal from an internal bomb bay without aircraft modifications. The B-36 was the first bomber capable of delivering any of the nuclear weapons in the U.S. It had the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built, at 230 ft (70 m). The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built.

The Convair B-36 'Peacemaker' is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959.

Call of war 1942 nuclear bomber