Today in 1959, at Amon Carter Field in Fort Worth, Texas,

The United States Air Force retired its last Convair B-36 Peacemaker to become an all-jet bomber force.

 

The Convair B-36 Peacemaker was one of the largest airplanes ever built, and was a key element in maintaining peace during the Cold War with Russia during the 1950s. Originally conceived in 1941 as an intercontinental bomber, it was first produced in the late 1940s, after World War II ended.

Built in Fort Worth, Texas by the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (later known
simply as “Convair”), started life as a prop-driven aircraft.  Interestingly, much of the B-36's external skin was made of magnesium, which had a dull color, in contrast to the shiny aluminum used to cover the fore and aft pressurized compartments. During production of the Peacemaker, Convair and the Air Force evolved the plane to the B-36D, B-36F, and B-36H models.

Jets and props are clearly visible.

The four bomb bays could carry up to 86,000 pounds (39,000 kg) of bombs, more than 10 times the load carried by the World War II workhorse, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, and substantially more than the entire B-17's gross weight. The B-36 was not designed with nuclear weaponry in mind, because the mere existence of such weapons was top secret during the period when the B-36 was conceived and designed (1941–46). Nevertheless, the B-36 stepped into its nuclear delivery role immediately upon becoming operational.

A major change to the original, basic B-36 design was the addition of jet engines. Beginning with the B-36D, the Peacemaker added four General Electric J47-GE-19 jet engines, mounted in pods like those used in the Boeing B-47. Ultimately, the Air Force had all earlier B-36 units reconfigured with the jet engines.  In all, 384 Peacemakers were built, all with 6 propellers mounted on the back of the wings, and most with an additional 4 jet engines mounted on the wingtips.

The progression of US bombers up to the B-36.

On this date, the Air Force also received the first Boeing B-52G with larger fuel tanks,
stretching the unrefueled range from 6,000 to 10,000 miles.

[February 12, 1959]