Author David Baker offers an unrivalled insight into Convair B-36, America's 'Big Stick' nuclear-capable intercontinental bomber that held the line against the growing Soviet threat during the opening decade of the Cold War. He lifts the lid on the 'Peacemaker', bringing together several decades of research and investigation into an aircraft that bridges the piston-engine era and the age of the all-jet bomber.
With the aid of more than 300 photographs and detailed performance charts, he describes the design, development, structure and systems of the B-36 and its service with the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command at a crucial point in post-war history.
The largest piston-powered airplane ever mass-produced, the Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" was also the world's first thermonuclear bomber. The prototype B-36 flew in 1946, and was quickly upgraded as the need for a bomber with a large lifting capacity became paramount.
Yet, when it entered active service in 1949, the "aluminum overcast" was already considered obsolete. Nevertheless, nearly 400 B-36s were built and flew as strategic deterrents before the B-36 was retired in 1959.
Originally printed by the U.S. Air Force, this Flight Operating Handbook is an authentic reprint of an original. Classified "Restricted", the manual was declassified and is here reprinted in book form.
