NOTE: RADIO CONTROL AIRPLANES ARE ON THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE PAGE.
The Convair B-36 Peacemaker is the largest ever United States bomber. The aircraft only saw service after World War II.
It was powered by six 28-cylinder radial engines and four turbojet engines. It had a total wing area of 4,772 sq. ft.
In flight engine access was through the 7’ 6” thick wing.
The aircraft had four bomb bays with a total capacity of 86,000 lbs. of ordnance.
Crew access from front to rear of the aircraft was via a rolling trolley through an 80 foot long mid-fuselage tunnel.
Only three runways in the United States were strong enough to
handle the maximum takeoff weight of the aircraft when it first
flew on Aug. 8, 1948.
In April of 1941 the U.S. Army Air Corps proposes a heavy bomber capable of flying non stop missions in to Central Europe from bases in the United States. In response, on Aug. 8, 1946 the Convair B-36 Peacemaker took to the sky for the first time.
In January of 1948 the mission of the aircraft was modified to include the delivery of nuclear weapons.
Convair B-36 aircraft were operationally deployed for the first time in June of 1948.
Modifications on the fleet commenced in February of 1954 in order to increase range through aircraft weight reduction and increased fuel capacity.
In June of 1958 the last Convair B-36 Peacemaker was withdrawn from deployment, replaced by jet aircraft.
A total of 384 of the aircraft were produced between 1946 and 1954 when production commenced on jet powered aircraft. Although the Convair B-36 Peacemaker flew during the Korean War, it did not participate in the war or any other combat action.
The last time the aircraft took to the sky was on a April 30, 1959 flight from Davis-Montham AFB, AZ to be displayed at the Wright Field USAF Museum.
We received the following email from master craftsman Carl Bachhuber: "Since you guys are using quite a few of my RC airplanes I
thought I’d tell you about one just finished…a rc B-36
Peacemaker. The plane is a 1/12th
scale with a 230” wingspan powered by 6 Zenoah G-26’s. The
engines have propeller shaft extensions and landing gears made by my good
friend Bob Walker. The beast weighs about 98 pounds and if things work out
should make several appearances at fly ins around the country this year. Actually, it might be easier for you to go to my website and
take a look. So far it has 10 flights. http://www.carlb-rcplanes.com/ ."
Carl's magnificent rc B-36 can be seen in the pictures immediately above and below.
Pictured next below is the B-36 rc airplane scratch built by Roger Layton. Roger powers it with six OS Max .61 engines. It has a 193" wingspan, and a 135" length.
John Consodine scratch built the 110" wing span B-36 radio control airplane in the second picture below. John's model is driven by six geared speed 400 motors.
In the third picture below Rich Jennings and Michael Brown are shown with the rc B-36 that they built. Its construction is mostly from foam. Wingspan is 10' 8", with a weight of about 36 lbs. Power comes from six Scorpion motors.
We received the following from Joe Murray, phone: 614 554-7924, jhvyfreighter10@aol.com: “Attached are pictures of my recently acquired B-36D. It was built in 1952 by a 28 year old aeronautical engineer from Indianapolis named Jim Pappas. Mr. Papps left no stone unturned...the build is phenomenal, the attention to detail
amazing ! The plane is nearly 19' long with a just over 26' wingspan, over 5' tall at the vertical stabilizer, and with engines around 300 lbs. I do not think it was ever flown, as there doesn't appear to have ever been any canopy or
greenhouse glass. Any way, it took a 17' U-haul to get her home. I will restore it and eventually take it to air shows as a static display with other B-36 memorabilia. (Oh, after I buy a big trailer)
Here are two before and after photos of the giant B-36 cockpit. I still need to figure out how to glass it in and no one seems to be able to help me. I am wondering if you could maybe add a note with the photos, and maybe someone can point me in the right direction." If you can help Joe, please contact him directly.
You can find Joe’s B-36 in the fifth and sixth pictures below.
We received the following email: "RE: 257" B-36D RC model
Attached is a picture of me and my rc B-36D plane project.
Here are some specs: Wingspan-257”, Length-186”, Weight-95 pounds, Power-Hacker Electric Motors, Props-20-14 3 Blade, Servos-48, Batteries-16, Receivers-4,
Air Systems-10 (2 per main gear, 2 per nose gear, 2 for brakes, and 2 for main gear doors), Wire-340+ feet, Air hose-210+ feet, Design time-9 years, Build time to date-15 months.
I do have a thread with over 530,000 views, over 5,000 post, and over 2000 pictures of the build:
Thank you Damon. We wish you success with your project and are looking forward to see the completed model fly. Damon and his project are shown in the bottom picture on this page.
If you are a B-36 fan and haven't been there already, we highly recommend that you check out B-36.net. They have pictures and a description of a 228" wingspan rc B-36 scratch built
by James Anderson. It has six engines producing a total of 30 h.p. powering the approximately 100 lb. scale rc model. It was still being completed as of the last posting on 3/14/04.
The site also mentions a rc B-36 airplane by Ken Duffey and the Evergreen RC Modelers. However the links were broken and we could not find any information about them.
One rc B-36 that is flying can be found at Hobby City Models in New Zealand. It is designed by Daroish Kraidy and has a 9.8 foot long wingspan and a 8.2 foot fuselage length. Power is by
six geared Speed 480 motors. Weight is around 12 lbs.
If you know of another B-36 radio control airplane, please tell us.
Convair B-36 Peacemaker
