b-36 armament

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Sun Apr 23, 2006 11:06 pm

i've never seen any pics of the b-36 with all it's 20 mm cannons & turrets bristling, do any pics exist of them showing ??

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

Squadron Signal, page 13, has a couple of drawings and two pictures, one of the tail stinger and another of the dorsal turret.

Page 32 shows two partial shots of an RB-36H and again, the dorsal turrets and dorsal and tail stingers.

I have not found in my books or magazines, anything smilar or even close to what you seek.

Saludos,

Tulio

turbo_NZ · **Posted:** Mon Apr 24, 2006 5:31 am

Here's a pic of one of the top turret stations.

and bottom turret station...

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:11 am

that's a start!!! thanks!!!! what would be really cool is to see a distance shot of the b-36 with all the weapons in firing position!!

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Mon Apr 24, 2006 7:43 am

Please tell the story on the “top Turret” pictures. It appears to be a resent picture, is it? I recall (I think I recall at least) seeing the turrets in the Castle RB-36H (they were stowed inside the a/c), do any of the “J” models have the turrets (did they ever have the turrets?).

Tim

turbo_NZ · **Posted:** Mon Apr 24, 2006 2:11 pm

I got this image from http://www.yolo.net/~jeaton/Propplanes/b-36/b-36.htm

(Actually I'm a B-36 fan as well !!).

So I believe it would be a museum example.

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:06 pm

A closer look at the picture I see the red stones under the aircraft, so it most likely is the B-36 at Castle Air Museum. How I would love to get inside that aircraft!

Tim

bluethunder28 · **Joined:** Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:26 am **Posts:** 199

http://www.vermontel.net/~tomh/Sawit.html

Also from the movie Strategic Air Command... Goofs: Revealing mistakes: When the B-36 taxis to a stop after a long flight, the "socks" or gun covers are already on the front 20mm cannons

ww2John · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:13 am

Tim,

The next open cockpit day at Castle Air Museum is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend - May 28.

When I called last week to check which aircraft were "open" the B36 was on the list.

...here's hoping (I will be there & let you know)...

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:54 am

a kid i grew up with got into the usaf museum's b-36 when it was displayed outside, he found an access panel open. he went through the entire bird including a wing, where naturally as a ten year old he literally was standing inside the wing. you'd think a museum with a b-36 would display it with guns bristling, it would make for a cool display perspective. :idea:

******* brainfart****!! i wonder if soplata's b-36 has some of it's turrets :?:

i'll have to find out!!

B-29 Super Fort · **Joined:** Wed Sep 01, 2004 11:12 am **Posts:** 871

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:26 pm

looking at the turret housings in the great pics of this thread i'd have to assume that the housing cavities would have caused considerable airflow drag,....... & then there is the matter of the turrets themselves!!! were any of the gun stations used on any b-36's in mock combat training exercises against drones, etc?? i'd also assume that the sighting stations were simular to that of the b-29 / b-50?? or were the guns operated by radar??

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:47 pm

Some have wondered if Walter Soplata's B-36 has it's turrets. Well, earlier this evening I was giving a slide tour/talk of my March, 1985 visit to Walter's place to a local EAA Chapter and realized that under the nose of Walter's FG1-D Corsair is a B-36 turret! I hadn't looked at these in a long time and after seeing the images on this thread, I can say for sure that Walter has at least one turret!
None visible on the airframe itself, however.
Blue skies,
Jerry

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b-36 armament

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