How many B-36's are still extant?
Sat Jun 10, 2006 6:32 am
Anybody out there know how many B-36 Peacemakers are still in existence?
Thanks,
Dave
Thanks,
Dave
Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:44 am
The Soplata wreck isn't on the registry.
Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:13 pm
Randy Haskin wrote:The Soplata wreck isn't on the registry.
Does anyone know for sure what percentage of a B-36 Peacemaker is up there at Walter's place?
Here's is a feature on http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com about Walter's place. It has a couple of shots of the B-36.
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Fea1/101-200/Fea182_Walters-Farm_Williams/part1/Fea182.htm
Shay
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Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:01 pm
In Albuquerque, the National Atomic Museum reportedly had a B-36 on display.
The museum moved from the old location in the Kirtland AFB area, to a new site near downtown ABQ; but I have visited the new location and the area is way too smal to contain a B-36, which I did not see.
So, was there a B-36 at Kirtland? If so, where is it now? Was it scrapped? Saved?
Saludos,
Tulio
The museum moved from the old location in the Kirtland AFB area, to a new site near downtown ABQ; but I have visited the new location and the area is way too smal to contain a B-36, which I did not see.
So, was there a B-36 at Kirtland? If so, where is it now? Was it scrapped? Saved?
Saludos,
Tulio
Sun Jun 11, 2006 5:47 am
Thank you gentlemen, I appreciate the information. Wouldn't it be cool to see one of those old beasts fly?
Walter Soplata's farm is really something else.
Dave Armstrong
Walter Soplata's farm is really something else.
Dave Armstrong
Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:34 am
I've never seen a B-36 at Kirtland. The B-29 was is disgraceful condition the last time I was there.......
Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:42 am
Try these links. The first one list the five locations. The others havesome interesting photos.
Don
http://www.b-36.net/
http://pages.nyu.edu/~jh15/b-36.html
http://pages.cthome.net/B36/Movie.html
http://pages.cthome.net/B36/492.html
Don
http://www.b-36.net/
http://pages.nyu.edu/~jh15/b-36.html
http://pages.cthome.net/B36/Movie.html
http://pages.cthome.net/B36/492.html
Sun Jun 11, 2006 11:54 pm
Shay--
I'd say about half the YB-36/RB-36E airframe is at Newbury, consisting of the forward half of the fuselage and much of both wings. IIRC Walt also got two of the engines. This Peacemaker, one of the prototypes, had been converted to RB-36E standard, then was retired and placed on outdoor display at USAFM. When the (then) new AFM building was erected at the end of the sixties, a B-36J, in much better condition than the YB/RB already at Wright-Pat, was flown in to go on indoor show in the new hall. The redundant, and by now dilapidated, YB/RB was sold for scrap about 1971 and Walt got most of the remains from the metals man. A book could probably be written about the Soplatas' recovery of just that one hulk!
A bit more than a decade later the identical thing happened to USAFM's global record flight B-52B...but Walt (sensibly) only took on the cockpit section of that one. A B-52D in fine shape is inside one of the newer halls at what is now NMUSAF. Certainly hope the D isn't disposed of when the apparently near-immortal H-models are finally retired!
Oh, and an immaculate RB-47 is now indoors at NMUSAF...the longterm outdoor display B-47E being parked, last I saw it, pretty much right where the B-52B last sat before meeting its demise, out on the old Wright Field flightline near the Annex. Anyone heard anything on the fate of that Stratojet...?
S.
I'd say about half the YB-36/RB-36E airframe is at Newbury, consisting of the forward half of the fuselage and much of both wings. IIRC Walt also got two of the engines. This Peacemaker, one of the prototypes, had been converted to RB-36E standard, then was retired and placed on outdoor display at USAFM. When the (then) new AFM building was erected at the end of the sixties, a B-36J, in much better condition than the YB/RB already at Wright-Pat, was flown in to go on indoor show in the new hall. The redundant, and by now dilapidated, YB/RB was sold for scrap about 1971 and Walt got most of the remains from the metals man. A book could probably be written about the Soplatas' recovery of just that one hulk!
A bit more than a decade later the identical thing happened to USAFM's global record flight B-52B...but Walt (sensibly) only took on the cockpit section of that one. A B-52D in fine shape is inside one of the newer halls at what is now NMUSAF. Certainly hope the D isn't disposed of when the apparently near-immortal H-models are finally retired!
Oh, and an immaculate RB-47 is now indoors at NMUSAF...the longterm outdoor display B-47E being parked, last I saw it, pretty much right where the B-52B last sat before meeting its demise, out on the old Wright Field flightline near the Annex. Anyone heard anything on the fate of that Stratojet...?
S.
Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:02 am
It was still sitting there as of last Nov.........
Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:02 am
APG85 wrote:It was still sitting there as of last Nov.........
Still there as of this morning.
Shay
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Semper Fortis
Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:39 pm
There she is being kept company by 3 F-4 Phantoms
Shay
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Semper Fortis
Shay
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Semper Fortis
Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:50 pm
Oh, and an immaculate RB-47 is now indoors at NMUSAF
It is immaculate, I was allowed to sit in the cockpit, boy is it nice.
BTW Has anyone written about Mr. Soplata? His story should be well documented before he leaves us. Someone should go out there and pick his brain for posterity.
It is immaculate, I was allowed to sit in the cockpit, boy is it nice.
BTW Has anyone written about Mr. Soplata? His story should be well documented before he leaves us. Someone should go out there and pick his brain for posterity.
Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:52 pm
Is that an ABCCC capsule (the green box shape) just to the right of the
F-4 on the right?
F-4 on the right?
Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:21 pm
APG85 wrote:Is that an ABCCC capsule (the green box shape) just to the right of the
F-4 on the right?
I dunno, you tell me. Of coarse it would help a bit if I knew what a ABCCC capsule was to start with.
It is possible that it is shipping the disassembled THOR missle that is in front of the restoration facility. Sorry I didn't take a direct photo of the parts.
What does the acronym ABCCC stand for?
Shay
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