This month's walk-around is a detailed walk-around of a Convair B-36 "Peacekeeper" located at the Pima Air and Space Museum. This walk-around contains 205 high resolution images which were contributed by a member Bob Knight.
This is an excellent subject to add to your walk-around collection.
During my 27 years at General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, I was able to tour two bombers on Lockheed Martin premises - Diamond Lil B-24 and the B-36 above. They were out in one of the run stations adjacent the joint LM/Carswell AFB runway (not at the same time period, however).
The B-36 fuselage was still in three large and separate sections waiting for a home, but totally restored. The flight decks were enormous. So big, they had what looked like office chairs secured to the flooring so they could move around in them. I'm guessing that was almost 20 years ago now, but I'm glad I got to see the old girl before she was trucked out of there.
The B-24 was cool but VERY TIGHT to try to move thru - not a big interior. She was in for some rework of sorts, not sure what or why, but she is still flying, I hope.
A great loss to the FW/Dallas aerospace heritage. The B-36 to Pima and the B-58 that went to Galveston (another story). What a shame that no city or organization gutted up to find a place to put them on permanent display under a covered shelter somewhere in the FW/D area. Both bombers were restored over several years and countless hours by dozens of retired GD/LM and other volunteer workers. Shame on the FW/D metroplex for not picking them up. Lane
One more bit. In 1970, the B-36 had been donated to Amon Carter Airport after its retirement as a display. The CAF decided to restore it to flying condition and had the B-36 ENGINES RUNNING on the runway at Amon Carter Airport (now DFW Intl Airport) READY TO FLY! They were asking final approval to the USAF to FLY out of that location to a CAF location so more work could be completed. At the LAST moment, the USAF REFUSED to grant release of the B-36 because they cited it was STILL a POTENTIAL INTERCONTINENTAL RANGE NUCLEAR BOMBER. Ha. So, once again, lots of hours spent with no return on investment. And by the way, when I was a kid, you could get inside the B-36 when it was just a static display. And yes, I pulled myself thru the tunnel trolley. That was likely around 1960. OKAY, I'm old. Ha.
__________________ LBJ Fort Worth, TEXAS
There are always TWO sides to every story. Proverbs 18:17
Current Projects
Ziroli Hellcat
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
![]](/skins/text/forum_images/header-bg.gif)
Portal Home
Forum Home
![]](/skins/text/forum_images/top-left.gif)
![]](/skins/text/forum_images/left-side-table-bg.gif)
![]](/skins/text/forum_images/right-side-table-bg.gif)
![]](/skins/text/forum_images/hide_min.gif)