Exit the B-36

At Consolidated Vultee's huge Fort Worth plant last week, a quiet ceremony hailed the last of a long line of famed warbirds. Out rolled the final production model of Convair's ten-engined B-36 bomber, the postwar workhorse of the U.S. Strategic Air Command. In all, something like 400 had been made.

When the big A-bomber first flew in 1946, it was the world's mightiest (wing span: 230 ft.; weight: 179 tons) and first intercontinental bomber. With six 3,800-h.p. Pratt & Whitney engines (plus four General Electric J47 jets), it can fly 10,000 miles with a five-ton bomb load, tote as much as 42 tons of bombs for shorter distances at speeds up to 435 m.p.h.

Convair tried to turn the piston-engined B-36 design into a pure jet by sweeping back the wings, slinging eight jet engines underneath. But in competition, Convair's XB-60 lost out to Boeing's all-new, 600-m.p.h. B-52. With Boeing's B-52 jet bombers now in production (TIME, July 19), the old B-36s have seen their day, will gradually be retired to a secondary role by S.A.C. Now Convair is busily at work on its own all-jet bomber, the XB-58 Hustler. The secret new plane will be a heavy, multi-engined jet with delta wings and a bomb bay big enough for H-bombs. Designed as the first truly supersonic U.S. bomber, the Hustler's maiden flight is scheduled for early 1955.

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