(Download a higher resolution picture by clicking on any picture below.)

General arrangement of a late model B-36 illustrates the upper gun turrets in the extended position. Two turrets, each equipped with two 20mm cannon could be extended from behind sliding doors at three positions, two above and one below the fuselage. The nose and radar directed tail turrets also featured pairs of 20mm cannon. (courtesy General Dynamics)

Forward Cabin & Camera Compartment Arrangements

Aft Cabin Arrangement

Reciprocating Engine Nacelle General Arrangement

Aircraft Commander's Station

Main Landing Gear Arrangement

1/80 scale plans (at 72 dpi) for the construction of a B-36 model. (courtesy General Dynamics) 

Illustration courtesy AFFTC/HO.

When the X-15 was being developed, it was first assumed that the mother plane for the X-15 would be the Convair B-36 Peacemaker, which was then in service with the Air Force. The X-15 would have been mounted in the bomb bay of the B-36 in a fashion similar to the mounting of the X-1 and X-2 vehicles in B-29 and B-50 Superfortresses. The performance of the B-36 would have allowed the X-15 to be launched at an altitude of 35,000 feet and mach 0.7. In mid-1957, NASA directed North American Aviation to change the mother plane from the B-36 Peacemaker to the B-52 Stratofortress. It had been realized that the B-36 was going to be phased out of service at about the time that the X-15 began flying. Spare parts would become difficult to come by and the prospect of maintaining a single Peacemaker long after the type had been retired was daunting.

Books about B-36 Peacemakers available from

Dennis Jenkins has produced another large B-36 book: Magnesium Overcast.

Meyers Jacobsen has authored another book about the Convair B-36 Peacemaker: A Photo Chronicle.

Convair B-36 : A Comprehensive History of America's 'Big Stick by Meyers K. Jacobsen. Mr. Jacobsen has been compiling this history for at least a quarter of a century.

Warbird Tech: Convair B-36 Peacemaker . This volume by Dennis Jenkins contains a surprising amount of information that did not get into "The Big Stick".

Dueling CD-ROMs

The history of the efforts to preserve B-36J, 52-22827 at Fort Worth is well documented in "B-36: Saving the Last Peacemaker"; Second Edition, an html book on CD. This CD-ROM is viewed with your internet browser.

B-36: Moving the Last Peacemaker This CD-ROM is a self contained slide show that does not require a browser to view.

Go to the main Convair B-36 page.

Send a message to Brian.

Go to home page of the Goleta Air and Space Museum.

Edited December 23, 1999.