(Download a new display by clicking on any picture below.)

The B-36 Variants Display illustrates some of the different types of Convair B-36 Peacemakers.

The YB-60 page shows the all-jet competitor to the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.

The XC-99 Transport and Model 37 Airliner Display. The XC-99, serial 43-52436 was the double deck transport variant of the B-36. The Model 37 was a proposed 204-seat transatlantic airliner version of the XC-99.

The B-36 Diagrams Display.

The B-36 Survivors Display tells where to find them.

The B-36 Accident Reports and Wreck Sites Display tells where to find some less pristine examples.

Meet B-36 Veterans at the B-36 Era and Cold War Forum:

The B-36 Links Page.

Three programs were undertaken in the late forties and early fifties to exploit the capability of the B-36 Peacemaker to carry and launch smaller airplanes. Initially, the idea was to provide a fighter escort that could be released by the Peacemaker when it was threatened by enemy fighters. Later programs aimed at extending the range of a fast reconnaissance or nuclear warhead delivery airplane.

In 1948 and 1949, a pair of McDonnell XF-85 Goblins were test flown from a Boeing EB-29B.

From 1952 to 1956, the Fighter Conveyer (FICON) program investigated the potential of carrying various models of the Republic F-84 in the bomb bay of a Peacemaker.

Hobbycraft has released a 1/144-scale model of the FICON composite aircraft system. I have prepared an illustrated review of the kit.

In 1955 and 1956 Project Tom-Tom explored an alternative method of attaching a Republic RF-84F Thunderflash to each wingtip of a Peacemaker.

- advertisement -

History of Project FICON published as a book.

Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF: Project FICON

The book is 172 pages long. It is available softbound with black-and-white printing or hardbound with color printing. The softbound edition is 8-1/2" x 11". It contains 171 photographs and 77 other illustrations.

You can preview the first several pages of the softcover book.

The hardbound edition is 8-1/4" x 10-3/4". It contains 12 color photographs, 165 black-and-white photographs, 8 color illustrations and 69 black-and-white illustrations.

You can preview the first several pages of the hardcover book.

Books are printed on demand by Lulu.com. When you order one, it is placed in your Lulu.com shopping cart. Lulu.com prints, packages, and ships the book direct to you.

Put a copy of the hardbound Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF: Project FICON in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $74.75.

The hardbound edition of Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF: Project FICON is also available through the Lockett Books Amazon Webstore for $74.75.

Put a copy of the softbound Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF: Project FICON in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $39.95.

The softbound edition of Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF: Project FICON is also available through the Lockett Books Amazon Webstore for $39.95.

Project FICON Handbooks

Reprints of the Air Force Flight and Maintenance Handbooks for the GRB-36D.

The book is 236 pages long. It contains:

Utility Flight Handbook USAF Series GRB-36D-III/RF-84F Composite Aircraft

Utility Flight Handbook GRB-36D-III FICON Aircraft

Supplemental Handbook Maintenance Instructions USAF Series GRB-36D-III Aircraft

You can preview the first several pages of the book.

Books are printed on demand by Lulu.com. When you order one, it is placed in your Lulu.com shopping cart. Lulu.com prints, packages, and ships the book direct to you.

Put a copy of the softbound Project FICON Handbooks in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $39.95.

Project FICON Handbooks is also available through the Lockett Books Amazon Webstore for $39.95.

Project FICON - Fighter Conveyer

2010 calendar

You can buy a 2010 calendar featuring historic Air Force and Convair photographs of Project FICON Convair GRB-36 carrier aircraft and Republic F-84 parasites.

A dozen Air Force and Convair photographs of Project FICON Convair GRB-36 carrier aircraft and Republic F-84 parasites from 1952 to 1956:

Convair GRB-36F 49-2707 and Republic F-84E Thunderjet 49-2115 at Forth Worth, Texas and Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
Convair GRB-36F 49-2707 and Republic YRF-84F Thunderstreak 49-2430 at Fort Worth, Texas and Dayton, Ohio
Convair GRB-36D 49-2962 and Republic RBF-84F Thunderflash 52-7266 over Washington State
Convair GRB-36D 49-2694 and Republic RF-84K Thunderflash 52-7258 at Edwards Air Force Base, California

Put a copy of the Project FICON - Fighter Conveyer: 2010 calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $16.95.

Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF videos on DVD

Five vintage films produced by the Wright Air Development Center that feature Air Force efforts to carry, launch, and retrieve airplanes from giant propeller driven bombers in the early cold war era. These videos were digitized directly from 35mm films in the National Archives. The subjects include the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin in 1948-49, wing tip coupling a Culver Q-14 Cadet and Douglas C-47 Skytrain in 1949, wing tip coupling a pair of Republic F-84D Thunderjets and a Boeing B-29 Superfortress in 1950, and Project FICON, in which a GRB-36F carried an F-84E Thunderjet in 1952.

DVDs are burned on demand by Lulu.com. When you order one, it is placed in your Lulu.com shopping cart. Lulu.com burns, packages, and ships the DVD direct to you.

Put a copy of the Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF videos on DVD in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $24.95.

- advertisement -

- advertisement -

- advertisement -

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. These 875 photos show photographically the effort expended by all of the volunteers over a nine year period to save the aircraft. This CD-ROM is a self contained slide show that does not require a browser to view.

Send a message to Brian.

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