Pima Air Museum B-36

What is the weight of the wings – or fuselage – stripped down and made as light as possible (minus engines, equipment etc) ???

The Russian Mi-26 Halo helicopter has a 20-tonne external slung payload – and has lifted a CH-47 in Afghanistan.

Could it be done ?

If you have the money…………….

Ken

…an interstate highway most of the distance from Ft Worth to Tucson, it will be a huge task.

BTW: I’ve driven the route several times, it’s all Interstate hiway (I-20 and I-10) and about a 12 hour trip by auto.
The good news is there are VERY few overpasses or other obstacles.
Long strectches of desert and few towns of any size. I’d take imy CLK up to 110 in southern New Mexico and have fun, it’sa great trip if you like western scenery.
You go through Midland (I’m sure the CAF would let them park there for the night) and pass by the entrance to the old “Rattlesnake bomber base” in West Texas. Occasionally, you’ll see a B-1 at 500 feet on a training sortie.
If you bypass downtown El Paso, it should be a fairly straightforward trip.

Moving big aircraft

I quote: “Due to the size and weight of the main wing section, the beautifully restored wing will be cut in half to allow it to be placed on two trailers for transport.” 😡 🙁

When the C-133 was moved from Offutt Air Force Base to Dover AFB, two years ago, an outfit called Worldwide Aircraft Recovery, Ltd., of Omaha, Nebraska, did the disassembly and rebuilding. The actual move was done via C-5C, two trips from Nebraska to Delaware. With those big airplanes, there seems to be no way to do it otherwise than disassembling/cutting into pieces. Even with that, and an interstate highway most of the distance from Ft Worth to Tucson, it will be a huge task. But, it will be wonderful if that B-36 can join the rest of the big old planes at Pima.

I saw it at Amon Carter Field in Aug 71, when I visited for a Confederate Air Force air show. While I was watching al the beautiful old planes doing their thing, my wife asked, “Would you love me more if I had wings?” Answer, without hesitation, “Yes.”

From what I’ve read they intend to cut it into sections 😮 so that it can be transported by truck…If this is true it’s just insane! Surely there is some other way to accomplish the move without resorting to such measures!

Dog House Ldr., it is really a shame that the Muesum never came to be and that, after all of the time and effort spent restoring her she won’t reside in the city where she was born and for which she was named.

edit: I hadn’t visited the B-36’s site in quite awhile, so I clicked on the link above. Sure enough there is confirmation that they do indeed intend to cut her into small, easily transportable pieces… I quote: “Due to the size and weight of the main wing section, the beautifully restored wing will be cut in half to allow it to be placed on two trailers for transport.” 😡 🙁

Some time in July……

Any idea when it is going to make the trip? BW Roger

My father works at pima Air museum and told me about the B-36………didn’t know it was a sore point with some….Me, I’d like to see it restored and flown again……..If the Brits can fly a Vulcan again (soon?) why can’t we fly a B-36? What a showstopper THAT would be!

http://www.b-36peacemakermuseum.org/

Hawk driver I worked on the B-36, and she was at one time or another fully restored to static condition. She is a J model meaning light weight, though we added all of her armament. There is only one engine left, and the jet pods came off a B-47.

She was very derelict when we first started on her, full of dead animals, and droppings. At one time she was actually running during the late 60’s, with the intention to fly, but at the last minute the Air Force, decided that due to certain treaties that she could not fly, anymore becuase she was deemed nuclear capable.

I must say without Lockheed’s intial help we could not have got the restoration project off the ground. Most of the project volunteers where people who worked for Consolidated on the B-36 lines! Others like me were just off the street volunteers, who had a passion for old airplanes.

I must also say that this an emotional period for me as we tried desperatly to get funding for a museum, but for one squabble or another, we couldn’t agree on the final location or the size of building nad the cost of such task. This a very painful subject around here for the Fort Worth area.

On one note watch the movie Strategic Air Command with Jimmy Stewart. It was filmed at Carswell Air Force Base which was right across the runway from Consolidated.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions on this airplane. 😡 🙁 🙂