B36 Boscombe Down.

Hi Old Git, I stand corrected, I see it is not an operational B-58. Having been stationed with the B-58 at both Carswell AFB, Texas and Little Rock AFB,
Arkansas with the B-58 I could not picture in my mind a B-58 being carried by a B-36. I could not think of the necessity for it because of the range of the B-58. These photos are certainly an eye-opener. They say you learn something everyday, I did today !
Thanx, Don

Hi Don,
it is deffo a B-58 as you can see here (I couldn’t find the Flight article on it) obviously stripped down and without engines (carrying the prototype B-58 from Fort Worth to Dayton)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=b-36+carrying+a+b-58&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=4SyEU4uFG4mqPKHIgJgJ&ved=0CDgQ7Ak&biw=1440&bih=750#facrc=_&imgrc=_cvcbf7fEyLNWM%253A%3BJBVWQ6fPHdjJQM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcrimso.msk.ru%252FImages6%252FAI%252FAI57-6%252F1-1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcrimso.msk.ru%252FSite%252FArts%252FArt6025.htm%3B1210%3B1213

I am not sure if this link will work but if you type into google “B-36 carrying a B-58” it brings up other images.
Keith

Here they are.

The article text is:

Popular Science Article – June 1957
Fastest Bomber gets a ride from the world’s biggest.
The supersonic B-58 Hustler takes the air here under the belly of a B-36 in a remarkable transport operation. Minus its four jet engines and other equipment the delta-winged Hustler was partly tucked into the B-36 bomb bay and flown and flown nonstop from Fort Worth, Texas to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio for extensive tests of air frame strength under extreme temperatures. To make room for the load, inboard propellers were removed and it flew unable to retract landing gear on four piston and four jet engines. Both Convairs, the B-58 has a 55 foot wingspan, the B-36, 230 feet.

Hi Old Git, I think these pics are what you are referring to. A F-84F fighter. Don’t think it was a B-58 – it is a large plane, crew of three, range of 5,124 miles (8,247 km). Newspaper is from August 26, 1953.

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Don

Hi Don,
it is deffo a B-58 as you can see here (I couldn’t find the Flight article on it) obviously stripped down and without engines (carrying the prototype B-58 from Fort Worth to Dayton)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=b-36+carrying+a+b-58&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=4SyEU4uFG4mqPKHIgJgJ&ved=0CDgQ7Ak&biw=1440&bih=750#facrc=_&imgrc=_cvcbf7fEyLNWM%253A%3BJBVWQ6fPHdjJQM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcrimso.msk.ru%252FImages6%252FAI%252FAI57-6%252F1-1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcrimso.msk.ru%252FSite%252FArts%252FArt6025.htm%3B1210%3B1213

I am not sure if this link will work but if you type into google “B-36 carrying a B-58” it brings up other images.
Keith

I saw a good picture in the Flight Global Archive of a B-36 carrying a B-58
under its belly. I will have to dig through and see if I can find it. The picture gives a good idea of the size of the B-36.

Hi Old Git, I think these pics are what you are referring to. A F-84F fighter. Don’t think it was a B-58 – it is a large plane, crew of three, range of 5,124 miles (8,247 km). Newspaper is from August 26, 1953.

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Don

Very interesting thread.
I guess the key feature is that an extra large aircraft like the B-36 would have very heavily constructed undercarriage and attachments. This would have enabled it to just run straight through ground surface features like hedge banks.
Off on a tangent, there was once years ago some discussion in Flight International magazine about the feasibility of an aircraft with a one mile wingspan. The proposal was it would take off across farm land, simply running over the field boundaries.

I still have a few bits of B-36 from a crash site in Wiltshire. This thread highlights the thin line between getting away with it (ish) and not.

I wonder just how effective the B-36 would have been in a hot war. In the early 1950’s the U S Navy wanted to pit their Banshee fighters against it in simulated attack exercises. They were confident their interceptors could catch it as they were capable of climbing to 50,000 feet some 10,000 feet higher than the big bomber’s attack altitude. Of course the B-36 had sophisticated defence weaponry and no doubt could have given a good account of itself. Given that the potential enemy had the MiG-15 which was broadly similar to the Banshee would the B-36 have reached its target?

If one looks at Don’s top pic and then compare to my lower pic on post 57 – it looks like the A345 just about where the 2 articulated trucks are !! it still has a similar fence and raised verge/mound !
So looks like the landing run (at least in the later stages) was almost parallel with the A345 !
Which also supports my theory about the probable landing run as being approx the right hand of my 2 dotted lines in the top image on post 57 !

Hi Baz, Thanx for the reply. I’m glad I found this site, some interesting info !

Cheers, Don

Hi Don … very nice to hear from you !

rgds baz

Hi Rob,
Appreciate the welcome ! I’ve enjoyed reading all the posts concerning this accident. I can’t believe the “good luck” that crew had and am astonished that they had it flying again so soon.

Don

Additional info to previous post.

At the time of the B-36 incident I was stationed at Carswell AFB, Fort Worth,Texas, assigned to the office of the Director of Materiel.
I was at Carswell AFB from 1951 to 1953, with the B-36’s. In early 1953 I was on a ten day temporary duty (mission) to RAF Fairford with the B-36’s. On that mission we lost two B-36’s – one in Wiltshire and one in Newfoundland, on the return mission to Texas.

Many thanks for posting those Don, and welcome to the forum. Looks like they had a pretty hairy ride through that fence !

Rob

At the time I was stationed at Carswell AFB, Director of Material Management, where I got these six pictures concerning this incident (click to enlarge).

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Don

I worked at Boscombe Down for some years (in the 1960s), and the story there was that the B36 was on a training flight from Texas to Turkey(?) – and got lost. My goodness, that’s some way off course!

I think the local newspapers published the story and pictures at the time. There may be an archive somewhere with the pictures included.

bri

Bri…one of the famous pics is on post 2 of this thread !!

The B36 did not ‘overshoot’ the airfield at all…it ‘undershot’ the airfield by touching down on the old High post airfield and bounced across some fields to end up just outside the Boscombe Down boundary fence.
It is all explained in the thread if you read all of it.
Apparently the pilot mistook the ‘Funnel’ lights for the Boscombe perimeter lights (he was not conversant with the RAF wartime lighting system).
They were extremely lucky to get away with it !!

I worked at Boscombe Down for some years (in the 1960s), and the story there was that the B36 was on a training flight from Texas to Turkey(?) – and got lost. My goodness, that’s some way off course!

I think the local newspapers published the story and pictures at the time. There may be an archive somewhere with the pictures included.

bri

Pagen01 (post #25):

Lacock incident from 1953 is described on the same website as the sound clip: http://www.cowtown.net/proweb/lacock3.htm

I once saw a Peacemaker on the ground at Brize back in the mid-50s – sorry no pictures as i didn’t have a camera with me. Anyhow, I wouldn’t have been able to take pictures because, although I was in RAF uniform, I was invited to leave the area by an American service gentleman armed with a ‘persuader’.
His dog looked ready for dinner, too.

I remember seeing them frequently over the south coast in the 50s .

Saw the film at the Plaza cinema(became the Southern TV Centre) in Southampton in 1955…went back to see it again some time later.

What an interersting thread. In common with a much earlier post I vividly recall seeing B36s at contrail height in the early to mid 50s – you could not mistake them for any other aircraft. Sadly that was as close as I ever got to one.