B36s in the UK

[Jeff]

Anyone old enough to see one of these? The sound on take off seems impressive.

[graham]

Massive machines, larger than a B-52 I believe. Never seen one but they must have been rather impressive.

[dave]

hi,
i was spotting those days but never managed to catch one... but if you watch Strategic Air Command with James Stewart you can hear one winding up and taking off, and great lying scenes, with "6 turnin and 4 burnin." no wonder they called it the Aluminium Overcast...

stay safe, regards,
dave...

ps Jeff, i didn't see your link till after i wrote the above...

[graham]

There's the well documented story of one landing well short of the runway at Boscombe Down in the 50s, by all accounts it took out some hedges, a shepherd's hut, crossed the A345 road and finally came to rest well outside of the perimeter fence. The weather had been sub zero for a fortnight, the ground was like concrete and the only damage the Peacemaker sustained was a broken bolt on one of its main u/c's. They made a hole in the perimeter fence, a bulldozer pulled her on to the base, the bolt was replaced and she flew out the following day.

[rj]

My dad managed to see the last one to visit the UK at Greenham Common in 1958 49-2720 RB-36F. Dad was awaiting call up for his national service and his sisters boyfriends worked for the local laundry company that did lots of work for the USAF so my dad was drivers 'mate' and got to go a few times a week.

It took until 2009 for me to see one at the Pima museum.

[keefyboy]

A B36 flew unmanned over Chippenham and crashed at Lacock in 1953 - very lucky there were no fatalities. I read somewhere local that even today people are still finding bits of metal in the woods - details below

aviation-safety.net/wikibase/152762

[graham]

Wasn't it supposedly carrying a load of "hush hush" material Keith?