B-36!

I worked on the B-36s at Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico during 1955-1956. (was on
a crew that broke the SAC record for engine change on the bird: 3hr.) A
story comes to mind of the F-84 group that came down on a TDY. One of the
F-84 jocks was a friend of one of the B-36 pilots and went for a ride. The
B-36 pilot conned his friend into getting in the tunnel and going to the aft
compartment. The F-84 jock made the mistake of getting on the little rail
mounted cart face down. The B-36 pilot had a crew member at each end on
intercom and proceeded to give the F-84 jock a ride by first putting the
nose down and when the cart got close to the forward end of the tunnel, he
would pull the nose up causing the cart to scurry toward the rear. Had the
F-84 jock been on his back on the cart, there was an overhead rope that he
could have used to control the cart. I overheard the conversation in the
"Liner Diner" at the base of the tower later. The poor F-84 jock couldn't
figure out what was going on. Needless to say there was a lot of hoorawing
and the F-84 pilot was interested in finding a way to get even...
Stuart Fields ex SAC
"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
news:3fd2b8a9$0$7587$afc38c87@...
Hi folks. You might find this interesting.

Friday, my brothers and I made the trip of a lifetime (in my one brother's
case, sadly almost literally) for any military aviation enthusiast. Both
my
brothers live in Columbus, OH. My younger brother has just been diagnosed
with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease in the US, Motor Neuron Disease or ALS most
other places) and has been going downhill pretty rapidly. We are all
pilots, although my brothers haven't been current for years. Our late
father was an Air Force pilot (http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/Dad.html)
and
we have always been aviation fanatics. Dad actually flew the B-36 that's
on
display at the US Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB. Through a
contact, our youngest brother made special arrangements for the three of
us
to spend an hour INSIDE the B-36 yesterday, before our middle brother's
condition gets so bad that it will not be possible. Accompanied by a
volunteer guide, we got to crawl around in all the forward positions and
play Command Pilot, just like our late father actually was. We took over
sixty pictures, and I've uploaded a few onto my website. We had a ball.

A few of the many things we saw and noted:
- The airplane is placarded with a dirty stall speed of (IIRC) 57 mph!
- There was a "Temporary Restriction" placard over the engineer's station
(TWO flight engineers!) restricting maximum TO weight to only 370,000 lb
(!)
until some engine vibration tests were completed.
- There is one small (12" long) hand pump in the crew compartment below
and
to the rear of the flight deck, with a valve that allows it to be used to
charge the brakes or to lower the landing gear. Considering the size of
the
hydraulic cylinders on the gear, it must take a LOT of strokes of this
little pump to get that gear down!
- The autopilot has a switch that transfers control downstairs to the
Bombardier.
- Considering the size of the airplane, the flight deck is amazingly small
and cramped. Four people work up there. We could just barely squeeze
past
one of the two flight engineer's seats to get to the right pilot's seat.
Since our Dad was over six feet, it must have been tough for him to move
around, even when he was young.
- There is a bunk suspended above the lower crew compartment for cat naps,
and there's a two-pot coffee maker. There is also a john with a little
window next to it (but no curtain for privacy) so you can look out when
you're on the crapper. If you reach over your shoulder when you're on the
crapper, you can get yourself a cup of coffee. I understand that there
are
more bunks in the aft crew compartment. This is accessible in the air
only
by a pressurized tunnel through the bomb bay that's at least 90 feet long!
- All the gun turrets are retractable and radar directed. There were six
retractable, remote-operated turrets with 2 20mm cannons each. There were
also two more 20mm guns in the nose, and two in the tail. On the display
airplane, which had been converted for reconnaissance, all the turrets and
nose guns had been removed.
- All of the electronics are vacuum tube. The airplane has a very dated
look about it, everywhere inside.
- The fuel lines we could see are between 2" to 4" in diameter, depending
on
where they are. It must take hundreds of gallons of fuel (100/135 octane)
just to prime the fuel lines!

A few pictures:

- Me "Flying"! http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/Bob.jpg
- Pilot's Position http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/LSeat.jpg
- Co-Pilot's Position. http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/RSeat.jpg Note the
throttle quadrant - six throttles! There are four more in the overhead
for
the jets
- Control Panel Center. http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/PanelCt.jpg The 16
engine dials are for the jets. The piston engines are managed by the two
flight engineers
- Flight Engineer's Panel Right Section.
http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/EngPanR.jpg Note the six throttles on the
left and six mixture controls on the right. Props are controlled by
electrical switches on the pilot's console, and presumably also somewhere
on
this panel
- Flight Engineer's Panel Center Section.
http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/EngPanCt.jpg The only jet controls we
could
find on this panel are the four fuel flow gauges in the upper right corner
of the main panel. All the other jet controls are on the overhead panel
above the pilots.
- Flight Engineer's Panel Left Section
http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/EngPanL.jpg
- Overhead Panel for the Jet Engines.
http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/JetPan.jpg These are the only controls for
the jet engines. My younger brother is in the left seat and my youngest
brother is in the right. The two small panels on top of the glare shield
below the compass are for the bomb bay doors.

We tried to start an engine or two, but the battery was flat (yeah,
right!).
I may add some more comments later when I have more time, but I though
some
of you might find this interesting.

We spent the rest of the day in the museum taking in everything else. A
great day, but for obvious reasons, bittersweet. My wife and I drove back
to Jersey in the snow today. Come the spring I'm going to take the Archer
out there, pick up the guys and fly somewhere. Need to spend as much time
together as we can, considering. The weather was too dodgy to fly this
time.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)