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Convair B-36 Peacemaker proto type mock up and more...


P-59A
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Thanks, I saw one at Castle and it is MASSIVE!. My draw to it is that it is a true transitional aircraft and my dad, when he was in the Airforce was a member of a photo recon outfit that installed the cameras and film on the recon version of this bird then developed the negs and printed them. They  were not snap shots they were one very long roll of film and paper. He also did the same on Thunder thuds when he went to Japan. I think the outfit he was working with called themselves the Polka Dots. I remember he had a flight patch with Silvester the cat in a coon skin cap holding a musket.

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So that patch looked something like this, only longer. "In March 1955, the squadron withdrew to Misawa Air Base, Japan where it was equipped with the Republic RF-84F Thunderflash. Its parent wing, the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, was the sole USAF reconnaissance wing in the Pacific. The exact work of the squadron over the balance of the late 1950s and early 1960s remains classified to this day, but it is believed that there were reconnaissance missions flown over Communist China and southeastern portions of the Soviet Union by its aircraft.[7]"    My dad told me what they did was classified. I didn't know it still is. He developed the gun camera footage of the missions over China and the Sea of Japan. Bad things happened to be sure. The last thing he did before he married my mom was when the unit was split up and he went to Florida during the Cuban missile crisis. After that ended he went to a base in SC and met my mom.

45-8_0.jpg

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I lied, I was born in Sept so he met my mom first in SC then Cuba kicked off. 
"On October 21, 1962, the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing deployed RF-101 and RB-66 aircraft to MacDill AFB, Florida, from Shaw AFB, South Carolina. On October 26, the 363d flew its first low-level reconnaissance missions. The wing gathered significant intelligence on the sites over the next three weeks and uncovered the location of IL-28 Soviet bombers and air-to-air and surface-to-air missile sites. During this time, SAC continued U-2 missions to gather more information, maintained nearly sixty nuclear-armed heavy bombers on airborne alert, and placed all of its available intercontinental ballistic missiles on alert to launch at any moment. The command also moved its medium and heavy bombers from the southeast United States to make room for Tactical Air Command (TAC) fighter aircraft, such as F-100s and F-105s. In addition, the Continental Air Defense Command increased the number of air defense sorties flown along the Gulf Coast. Finally, over a two-day period the USAF airlifted approximately 2,000 marines and 1,400 tons of equipment to Naval Air Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."   BINGO!

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  • 1 month later...

Awesome pics. Did the turrets on top come up flush with the fuse when in firing position? Also, did any other heavies use that crawler system for transport?

Never got to hear one of these overhead but I'll bet it was awesome.

Dave

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If you'd like to hear what a B-36 sounded like, obtain a copy of the 1955 Jimmy Stewart flick "Strategic Air Command".  It contains some great ground and airborne footage of the B-36.

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Oh thanks. I've watched that for sure. I always liked June Allison. The movie and sound was great.

Hearing them overhead in real life though would be preferred.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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