B-36 query

[barthie]

How many of these were in the UK in the 195Os. Saw one a few times over Aylesbury, and would dearly love to tie it up!

mtia

[rh226]

I have no idea how many actually visited the UK but, according to Wikipedia, RB-36s did operate out of Sculthorpe AB. One source I have seen mentioned that they were on 90-day rotations.

See http://www.liquisearch.com/strategic_ai ... eployments for an idea of the extent of deployments. The following are just a few specific ones.

From 16-20/01/1951, 6 x B-36Ds operated out of Lakenheath AB. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3AG-JsjoyA

October/November 1955, 42BW was on TDY at Upper Heyford. See http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=41061

On 18 October 1956 11 x B-36 from 11BW visited Burtonwood AB. See http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history- ... 1950s.html

And there was one (44-92042) that landed in a field a bit short of Boscombe Down's runway - see also above link for picture.

Over to you, Graham Luxton???

Regards,

Bob.

[barthie]

Thanks Bob.

[H.A.Bucken]

I remember seeing one on a couple of occasions trailing over the Lakes- early 1950s. A guy, ex ROC, lived in a caravan on the farm and told me what they were.
Roger

[JAWS]

By no means complete but here's what I could find from various resources on the www.

44-92034 B-36B ( 16.1.51 Lakenheath )
44-92034 B-36D ( 16.1.51 Lakenheath )
44-92042 B-36B ( 27.1.52 Boscombe Down - crash landed )
49-2650 B-36D ( 16.1.51 Lakenheath )
49-2657 B-36D ( 16.1.51 Lakenheath )
49-2658 B-36D ( 16.1.51 Lakenheath )
__-____ B-36D ( 16.1.51 Lakenheath )
__-____ B-36D ( 16.1.51 Lakenheath )
51-5719 B-36H ( 7.2.53 Fairford w/o Chippenham , Wilts - part of 18 deployed to Fairford )
51-5730 B-36H ( 11.11.57 Burtonwood )
51-5733 B-36H ( 17.01.57 - 23.01.57 Burtonwood )
51-5732 B-36H ( .2.53 Fairford - part of 18 deployed to Fairford )
51-5744 RB-36H ( .9.52 St. Mawgan )
52-1356 B-36H ( .10.56 Burtonwood )
52-1383 B-36H ( 21.10.56 Burtonwood )
52-2217 B-36J ( 17.10.55 - 11.11.55 Upper Heyford )
52-2220 B-36J ( 56/57 Brize Norton )

On 27 June 1952, in a spectacular arrival, 21 Convair B-36 Peacemaker bombers flew to Brize Norton from the 11th BW(H) at Carswell Air Force Base (AFB) in Texas. The bombers stayed for two weeks before departing.

[barthie]

Thanks Steve. Very tempted to take 52-2217, but maybe better not!

[MRTT]

Would also like to add my thanks for confirming the serial of the B-36 that crashed in Chippenham.

[page_verify]

Just been looking through my RAF Fairford history and while it's a base history rather than a spotter's log I was surprised to only find one reference to B-36s in all of my research. I suspect there were a lot more than my notes as someone once emailed me saying they were an aircraft maintainer and remember the B-36s sat parked up with a big nuke inside them. Almost all of my notes for the SAC period refer to the dozens of B-47s and RB-47Es instead.

7 Feb 1953 The first residents arrive, seventeen B-36 bombers from Carswell AFB.
7 Feb 1953 A B-36 flew for 30 miles before crashing near Chippenham after its crew baled out.

[nhoenich]

Just to add to “StevieJaws” earlier comment:
The early 1950’s were a period of expansion for the USAF in the UK. In connection with this, RAF Lakenheath, was expanded and hard stands for very heavy bombers (B-36) were built, they were also built at RAF Sculthorpe. However there was no intention to base the aircraft in the UK. There was interest by RAF Fighter Command to practice intercepting these large aircraft. To facilitate this, on 15/1/1851 six aircraft from 7 and 11BW departed the USA arriving at Lakenheath in the early morning of the following day. There was much secrecy about the visit, but on the day following their arrival the base was visited by Prince Philip. Aircraft noted were: 49-2650, 49-2657, 49-2658, and 44-92034, which was a modified D version incorporating four jet engines. The aircraft departed from the UK on the 21/1/1951. On 29/6/1951 a further three B-36Ds from 7BW arrived at Lakenheath ( 44-92072, 44-92049 and 46-2659), and flew over the Festival of Britain exhibition on the 1/7/1951 on their way to the Paris Air Show.
There was a further deployment in 1952 when four B-36s again from 7BW set out to fly to Sculthorpe. One of the aircraft involved ( 44-92042) encountered engine problems and made an emergency landing at Boscombe Down on 27/1/52.
As mentioned earlier, 27/6/1952 was the date of the contingent of 21 B-36D/Fs that visited Brize Norton. Again the aircraft were operated by the 11BW. At the same time three RB-36F aircraft deployed to RAF Burtonwood and included 51-5754.
In the 1950’s photography was more restricted than today, and the UK government was somewhat coy about these visits, however there are some newspaper photos of the crew of 49-2648 waiting to meet the press on a photo call during their visit at Lakenheath.
Cordially
Nh

[nhoenich]

A postcript to my earlier note;
The death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953 resulted in some nervousness by the UK and US governments.
From April-Ocrober 1953, RAF Lakenheath was used by RB-36H aircraft of 9SRW then based at Travis AF. Seven aircraft were initially deployed and included 51-5747. The aircraft rotated every 30 days.
Cordially
Nh

[page_verify]

Interesting NH, that period in mid-to-late 1953 would tie with some significant deployments to Fairford:

7 Apr 1953 The first two B-47s arrived at RAF Fairford for a short stay on a proving flight.
2 Jun 1953 The first deployment of 45 B-47s arrived from 306th Bomb Wing in the US with an Atlantic crossing of less than 6 hours.
28 Jul 1953 A 305th BW B-47 flew from Maine, USA to RAF Fairford in 4h45m
4 Sep 1953 45 B-47s of the 305th BW flew from Florida to Fairford to replace the 45 from the 306th BW who flew back home to Florida.

[graham luxton]

At least 49 B/RB-36's are known to have passed through Upper Heyford Barthie so you're decision not to claim 52-2217 may be the right one!

As for how many were in the UK in the 50's we will probably never know the exact number as many escaped identification. However, I know of at least 109 which visited and estimate the total would probably be less than 200.

The first Peacemakers to land at Fairford were 4 28SRW RB-36's which arrived on 2 Sept'52 at the start of a small detachment engaged in the photo and radar mapping of Western Europe. Except for a few days in Dec'52, when the 5thSRW replaced the 28th for a few months, there was an unbroken RB-36 presence on the base until the operation was moved to Lakenheath on 23 April '53. The 28SRW RB-36 (51-5744) which showed up at St Mawgans Battle of Britain Day'52 came from Fairford to test its taxiways for B-36 operations - something which SAC Hq had wanted assessed for some time.

Feb'53 - although 17 B-36's set off from Goose Air Base for Fairford in the 7thBW's Unit Simulated Combat Mission (USCM), only 11 actually landed there - I think fog disrupted the arrival plan. 5 a/c were forced to divert to Brize Norton and landing delays contributed to the loss of 51-5719 which ran out of fuel, subsequently crashing at Lacock. One of the objectives of this mission was to test Fairford as a B-36 `Post Strike` Recovery base and its resident 3919th Air Base Groups ability to receive a large number of bombers, turn them around and arm them for another simulated `strike` mission if required. In this case the a/c stayed for less than a week which was fairly typical for this type of exercise.

USCMs mimicked as far as possible SACs Emergency War Plan and the following UK B/RB-36 `Post Strike` bases were tested in that role during the period 1951 to 1956 - Boscombe Down, Brize Norton, Burtonwood, Fairford, Lakenheath, Sculthorpe and Upper Heyford.

.....more to follow.

[farnboroughrob]

Just noticed this thread. My dad saw only one of these at Greenham Common in 1958. It is believed this was the last one to visit the UK? At the time my dad was doing odd jobs before being old enough to join the RAF. One of these was drivers 'mate' on a laundry van that delivered to Greenham Common every day. He did manage to snap the odd photo, including the B-36 49-2720!
B-36-1 by Robert Belcher, on Flickr
B-36 by Robert Belcher, on Flickr

a B-47, just because I can
B-47 by Robert Belcher, on Flickr

Rob

[Ferrari]

Interesting thread.

I wonder, has the crash site near Chippenham been completely cleared?

Regards,
Ferrari

[MRTT]

Trying to figure that one out, thinking about heading over and seeing if I can find anything.

[sschofield]

One of the objectives of this mission was to test Fairford as a B-36 `Post Strike` Recovery base and its resident 3919th Air Base Groups ability to receive a large number of bombers, turn them around and arm them for another simulated `strike` mission if required.

Interesting! I always assumed that these missions were only ever planned as a "single-shot" weapon. Realistically, particularly in those days of proliferation, did the USAF really think that the airbases would still be available to land back at and start again?

[Arthur Tee]

Interesting thread.

I wonder, has the crash site near Chippenham been completely cleared?

Regards,
Ferrari

Bit of info here...

http://users.waymark.net/proweb/lacock1.htm

[Ferrari]

Thanks for the link Arthur Tee - great website.

Regards,
Ferrari