A lot of people think that the biggest bomber we have ever had in our fleet was the B-52. They also think that there was never a prop powered bomber that was bigger. Well, wrong, wrong. As amazing as it sounds there was a prop powered bomber that we relied on for over eight years that was HUGE, compared to the B-52 and it was called the B-36 Peacemaker. To speedup the project there was a meeting of high ranking Air Force officers in 1941 and they decided to reduce the requirements for the plane. The range was reduced to 10,000 miles while the effective combat radius was reduced to 4,000 miles with a 10,000 pound bomb load. The cruising speed requirement was set between 240-300 mph while the service ceiling was set to around 40,000 feet. It took awhile to decide if the bomber should be in a four or six engine configuration. Two other bomber projects had a higher priority and slowed down development of the B-36, they were the B-24 Liberator and later the B-32 Dominator. The great thing about the B-36 was it was never used in anger.

This country didn't have an all jet bomber force until February 12, 1959, when the last B-36 was retired. This plane was the biggest bomber ever to serve in this country. It wing span was 230 feet, which was almost 50 percent longer than the B-52 which replaced it. The design for the plane began in 1941. It was being designed to be able to fly to Europe, drop its+ load and return to the United States. The main idea at the time was for a bomber that could help England. The first prototype rolled off the assembly line in 1946 and operational models began delivery in 1948. In 1946, on its maiden voyage the B-36 was the heaviest and largest plane ever to fly. There was a problem after World War II however. Defense spending had been cut to a minimum and the effectiveness of the plane was constantly debated.

The U.S. Navy was against the production of the B-36, but the Air Force won out and even had jet engines added to the outer wing. Since the B-36 was slow, the jets were added to give it more speed and altitude. The plane was criticized for its slow speed under full bomb load. It was said that in this time of jet engines, the plane was outmoded.

Its hard to believe that there was a bomber bigger than the current ones. It could even hold a bigger bomb load, but cruising speed of 230 mph was a killer, talk about a sitting duck.