1946: B-36 - the Magnesium Monster
In the 1940s the Convair B-36 was a pioneer in terms of range (10.000 miles), service ceiling (50.000+ ft), flight time (48 hours) and cameras (23).
With the Virtavia payware we can re-hash some of the RB-36s secret and fictional reconnaisance missions.
A. 1950
Argentina started a suspicious nuclear project with the help of escaped Nazi scientists, the USA were alarmed.
We fly from Puerto Rico over the secret labs (still visible IRL today as lost spaces and in the sim) on Huemul Island (WP) and continue to a new US base (from Operation Windmill) in Antarctica.
At the time the US Navy and USAF fought bitterly over the B-36’s acquisition and legendary General LeMay wanted to show that his “Peacemaker” is capable of everything. 15.000 km
B36_HUEMUL.PLN (5.7 KB)
B. 1953
RB-36s operated with impunity over the USSR as russian radar and MiG-17s could not reach them at the time.
We fly a fictional earlier copy of the U-2 incident from 1960. The route from Pakistan over the USSR is exactly the intended one from G. Powers. But we continue after Norway via Iceland and Greenland to Maine. 12.000 km
B36_Powers.PLN (4.2 KB)
C. 1955
China and North Korea were a frequent target for overflights.
On this occasion we do a big one: from Japan first graze Vladivostok, look into Tibet, the USSR’s Pamir, Caucasus & Ukraine, then fly over some eastern bloc countries - finally landing on one of the UK’s V-Bomber bases. 14.000 km
B36_china.PLN (4.1 KB)
D. 1958
Swansong: the aging RB-36 could by then only fly safely along the periphery of the USSR. We make an arctic patrol from Phoenix to Anchorage. 15.000 km
B36_arctic.PLN (4.1 KB)
The B-36 had an autopilot, full kitchen, bunk beds, washbasins, carpets and even ash-trays - so there is no reason to use the sim’s accelerated time, just hang in there - and read a B-36 fantasy from 1951: