Convair NB-36

Sometimes known as the Crusader, the NB-36 was intended to prove the feasibility of carrying a nuclear reactor in flight, towards an eventual goal of a nuclear-powered aircraft with unlimited endurance. The NB-36H was built using components from a B-36 destroyed in a tornado with a new nose compartment heavily lined with lead and thick yellow tinted glass to protect the crew from radiation. The consequences of an NB-36H crash were so frightening that several support planes, including one filled with a team of paratroopers, followed the aircraft on every flight. Should the NB-36H crash or have to jettison its reactor, they would jump and secure the site and help with clean-up. A hotline to the president's office was set up in case of disaster. It was nearly used on one flight when a smoke marker went off in the reactor compartment.

FACTS AND FIGURES

© The five-man crew, which included a pilot, copilot, flight engineer and two nuclear engineers, were located in the forward section of the aircraft, while the atomic reactor was located in the rear section.

© The crew were so isolated from the engines and the outside world because of the thick shielding that they could barely hear the very noisy engines and likened the experience to flying a submarine.

© The engines of a normal B-36 were inspected in flight by the aft crew members. On the NB-36H this was done by a television camera system, as was observation of the reactor itself.

© The reactor did not power the aircraft or any of its systems. It was only operated when the XB-36 was over a test range in New Mexico. In all the 'Crusader' only made 47 flights, all of them in daylight and beginning and ending at Carswell AFB, Texas.