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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.
| CREW | 5 |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 162305 kg | 357823 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 70.10 m | 229 ft 12 in |
| Length | 49.38 m | 162 ft 0 in |
| Height | 14.23 m | 46 ft 8 in |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 676 km/h | 420 mph |
| Ray E. Cartier, atadir(@)sbcglobal.net, 07.05.2008 Was the NB-36H rebuilt in Ft. Worth? Tornado damage suggests that. Or, was it done in Southern California? | | James D(JD) Endicott, jdend(@)sbcglobal.net, 12.09.2007 I worked at Convair from 1955-1959 on the NB-36H as an electronics tec. We also had a 3 mega watt reactor which we did many tests on various equipment used by Nasa. | | James Nelson, nelsonteam(@)version.net, 12.07.2007 I started my days at Consolidated- Vultee with the B-36D and then went on to the C-T29B/C followed by the C-440 and later on the C-880/C-880M finishing my aircraft time with the C990/C990A. I retired from Convair after a long time with Atlas and AtlasII at both Harlingen TX.and Vandenberg AFB CA, Presently am doing research on writting an artical on all of Convair/Canadair a branch of G-D Turbo-Proped aircraft along with pictures and 1:144 scale models of same. I'm well into the whole line of Convair aircraft prior to WW2 and during same I presently have most of all the models produced and some I produced myself. I guess one could say I'm well into Aviation History. Maybe I might be hearing from you sometime. By the way the C-990 was leftout on the Convair Aircraft page 3 for 1960 thru 1962 period. |
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COMPANY
PROFILE
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.
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