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RB-36H 51-13730 at Castle Air Museum. This Peacemaker was displayed at Chanute AFB in Illinois for over three decades. When Chanute AFB closed down in the early nineties, the Peacemaker was transferred to the Castle Air Force Base Museum. It had to be disassembled to components that could be transported on railroad cars. Over a period of a little more than a year, the Peacemaker was reassembled. Link to a display of the restoration of this RB-36H. Photographer: Brian Lockett.

Castle Air Museum hosted Open Cockpit Days over the weekend of May 25-26, 2002. I took the opportunity to climb inside the forward crew compartment of their Convair RB-36H, 51-13730 and photograph the various crew stations.

Link to the Castle Air Museum home page.

B-36J-65-CF 52-2220 on display at the United States Air Force Museum in August 1972. Photographer: Brian Lockett.

Visit the B-36J page of the web site of the United States Air Force Museum.

Seen here on August 17, 1998, 52-2220 on display in the Air Force Museum is surrounded by contemporary fighters. Also visible in this picture are a Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star, McDonnell XF-85Goblin, Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, and North American F-100 Super Sabre. Photographer: Brian Lockett.

B-36J-75(III), 52-22827 Pima Air Museum, Arizona

The National Museum of the Air Force transferred B-36J-75(III), 52-22827 to the Pima Air Museum near Tucson, Arizona in 2005. It was fully restored at the Lockheed-Martin plant in Fort Worth. It has been reassembled, painted and placed on public display.

Link to a page of pictures of B-36J-75(III), 52-22827 at the Pima Air Museum, Arizona and its restored interior.

There is also B-36J-111, S/N 52-2217A, on display at the Strategic Air & Space Museum in Nebraska. This photo of the cockpit of 52-2217A was provided through the courtesy of Richard Loftis.

Visit the web site of the Strategic Air & Space Museum.

Richard Freeman provided the following B-36 location information:

There is a disassembled B-36 in existence in OH. According to "Great Aircraft Collections of the World" by Bob Ogden (1986), the B-36 is owned by a Walter Soplata. PO Box 65 Newbury, OH 44065 ph.(216) 564-5326. Access is by prior permission only. His collection is North of Newbury which is 18 miles East of Cleveland on Rt. 87. His B-36 is actually the YB-36, serial 42-13571, which was converted to an RB-36E. It was on display at the old Air Force Museum facility for many years before being replaced by B-36J at the new museum facility that opened in 1972.

Apparently it is in very bad shape. He bought it, like most of his other "stuff" as it was about to be scrapped by the Air Force, and the plane had to be cut up into major sections. Right now, the bombbay is his handy "Storage Area" for half of the XP-82 "Twin Mustang" prototype (he has another complete F-82 as well!), plus a partial P-63 "King Cobra". The nose and about half of the forward fuselage are together, and the rest of the aircraft is laying nearby.

This picture is of a lot near the Ontario, California Airport taken in 1971. The lot was being used to store aircraft from the defunct Ontario Air Museum before they were transported to Chino. At left is the nose of B-36H, serial 51-5720. It did make the move to Chino, but it was decided that it was too dilapidated, and unforunately, it was scrapped shortly afterward. Just in front of the B-36 at the left are the wing panels of the Northrop N9MB which was recently restored to flying condition. To the right are a B-25, F4U and one of two Douglas A2D Skyshark turboprop attack planes. Photographer: Brian Lockett.

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Dueling CD-ROMs

The history of the efforts to preserve B-36J, 52-22827 at Fort Worth is well documented in "B-36: Saving the Last Peacemaker"; Second Edition, an html book on CD. This CD-ROM is viewed with your internet browser.

B-36: Moving the Last Peacemaker. These 875 photos show photographically the effort expended by all of the volunteers over a nine year period to save the aircraft. This CD-ROM is a self contained slide show that does not require a browser to view.

Go to the main Convair B-36 page.

Go to home page of the Goleta Air and Space Museum.

Send a message to Brian.