Unknown/Generic Undesignated (52-2827)

PASM website:
Manufacturer: CONVAIR
Markings: 95th Bomb Wing, Biggs AFB, El Paso, Texas
Designation: B-36J
Serial Number: 52-2827
CONVAIR B-36J PEACEMAKER
The B-36 is the largest bomber and the last piston engine powered bomber produced by the United States. First designed to meet a World War II requirement for a plane capable of hitting targets in Germany from bases in the United States the prototype did not fly until August 8, 1946. The development of the atomic bomb led the Air Force to conclude that it still needed a very long-range bomber capable of delivering the bombs over intercontinental ranges and production of the B-36 was continued despite the end of the war a year earlier. A total of 383 Peacemakers were built between 1947 and 1954. The era of piston engine powered bombers was coming to a quick end with the introduction of the all jet B-47 and B-52. The B-36 was the symbol of American air power in the first years of the Cold War, but even the addition of four jet engines could not bring the B-36 up to the performance standards of the newer aircraft and all of the B-36s were out of service by the first months of 1959.

More from Joe Baugher:
Convair B-36J-10-CF Peacemaker
52-2827 (MSN 383) was last B-36 built. Featherweight Configuration III. ‘Dear John’ / ‘The End.’ Delivered to USAF 14Aug54. 92nd Bombardment Wing, Fairchild AFB, Spokane, WA Was last operational B-36, retired from 95th BW at Biggs AFB, TX Feb 12, 1959 . USAF Museum Loan Program; on loan to the city of Fort Worth, TX. Flown to Amon Carter Field, later Greater Southwest Airport, Fort Worth, Texas 12Feb59. Named ‘City of Fort Worth’. It was displayed from 1959 until the late 1970s, when it was moved to Southwest Aero Museum. Exposed to the extremes of Texas weather, the giant aircraft slowly deteriorated. In the early 1990s the aircraft was disassembled and moved indoors to hangar space at the factory where it was built, donated by Lockheed Aircraft. A group of dedicated volunteers, many of them retired Convair employees who had worked on the original B-36 assembly line, spent 40,000 man-hours restoring the plane. The aircraft is owned by the National Museum of the United States Air Force but was on loan to the B-36 Peacemaker Museum. In 2006, it was agreed that the Peacemaker Museum did not have the proper resources to restore and exhibit the aircraft, and the aircraft was trucked to the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona where it was restored and is currently exhibited.