A dedicated group of airplane enthusiasts in the UK, with the held of a lot of money, have restored one to flying condition. And fly, it did.
This is just terrific. Looking at dead machinery in a museum is a far less educational experience than seeing the things in operation. I hope they fly it over here.
And yes, it'd be nice if someone could come up with the monetary backing to restore, say, a B-36. Or a B-58, now that'd be something.
The problem with the B36 is that it was an unreliable pork barrel project from day one that was never capable of operating reliably for a number of reasons I won't go into here (hint: Using air-cooled radial piston engines in a pusher configuration is inherently unreliable, there's just no way to get sufficient cooling air to them). They pretty much had to do an engine rebuild after every flight and the engines used almost as much oil as gas. Incredibly expensive plane to fly, which is why the moment the B52 was delivered, the B36 was scrapped. I doubt there's even a carcass left down at Tucson.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing inherently "wrong" about a prop-powered bomber (see: "Bear"), but the B36 simply broke too many rules and as a result had the shortest service lifespan of any strategic bomber created anywhere after WWII even after they stuck jet pods from a B47 under the wingtips. Compare with the Vulcan, which had a service lifespan comparable to the turbojet-powered B52.
I was actually lucky enough to see the Vulcan in flight alongside B52's at the Barksdale air show some years back. *really* cool looking plane in flight. Looked like a Romulan Bird of Prey flying over Bossier City. Too bad it was impossible to re-engine them with modern turbofans to replace those antique turbojets, unlike a more conventionally-designed bomber like the B-52. Those old smokers not only burn fuel like a Ford Excursion, but they're loud and limit the range. Dropping those bombs on the Falklands pretty much showed that the Vulcan wasn't really a feasible strategic bomber in the modern era, it required the entire strategic refuel capacity of the RAF to pull that one off just to get three bombers on target. Still, it was an incredibly cool bomber to look at, and even though its shortcomings were quite obvious at the end of its service life, at the beginning of its service life it was arguably the most advanced heavy bomber on the planet.
As for the B58, it is extremely unlikely for this to ever be returned to flight, for safety reasons if nothing else. 25% of these bombers ended up as crumpled fiberglass and aluminum lawn ornaments over its short ten-year lifespan, killing a fair number of aircrews in the process. I can't see the FAA ever allowing the type to fly with a civilian crew over the United States. The B58 was a pork barrel project that the USAF never really wanted, but that's not what grounded it. The fact that the damned thing was a bitch to fly and took a horrendous amount of maintenance to keep in the air was what grounded it, and 35+ years won't have changed that conclusion.
So I guess I can say:
Vulcan = safe and reliable.
B36 = somewhat safe, unreliable
B58 = unsafe
Which is why the Vulcan flew for over thirty years, and is allowed to fly today, while the latter two will never fly again.