On August 8, 1946, the Consolidated Vultee B-36 Peacemaker nuclear bomber made its first flight. Later referred to as the “Billion Dollar Boondoggle” by the program's opponents, the B-36 competed with the US Navy's super carrier program for limited tax dollars.
Digging Deeper
The first bomber in the world able to carry a nuclear payload right from the start, the massive bomber also had the widest wingspan (230 feet) of any bomber in history and the most (10) engines of any mass produced airplane. When the 6 mighty 3800 horsepower (apiece!) piston powered radial engines proved inadequate for such a giant airplane, engineers added 4 jet engines to the mix giving the plane 10 engines.
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