Specialty Press

Magnesium Overcast: The Story of the Convair B-36

by  Dennis R. Jenkins

Reviewed By  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: $26.95 ISBN 10: 1580071295 ISBN 13: 9781580071291 Softbound 9 X 9 inches, 230 pages, with 300+ b/w and 50 color photos. Available from Specialty Press: www.specialtypress.com I’ve been familiar with the B-36 for a long time. I’ve seen a few on display, and I’ve even seen the XC-99, when it was at San Antonio, TX. I’ve built the Monogram 1/72 B-36. That said, I have learned a lot about the Magnesium Overcast from this book. I am impressed with the number of sources that Mr. Jenkins has managed to track down. Many familiar names pop up in his photo credits. The ones I know of or know personally are such people as David Menard, A. J. Lutz, Norm Taylor, Richard Marmo, Robert F. Dorr, Richard Freeman, and Peter M. Bowers.

The book begins with a fairly complete look at the development of the B-36, with the design dead-ends and ideas that looked better on paper than sheet metal. Convair developed the XC-99 with the idea that they could get an aircraft flying with the B-36 wing and work out a lot of the bugs in the controls, wings and engines (particularly engine cooling problems) before they had to start producing the more-demanding B-36. Additionally, this would give Convair a leg up in developing a post-war airliner. Unfortunately the War Department gave the XC-99 a lower priority for materials than the B-36, and the XC-99 program stalled until the war was over. The book continues with looks at the various production versions of the Peacemaker, the A, B, D, F, H and J, as well as the RB-36D, E, F, and H models. There is an entire chapter devoted to the B-60, the swept-wing, all-jet aircraft with a B-36 fuselage and modified wing. Yes, the wing WAS modified, it wasn’t a new design. The B-36 was a big airplane because the thermonuclear weapons of that period were big and heavy -- one "H-bomb" scaled in at 55,000 pounds! The U.S. Air Force certainly needed an aircraft that could carry a huge payload. The later models of the Peacemaker could handle 86,000 pounds. Can you imagine the noise, smoke, and just plain damage which could be done by 172 Mk 82s? The extreme conventional example was the T-12, a scaled up "Grand Slam" earth-penetrating conventional bomb for the B-36 which weighed in at 43,600 pounds. The B-36 could carry two of these weapons. Another weapon was the Tarzon, a "Tall Boy" with a guidance system. There are great pictures of this weapon, which would allow you to build your own, starting with a weapon stolen from a Lancaster kit.

The B-36 was also used to carry the GAM-63 Rascal (RAdar SCAnning Link) cruise missile. The missile was 31 feet long, 4 feet in diameter, and could deliver a 3-ton weapon over 100 miles at almost Mach 3. The problems with the Rascal were more that it came before its time than any problem with the actual concept. It was a solid-state missile in a world where transistors weren’t ready yet. With the drawings and photos in this book, it would be possible to scratch build my own -- an interesting concept that would be 5.66 inches long in 1/72.

The other equipment I discovered that makes me want to get out the cutters and sheet plastic is the GAM-71 Buck Duck. I knew about the ADM-20 Quail decoy for the B-52, but this thing just cries out to be put into plastic. It’s big, (length 13 feet, span 14 feet) it’s fairly simple, and it’s relatively unknown. In fact only four were built, and none flew powered, or from a B-36. The imminent retirement of the B-36 was the apparent reason for the demise of this decoy. The B-36 was also famous for parasites. Not fleas or leeches, but the XF-85 Goblin and the RF-84K. This book neither confirms nor denies the rumor that RF-84s from the 99th SRW filed flight plans for 48 hours with no intermediate stops. Nor does it weigh in on either side of the rumors that RF-84s overflew the Soviet Union. These rumors are just mentioned. One parasite idea which didn’t work was Project Tip-Toe, where a B-36 could carry a fighter attached to the wing tips, to be released when needed. The wingtip vortices were enough to make hook up hazardous, so the idea never really caught on. There’s a drawing in the book of THREE B-36s hooked up, wing to wing -- now there’s a diorama idea. While the B-36 could carry a huge load, range was another bugaboo for the Air Force. If the Peacemaker carried a fairly large bomb load, it couldn’t carry a full load of fuel. With a full load of fuel, the B-36 could remain airborne a long time. The YB-36A flew a training mission of 8036 miles at 223 mph. Doing the math, that’s 36 hours airborne. That’s one reason why the Air Force equipped the B-36Bs with crew bunks and galleys. But, to get more speed and range, the Peacemakers went "featherweight", losing all extra equipment to save weight -- the galleys and bunks were gone.

Has anyone heard of the tornado that hit Fort Worth on September 1, 1952? It’s not well known, but the damage done to the flight line at Carswell AFB would certainly have been of great interest to the Soviets. 25 B-36s were damaged, most so severely that they couldn’t possibly have flown missions for months. There’s an entire chapter on that storm and the damage done. There’s also a follow-up. One of the B-36s had the fuselage damaged so severely that it was really beyond economic repair. This aircraft was rebuilt as the NB-36H, which carried an experimental nuclear reactor. While there were ideas to actually use the reactor to power the aircraft, they were apparently never carried beyond the "thought experiment" stage. Overall Evaluation Highly Recommended. This book has a lot of information, coupled with excellent photos and illustrations. The price is very reasonable, costing less than any of the currently available B-36 kits, even the 1/144 offerings. If you need more convincing, there’s a six-page table with ALL of the B-36 serials, contract numbers, and final disposition, as well as another with a listing of the 32 Peacemakers written off in accidents. Many thanks to Marie Ray of Specialty Press and IPMS for the chance to be informed and entertained for the three days it took me to get through this book.

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