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Piece Taker...Long hauling in a Convair.


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From NTSU Pago Pago to PHOG Maui, Hawaii...4000+ miles to range check a B-36 Convair found on the Avsim forums when I downloaded a Shuper new Marauder.

 

So this B-36 has a "Servicable" VC, but basic, albeit with a semi functional Engineer station to help fine tune the motors a bit.

 

I took several cargos in this from NTSU-Pago Pago. A load of Cigarattes to PCIS Canton Airfield in Kiribati, then up to Hawaii with some Blue Ray player commodities to PHLI Lihue, and then a final load of Chickens to PHOG...gotta love AirHauler cargos, what a mixed bag.

 

Loading and conducting preflight:

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A stately departure, good sounds too.

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Leaving Kiribati

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Cruise height for longest leg to Hawaii...32,000 feet.

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Dusk was golden

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But the night was Sparky...there was quite a bit of weather encountered well after dark:

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Things settled down by Hawaii and the Convair proved to be a competent ILS capturerand beam  crawler...it put itself right into position without fuss.

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Next Morning after a respite...back to it and heading to PHOG for the final leg.

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Something about a B-36 over Pearl feels right...Salute.

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Hawaii is a short walk for a B-36, in no time I am descending again to Maui.

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Just arrived, parking brake set, about to shut down and start unloading chickens at the gates...ground was confused I guess, or these are high class chickens.

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Cheers,
Coff.

Edited by Captain Coffee
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The B-36 was an amazing aircraft. Sadly, (like many of us I suspect,) I have never seen one in the metal as it were and doubt if I ever will.  Always a good aircraft to fly in the sim though, just so majestic and stable.

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2 hours ago, brett said:

Great shots all, especially the one over Pearl,:thum: thanks for the flight highlights and the views of this huge pusher. What was the load weight?

 

Thanks, yer welcome...and: I only needed aprox 40% fuel load to make the entire trip, which left a lot of room on top of the published 78-80k load for this plane...overhead I use in Airhauler when I can.

I haven't done the gallon math conversions yet, just worked from the Total % Remaining gauge...I had 30% on board for the first leg to Kiribati. I used 12% on the way, then loaded up another 16% for the 2000 mile leg to Hawaii...I landed in PHLI with 14% left, and didn't bother to refuel for the short hop to PHOG...which burned off another 4% due to me hauling ass for the short low level flight through the thicker air (I think that means I used a total of 40% of it's useful fuel load to cover about 4200 miles...ie...nowhere this plane cant reach with full tanks).

 

 I stuffed 140,000 lbs into its bomb bay for the first leg, plus a few crates in the unused crew stations. :D It's a big bird to fly solo, but I have long arms and can just reach the Engineer station from the pilot seat...heh.

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FYI...A nice tip to catch lightning I discovered on this flight: 8x speed and hold the V key down for a couple of seconds. In a very flashy storm you can catch multiple frames of the same "Bolt event".

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Never spotted this before because I rarely ever fly at "X speeds"...I real time all the time as a short hop day flyer 99% of the time...I'm at 1x speed to enjoy my scenery. So Normal Speeds unless over long ocean, or while on long (rare) night flights..doing both at the same time while a coinkydinky Sparker cropped up around me presented a rare op for me to 'catch' this trick.

 

Cheers.

 

 

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A rare bird indeed, and as Alan says, the chance of most of us seeing one up close and personal is slim.  According to Wiki, five remain, all in the US - the nearest to me in Dayton, Ohio at the USAF museum.  I've been there about three times, all long ago, but have no memory of having seen it.

 

There MAY be one other in existence, the one that was heavily modified to carry a 1 MW nuclear reactor, which was part of a program to investigate the feasibility of a nuclear powered aircraft.  The reactor was flown and taken critical in flight many times but did no more than heat the air passing through it.  It did not power the AC and was not intended to do so.  The program was cancelled under the JFK administration, partly because there was no practical way to ensure core integrity in a crash and partly because progress toward a practical nuclear powered aircraft up to that point did not look promising.

 

Rumors I have heard a number of times within the nuclear industry has it that the aircraft still exists somewhere within the US government's vast nuclear reservation in Idaho, which may or may not be true.  It may have been destroyed and disposed of as waste, or may still be gathering dust in a sealed building out there.  The story is that the reactor itself was removed long ago but the AC was heavily contaminated, or may contain some components that have been "activated" by neutron bombardment from the operating reactor.  Some elements (cobalt is one of the worst) when bombarded with neutrons, assume the form of a very energetic, long half-life isotope of the same element.  That was the basis of the neutron bomb.  I suspect that all that would be a walk in the park for the folks at the reservation in Idaho and that the thing has long since been disposed of, but the rumors never died.

 

John

 

EDIT:  I'm slow, but trainable.  I like the "Piece Taker" pun/name.  

 

JDA

 

 

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If I dig around I should be able to find photos of the one at the Pima County Air Museum in Tucson. I was there two years ago on my way back up North from an auto trip to Mexico. Quite an impressive aircraft.

 

Pics (not mine) of the "City of Fort Worth" here: http://www.airplanesofthepast.com/b36-pima-air-museum.htm

Edited by Quickmarch
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On 1/13/2018 at 17:27, allardjd said:

 

EDIT:  I'm slow, but trainable.  I like the "Piece Taker" pun/name.  

 

JDA

 

 

 

 

If there is a good play on words available I'll find it, if there isn't, I'll invent a bad one. :D 

Edited by Captain Coffee
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