Convair B-36 Peacemaker
strategic bomber
The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" was a piston-engined, strategic bomber built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command from 1948 to 1959. With 384 units built, the B-36 remains the largest mass-produced, piston-engined aircraft and has the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft. The B-36 was capable of intercontinental flight without refueling.
The B-36 was powered by six Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial piston engines. The B-36D through J variants were further fitted with four General Electric J47 turbojet engines, totaling 10, the most engines of any mass-produced aircraft. The B-36 was the primary nuclear weapons delivery vehicle of the United States. It was the only bomber assigned the largest of the cumbersome first generation of US thermonuclear gravity bombs, the Mark 14 (5 to 7 megatons), Mark 17, and Mark 24 (15 to 20 megatons). It was also assigned the fission-based Mark 6 and Mark 18 and the conventional T-12 Cloudmaker earthquake bomb.
The B-36 was never flown in combat. The bomber was conceived for transatlantic raids against German-occupied Europe in the contingency that United States Army Air Forces lost access to British airbases, but the war ended before its first flight in 1946.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Convair B-36 Peacemaker” as strategic bomber. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as strategic bomber. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q332657. The Library of Congress control number is sh85010701. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948, 1959 and 1946.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Convair B-36 Peacemaker”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Convair B-36 Peacemaker primary sources, Convair B-36 Peacemaker archive and Convair research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Convair B-36 Peacemaker”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Convair B-36 Peacemaker” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.