PEACEMAKER

A ground-level view of the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built, the Convair Peacemaker. The type first flew in 1946 and boasts an enormous 230-foot wingspan and a pusher configuration of six Pratt & Whitney R4360 radial engines along with four General Electric J47 turbojets. This impressive configuration spawned the slogan of "six turning, four burning." With its sizeable wing, the B-36 was able to fly at high altitudes and vast distances without refueling, but with the jet-powered Boeing B-52 entering service in 1955, the B-36 was quickly rendered obselete and was withdrawn from service in February 1959. This particular airframe, "The City of Fort Worth," was the last B-36 built and the last B-36 retired when it departed Biggs Air Force Base for Fort Worth, Texas - home of Convair. It was then put on display and remained in Fort Worth until it was disassembled and trucked to the Pima Air & Space Museum in the mid-2000s. "The City of Fort Worth" has since been restored to its former Strategic Air Command glory and is one of only four surviving Peacemakers.