My late Dad was a Tech Seargent Air Policeman at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyo. in the late 1950s. It was a SAC base.

I bet he definitely got a kick out of this !

Wow! My dad was also stationed at Minot AFB around the same time and worked on the b-36. Ask your father if he knew an airman "Gene Johnson" stocky guy with black pointed glasses.

@@danjohnson887 Sadly, my Pop passed Dec 1st. He lived his very best life for 94 years, and had more adventures and shenanigans than the rest of the family combined.

@@daveradke1656 My highest respect for your father. May his soul rest in peace. It's not goodbye, it's See ya later.

"Jimmy Stewart Bomber Pilot" is well worth a read. He retired as a general.

Thanks, I'll look for the book. I'm a big military history and biographical nerd.

Another General Stewart book is Mission. It goes into more detail.

Jimmy Stewart was a bomber pilot in WWII. He was very influential in getting the Air Force created. He retired from the Air Force as a General.

@@mase7557 right before general, Stewart retired because he had maxed out age wise He flew a mission over south Vietnam in a B52 out of Andersen Air Force Base later on President Reagan made him a major general

Yes, fantastic photography in that film.

It was known the oscillation tone of the propellers was felt into the ground when you could not see them, it's internal bombbay also carried more payload than a b52 .

Yes. In the 1950s north Los Angeles area, the house would rumble long before we finally picked out a little silver dot high in the sky.

Jimmy Stuart didn't have to portray an Air Force pilot, he was one, he retired from the Air Force Reserve as a General officer. He had flown bombing missions over Germany during WWII. It was one of the reasons that the film stands up so well today as an excellent depiction of SAC during the Cold War.

That scene where they are cramming all sorts of stuff into cargo planes is for some reason my favorite.

@@johncox6321 Funny story, Jimmy and Bob Hope were entertaining the troops and Hope was doing his routine with Stewart doing nothing. Finally Hope asked if we was going to do any thing, Stewart replied "Well, you see I am a Colonel, and these guys can tell you that Colonel do have to do anything." and the soldiers roared in laughter.

Yes, some superb photography in that film.

A second movie "high Frontiers" featuring the 36 was never materialised , it does cameos in John wayne's jet pilot and holdens toward the unknown

I saw it the year of release at Furstenfeldbruck AFB [in Germany, near Munich] base theatre, with my father an Air Force officer. I think he was as enthralled as my nine year old self was. Later in life, I had a fairly intense argument with a friend over June Allyson's role. He thought she was too controlling; but I, remembering my father's frequent and long absences on missions and what it did to my mother, coping with two rambunctious sub-teen boys and a toddler, I could understand.

My grandfather flew on that particular airframe as a navigator when he was a junior lieutenant. Can't imagine the spectacle of seeing one fly overhead, much less a full squadron!

I've spent multiple Days in the USAF Museum & have lost count of the amount of photos I've taken.

I remember when my father showed me that DVD when I was six years old. It became my favorite big plane. It still is.

Oh they have a Wasp Major? The only cutaway I know of there is a J79

Average mission was 24 hours

Thank you for your service, and yes, definitely a unique mission and airplane - built at Douglas Long Beach where I worked in the 1970s and '80s.

The people on Guam knew about them. They were the alarm clocks for many people as they returned from night time patrols at 0600. Well the sounds of them did if not the actual airplanes. Like the Russian Bear bombers, sounds got there before the planes did.

You truly witnessed a rare moment in aviation history!

@@celebratingaviationwithmik9782 I now volunteer at the NMUSAF in Dayton. Any time I want to get my B-36 fix I just walk from Hangar 2, Korea/Southeast Asia where I normally serve, to Hangar 3, Cold War.

The B-47 was a real killer, with many more lost that in the B-36, about 100 in B-36 and +400 in B-47’s.

Not as impressive as the B36. But I can remember when I was 4 (1966) looking up and seeing a C119 over Dayton, Ohio.

I've seen her a few times here in Nebraska at both the Offutt, and Lincoln Air Shows.

I visited the CAF in Harlengen many years ago. They had just gotten a B 24 from India which was not in flying status at the time.

Said aircraft is now owned by the CAF, and is named Diamond Lil, and currently flying as the only example of the B-24A.

Thanks for the comment, and Convair folks were the best!

Appreciate your comment Aram, and yes you're absolutely correct. The mid-fuselage of the B-36 was unpressurized, but the tunnel obviously had to be. Thanks for watching!

@@celebratingaviationwithmik9782 you are a good man Mr Machat!

My mother's first husband lost her husband in the crash in Newfoundland on March 17, 1953, which killed all 21 aboard, including General Ellsworth. President Einsenhower spent the whole weekend after the crash at the base for Gen. Ellsworth's funeral, naming the base in his honor. All the generals in the military (and maybe admirals too) were there that weekend.

Agreed!

Same. Eighteen seconds of glorious sight and sound.

I agree, and I've seen both examples, too.

Castle AFB Museum in Atwater CA has one now, too. She was still in pieces when I last visited in the mid-90s, but still imposing in sheer size.

Believe the one at Pima used to be at Fort Worth’s Meacham Field.

I was a electrical gunner on the 36. Flew out of BIGGS in El Paso .assigned from 53 to 56. Saw a lot of the world but it was at 25 to 30 k ft. I'm now 91 so we survivors are few and far between. What a privilege and honor this assignment was.

Most people don't remember that Jimmy Stewart was an Air Force Reserve officer, qualified as a command pilot in the B-17, B-24, B-29, B-47, B-50, B-36, and B-52, and retired as a brigadier general. In STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND, it must have seemed strange to him to be "acting" as a B-47 pilot, when he was actually fully qualified to fly it! In addition, he flew many combat missions in Europe in the B-24 during WW II.

@@stevedittrich4411 Thank you for telling me about his service to his country. I had no idea he was qualified to fly so many aircraft. In the SAC movie, his character piloted the B36 and a B47, so he could really fly those planes…. Cool! I saw a video recently on the B58 Hustler and during the video it showed a very happy Jimmy Stewart in the front cockpit. He was a very interesting man who lived an extraordinary life.

B-47 didn't have the range or payload capacity to make it obsolete. That was only done when the B-52s came online.

bruh your dad worked for the fucking cia and went to area 51 mad props

@@theq4602 Charming way to talk about someone's father who was serving his country

The b29 next to the b36 is mind boggling

I spent the $140 to get a 1980's unopened model kit of the B-36. I did a terrible job on it as a kid and now it's time to redeem myself. Model kit tools and paints have come quite a long way in 40 years.

Wonderful to know that, thanks, and so glad you liked the movies!

@@celebratingaviationwithmik9782 Thank you sir! I was born in 1979...but everyone keeps telling me that I should have been born in the 20s 😂! I do love planes and many other things from the 40s, 50s and 60s...truly the aviation golden age, in my humble opinion! I love your videos, I have even seen you, here and there, in more than one interview. Very nice career!

Darn! Would love to see original drawings.

Sad that many people have never even heard a radial engine running. I however am not one of them. I've flown in a Boeing Stratocruiser. And a number of other propeller driven aircraft. And was woke up as an infant on Guam by B-36s.

That's because only a small number of bases had runways thick enough to withstand the weight of that large 110 inch main wheel, so that's why they switched to the smaller four wheel trucks with each wheel only being 56 inches in diameter, which allows the weight to spread across four wheels on each truck, which also allows the bomber to operate from a greater number of fields now.

I didn't know that there was one in Omaha, I will have to go check it out.

@@garymckee8857 Its at the SAC Museum

@@viksaini Thanks 😊

the Museum of the USAF in Dayton has one of those original main gear on display next to their B-36. That tire is huge! A shot of it... live.staticflickr.com/7457/13768308415_264756cc40_b_d.jpg

Also a forward faceing turboprop engine version was on the drawing board , the first b36's also leaked to much fuel and oil and new seal tanks were fitted.

Good catch, thanks, and that date is being corrected in edit.

The XC-99 fact is correct. I saw it at AMARG through the fence. It’s all chopped up and rusting out and it really is an emotional sight. I believe the NMUSAF wants to restore it for display but it’ll be expensive. They decided to put it in AMARG in 2009 I believe and it’s rested there ever since.

Actually, the XC-99 is in storage at the National Museum of the USAF, not the Boneyard.

Great story, thanks!

​@@celebratingaviationwithmik9782 Glad you liked it Mike. I also remember the "Flying Boxcars" and the B-58 Hustlers. I often saw the Boxcars overhead during and after the Korean War flying to and from Scott AFB 40 miles away. My Dad and I would see three or four of them flying by when we would be in the garden many times when I was little. I remember an incident with those Hustlers too. I was in 4th grade in a small parochial school near St. Louis when there was a scheduled practice bombing of St. Louis by the newly activated planes. Though the public was informed about it, no one was ready for the many sonic booms that were caused by those powerful jets. My teacher was a nun who every time she heard a plane made us say a prayer for the safety of the pilots and passenger. We would all stand and say a short prayer and then resume whatever we were doing. We did this almost every time we heard a distant sonic boom over the next day or two, until one seemed to have burst right over our heads causing everyone including the nun to jump out of our seats. She gathered her wits and shouted "Sit Down!" No prayers for HIM! But my best memory of those days was when my Uncle Jim took me to Scott AFB supposedly to get me a gift for my 5th birthday at the PX. Instead he took me to the hangar where a sergeant he knew took me up the scaffold to a Saberjet that had been reassigned to the National Guard. He put me in the cockpit after threatening to have me shot if I touched anything, put a helmet on me a size big enough for me to swim in. I still remember looking at the stick and realizing that the button on top was the trigger for those six machine guns in the nose. I remember the helmet too. It was all white with an insignia of a blue circle that contained a red circle flanked by a pair of wings. That happened 68 years ago.

Yes that was a great movie and that B-36 was HUGE.

Great story, thanks!

Appreciate the comment and thanks for watching!

Really appreciate the comment, many thanks!

Wonderful comment and story, thanks!

Funny that a number of those aircraft are ones I have flown in. First airplane flight was in a MATS C-54. Which in our typical fashion, had engine problems when we landed on Kwajalein. And took two weeks to get another engine.

I was an electrical gunner, in 53 after training at Lowrey on 29s. Flew until march of 56 out of Biggs AFB, 95th Bomb wing.. trips to the Azores, Guam on TDY was icing on the cake to a 21 yr old. Couple of yrs later I had a chance to VISIT KI Sawyer in Marquette Mi. and see the B 52s. Was a guest having dinner on base the night night a 52 crashed during landing in the middle 70s.. many memories.

Gday, Yes, you and your Veteran are correct. EVERY actual TEXTBOOK ever published, which speaks of the B-36, mentions that the Tunnel between the Nose and Rear Fuselage was indeed PRESSURISED... But, clearly, this young Shavetail has yet to discover actually Authoritative Sources - instead he looks online, skims across a broad but shallow puddle of commentary, and then he takes a guess at what he thinks might be right. Apparently. The illustration he displayed, depicting a Crewmember in Shirtsleeves, without any Helmet, Goggles, Oxygen Mask, Heated Clothing, or Gloves... Blind Freddy could see that if the Tunnel was unpressurised at 50,000 ft then the illustrated Crewmember would be a dead Icicle. Just(ifiably ?) sayin', Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

I saw a non-flying one parked there about 12 (?) years ago. I had never seen or heard of one before. It was pretty awe-inspiring.

Agreed!