Pima B-36 now on it's gear

[Mike]

A great set of photos of all the restoration work going on at Pima. They certainly seem to be busy at the moment.

It's nice to see some of the displayed airframes getting some remedial attention in addition to the ongoing longer-term restoration projects.

That Storch certainly looks nice in the Italian AF desert scheme.

[TAdan]

Wow they have been busy!

That -36 is a monster!

[Connery]

They are doing great work on "City of Ft. Worth", it's just sad that it couldn't have stayed here in Texas, or that the Air Force wouldn't let it fly again.

[K5DH]

The B-36 "City of Fort Worth" used to reside at a small airpark outside the south gates of the Lockheed-Martin plant (formerly Convair, where the B-36 was built) located adjacent to what used to be known as Carswell AFB (now known as -- take a deep breath -- Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth at Carswell Field). Vandals and the elements were not kind to her, and try as they might, the small group of volunteers who were caring for the airpark didn't have the resources to protect her. After the airpark was closed and the airplanes were dispersed, there was a fairly well organized effort that went on for several years trying to find a place here in the D/FW area for the B-36. Sadly, things just didn't pan out. However, the folks at Pima County Air Museum are first class all the way, and they'll give her a great home. It's heartwarming to see the quality of work that they're putting in on her!

I took these photos in the mid 1980s:




Does anyone know what became of the B-58 Hustler that was also on display at the same airpark? It was stored in a disassembled state in a hangar at Meacham Airport for a while, but it's no longer there.

Cheers!

Last edited by K5DH on Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[B-29 Super Fort]

Thanks for the update link. That is one large bomber.

[RickH]

The B-58 was loaned to Lone Star Flight Museum many, many, years ago. It is on display inside the #2 hangar. They also received the F-100 from the airpark. It is on a pole out front of the museum.

[PhantomAce08]

They are doing great work on "City of Ft. Worth", it's just sad that it couldn't have stayed here in Texas, or that the Air Force wouldn't let it fly again.

Was a group trying to restore it to flight condition? Why did the Air Force say no? Too big (no pun intended) of a liability?

[bdk]

The Pima Air Museum's B-36 is now standing on her own three legs for the first time in many years!

I can't believe they have so many projects going at once!

[chico]

Was a group trying to restore it to flight condition? Why did the Air Force say no? Too big (no pun intended) of a liability?

Go stare at a triple-wasp engine for about five minutes, then all things will become clear to you. Those things look like a royal pain to have to do any sort of maintenance on.

Now i know why they never saw combat. The ground crews had a hard enough time working on those birds when they weren't all shot full of holes!

[Ztex]

This airplane was sitting at Amon Carter Airport for many years and in the 1970's a gorup of volunteers actually had her running in preperation for a ferry flight to Carswell when the Airforce put a stop to it....

It is a sad thing that this community of millions could not get together to keep her here.

[drgondog]

The B-36 was actually fully restored and ready (or close) to fly and the team finally asked permission to fly her. It was at Great SW Airport on the Tarrant County line just south of runway 18 for the new -under construction DFW Airport.

I heard that the State Dept was the one that put the nix on restoring to full flight as it was still classified as a Strategic weapon..

They then had to dismantle it and cart it off.. then not too long after that American Airlines bought Great SW and converted the airport to AA HQ

[Pat Carry]

How could anyone afford to get it back into the air? What would the per hour costs be?

[drgondog]

there wuz talk about donating to CAF

[PhantomAce08]

there wuz talk about donating to CAF

How about this? As if Gary isn't doing enough already!

[Chris]

It would take all year just to do an annual. can you imagine cleaning 336 plugs- if you can even get to them? I wonder what the Air Force records show