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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists Modern Era Aircraft More Aircraft Initials P - Z  Peacemaker |
[UP] - Panther - Paradak - PBM - Peacemaker - Phantom (RAF) - Sabre - Saro SR45 Princess - Saro SR53 - Saro SRA1 - Sea Fury - Sea Harrier - Sea Vixen - Sentry - Shackleton - Skyhawk - Skyraider - Space Shuttle - Spearfish - Starfighter - Stratofortress - Strikemaster - SU27 - Swift - T-Bird - Tomcat (F-14) - Tristar - Twin Pioneer - Typhoon Eurofighter - U2 - Valiant - Valkyrie - Vampire - VC10 - Venom - Victor - Vigilante - Viper - Wyvern - X-15 |
| Peacemaker Aviation Prints |
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| Text for the above items : |
The Peacekeeper by Stan Stokes. The USAAC became interested in intercontinental bombing in 1941 due to the threat of England falling to the Nazis. The Army Air Corps issued a request for proposals requesting an aircraft with a range of 12,000 miles at an altitude of 25,000 feet and a top speed of 450-MPH. Later these specifications were downgraded, but the Air Corps still wanted an aircraft capable of carrying a 10,000 bomb load for a 4,000 mile combat radius. Boeing, Consolidated and Douglas submitted proposals. Consolidated Aircraft won the initial award for the development of two prototypes, and work on this project began in San Diego, but was later shifted to Ft. Worth, Texas. In mid-1943, with the Boeing B-29 project facing development problems, General Hap Arnold ordered into production 100 B-36s, with deliveries expected to commence in 1946. When the war ended in 1945 many military programs were cut severely, but Cold War concerns kept the B-36 program alive. In August of 1946 the first B-36 (Peacemaker) took to the air. It was the largest combat aircraft ever flown up to that point in time; with a wingspan of 230 feet, a length of 167 feet, and a height of nearly 47 feet. A year of intensive flight-testing was undertaken leading to a number of important modifications to the production aircraft. The addition of jet engines to supplement the Peacemakers piston engines took place in 1949. B-36s were produced in both bombing and reconnaissance versions. The former were typically manned by a crew of fifteen and the latter were manned with a crew of twenty-two. One interesting experiment with the B-36 in 1955-57 was the fighter/conveyor program. The concept was to marry a fighter aircraft to the B-36, giving it additional protection and potentially greater reconnaissance capabilities. Another oddity was the modification of one B-36 to carry an onboard nuclear reactor to test the feasibility of developing nuclear powered aircraft. The final variant of the Peacemaker was the J model. It entered service in 1953, and the final aircraft was delivered to the Air Force in 1954. By this time B-52 production was underway, and the operational life of the B-36 was numbered. The B-36s were operational with the Strategic Air Command from November 1948 until February 1959. Very few B-36s carried any interesting markings, as they were generally all aluminum hence earning one of their nicknames, the aluminum cloud. During this period in history they represented the backbone of Americas nuclear deterrent force. More than 400 of these huge aircraft were produced, and they served their country well. In Stan Stokes painting entitled Peacekeeper, a B-36 aluminum cloud flys over the Grand Canyon. |
| Peacemaker Pilot and aircrew signature details |
Master Sergeant Dale Moon Our estimated value of this signature : £40 | Master Sergeant Dale Moon Flying B17s with the 381st Bomb Group, Dale Moon was based at Ridgewell with the 533rd Bomb Squadron. Dale undertook his first combat mission in April 1944 during the build up to D-Day, and went on 4 big raids to Berlin during his tour - surviving two crash landings following heavy action. After the war Dale saw service in Korea, and flew the B29 and B36 Peacemaker - the largest American bomber ever produced. A Clipped Signature is Available |
Wing Commander Ken Wallis Our estimated value of this signature : £50 Died : 2013 | Wing Commander Ken Wallis Kenneth Horatio Wallis was born on April 26 1916 at Ely, Cambridgeshire, where his father ran a cycle and motorcycle shop, and was educated at The Kings School. Kenneth had limited vision in his right eye and as a child wore an eye patch and in 1936 this defect led to his rejection by the RAF. Undeterred, he paid £14 to obtain a private flying licence which required only a certificate signed by his GP, obtaining the licence after just 12 hours flying a Gypsy Moth. Having failed another test for the RAF in 1938, when he tried again after the outbreak of war Wallis decided to cheat. While the doctors back was turned, he sneaked a look with his good eye at the bottom line of letters on the test chart and passed. After flying Westland Lysander patrols with No 268 Squadron, in 1941 Wallis transferred to Bomber Command, flying Wellingtons with No 103 Squadron, based at RAF Elsham Wolds in north Lincolnshire, attacking heavily defended targets in the Ruhr. Though he survived 28 missions over cities in Germany he gained something of a reputation for being accident prone, earning the nickname Crasher. Returning from Frankfurt in September 1941, Wallis found his airfield blanketed by fog. He made a number of abortive attempts to land but, with his fuel tanks almost dry, he climbed to allow his crew to bail out. After they had done so, his parachute snagged on his seat - he finally got clear at very low level, and his parachute opened only seconds before he hit the ground. After a tour as a bombing instructor, Wallis left for Italy and flew bombing operations with No 37 Squadron. Having survived another crash when his aircraft was struck by lightning, he applied to fly Mosquito bombers at night - a mistake, as it meant that his night vision was tested. All hell let loose - You have been flying with a bomber crew and you cant see properly! he recalled being told. But the RAF ophthalmologist was more positive. He said, Wallis, I would rather have a man with a bit of fire in his belly who wants to fly than some of the perfect specimens I get here who do not. Wallis remained in the post-war RAF and specialised as an armament officer, among other things solving the problems of loading bombs efficiently on to the RAFs first jet bomber, the Canberra, and testing the Mach 2 – later known as the Lightning. During a two-year posting to the USAFs Strategic Air Command armament and electronics division in the 1950s, he flew B-36s laden with nuclear bombs over the North Pole and participated in powerboat races in vessels that he made from redundant parts, winning the 56-mile Missouri Marathon. He also set about building his first autogyro. He returned to Britain to be the Command Armament Officer at Fighter Command. Wallis demonstrated his autogyros at numerous RAF air shows before leaving the RAF in 1964 in the rank of wing commander. He moved to Norfolk, hoping that he would be able to put them into commercial production for reconnaissance, research and development, surveillance and military purposes. But it never happened. Instead, during the 1970s, he worked with a company that pioneered a type of multi-spectral aerial photography that could detect where bodies were buried, as a result of which he was called in to help in several high-profile missing-person searches. He also flew an autogyro at 18,976ft without oxygen; became the oldest pilot to set a world record when, aged 81, he accidentally achieved the fastest climb to 3,000ft, in seven minutes 20 seconds; and he set a world speed record for an autogyro of 129.1mph at the age of 89. kenneth Wallis never found a commercial manufacturer for his autogyros, although he was delighted when the James Bond film producer Cubby Broccoli recognised its dramatic potential: Wallis and his autogyro, Little Nellie, were duly dispatched to the set of You Only Live Twice, where Wallis stood in for Sean Connery in a famous sequence in which Bond, in a rocket-firing autogyro, fights baddies in orthodox helicopters, zipping around an active volcano - Wallis received many national and international awards, was appointed MBE in 1996. Wing Commander Kenneth Wallis, born April 26 1916, died September 1 2013. |
| Peacemaker Squadron details |
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