XB-46

PHOTO RELEASE

CONVAIR
A DIVSION OF GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION
GENERAL OFFICES
SAN DIEGO 12,
CALIFORNIA
CYPRESS 6-6611, EXT. 1862

Consolidated Vultee's jet-propelled XB-46 is one of the world's fastest bombers. On a routine delivery flight from Muroc, Calif., to Wright Field, Ohio, immediately following its acceptance by the Air Force, the 1B-46 averaged 533 mph between Oklahoma City and Dayton.

It is powered by four J-35 jet propulsion engines with a total static thrust of 16,000 pounds. Two of these axial-flow jet units operate in each of the two low-slung nacelles mounted on the knife-thin wing.

This two-engine-per-nacelle arrangement, coupled with the extreme aerodynamic smoothness of the experimental plane, makes the four-jet bomber look like a twin-jet fighter.

The XB-46 is the first plane ever flown with a complete pneumatic system for actuating landing gear, bomb bay doors, and brakes. This hi^gh-pressure system fully retracts the landing gear in five seconds.

Although classified as a light bomber, the XB-46 carries a bomb load of over ten tons and has a service ceiling of 40,000 feet. It has a three-man crew--pilot, copilot, and bombardier.

The needle-shaped fuselage of the Convair bomber is 106 feet long, a scant seven feet less than the 113-foot wingspan. Height is 28 feet. Gross weight is 91,000 pounds.

XB-46 web links

http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/specs/convair/xb-46.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_XB-46

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=2658

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