A Convair B-36 with Jet Engines

On this day in 1952, piloted by Chief Test Pilot Beryl A. Erickson, and Arthur S. Witchell, the prototype Convair YB-60 made its first takeoff at Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas. As a proposed competitor to Boeing’s XB-52 Stratofortress, the YB-60 was developed from a B-36F fuselage by adding swept wings and tail surfaces and powered by eight turbojet engines. Its bomb load was expected to be nearly double that of the B-52 and it would have been much cheaper to produce since it was based on an existing operational bomber.

“The YB-60 rode like a Cadillac with no noise like a B-36—no prop noise or vibration,” Witchell stated and Erickson concurred, “This is the Queen Mary coming in gracefully.” The plane was as big as the B-36, though the angled wings shortened the overall width twenty-four feet. Erickson said, “Most any B-36 pilot would feel right at home.” And that was the problem. Much of the YB-60 was still a B-36, not the innovation of Boeing's game-changer. It was markedly slower than the B-52, due to the YB-60's inferior aerodynamics.

Note: Two prototypes were built but only the YB-60 ever flew. The USAF favored the B-52 and Convair's "updated B-36" was canceled with both planes being scrapped. In the above photo, the B-36 is in the background at Edwards AFB, California.