The largest piston-powered airplane ever mass-produced, the Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" was also the world's first thermonuclear bomber. The prototype B-36 flew in 1946, and was quickly upgraded as the need for a bomber with a large lifting capacity became paramount.
Yet, when it entered active service in 1949, the "aluminum overcast" was already considered obsolete. Nevertheless, nearly 400 B-36s were built and flew as strategic deterrents before the B-36 was retired in 1959.
Originally printed by the U.S. Air Force, this Flight Operating Handbook is an authentic reprint of an original. Classified "Restricted", the manual was declassified and is here reprinted in book form.
490 pages, 8x10", softbound, b&w with full color covers.