Convair B-36 Peacemaker 1949-59: America's Cold War 'big stick' ten-engine nuclear bomber that could rain destruction on aggressors anywhere on Earth (Owners' Workshop Manual)

I’ve always been interested in this incredible aircraft and having had good experiences with other books in this series I ordered this oneThe writers style is engaging and well thought out with one aggravating exception for me, his use of ‘mls’ as an abbreviation for milesNot sure why he thought this was a good idea, since it only saves two letters I don’t quite see the point, furthermore ‘mls’ is an abbreviation for milliliters a unit of measurement for liquids !The universal standard for distance and speed in aviation is the nautical mile and knotsStill an outstanding book however

Another Excellent Haynes Owners' Workshop Manual series book! The interesting thing about this book is it was written by a Brit, who gave it an interesting perspective. David Baker does an excellent job giving the reader the entire history of the B-36, describing the different variants and till has enough room to give some personal perspectives from the men who flew and flew in the B-36. David you should be extremely proud of the book you wrote, well done! I have books twice as thick on the B-36 but did not enjoy them as much as I did this one. Please Haynes, keep up publishing you excellent military series of books. This book is well worth adding to any library.

Dr. Baker knows EVERYTHING (well, next to it: he's a finite creature) about certain things, of which the B-36 is one. This distills his knowledge nicely in the usual Haynes manual format, pics, etc, normal Amazon service. As a kid growing up in TX when these were operational, this was a great read, nostalgic for me, great info for anyone who's interested. These "manuals" vary a lot in quality; this one's a winner.

Dr Baker is knowledgeable in this subject area, the text gives a good concise history of the B-36 program, the context that gave rise to the specification, the development and operational service. There are also some useful detail photos of a machine that due to SAC security regulations was perhaps photographed less than it might have been. There are some interesting diagrams from the Convair manual covering crew positions and escape routes. From a modeller’s point-of-view, there are some very useful photos of the armaments.The weakness lies in the photo captions as an earlier reviewer noted. I don’t know who at Haynes reviewed the galley proofs, but it must have been one of the car experts, because they obviously knew nothing about US bombing aircraft.Example: Pg 25: Waist gun positions on the later B-17Gs we’re staggered to give the gunners more room to move, not removed.Pg 85: The B-52 is said to use the same J-47 engine as the B-36 & B-47, whereas the B-52 was practical because of the greater efficiency of the J-57 second generation jet engine.Pg 121-126: The fighter component of the FICON project is labelled as a F-84F (the swept-wing fighter-bomber), rather than a variant of the photo-reconnaissance version(RF-84F), the RF-84K, distinguished by the downward tilted horizontal stabilisers (to keep them clear of the B-36 fuselage.Pg 148: The jet pods used to boost the B-36 are correctly identified as the same design as those used on the B-47, but misidentified as the outboard pod which was a single engine rather than the paired engine of the inboard pod. The main change was the deletion of the outrigger strut/wheel that the B-36 didn’t need.Pg 185: The B-36 carrying the (4th) B-58 fuselage to Wright Field for statis testing is mislabelled as part of the GEBO parasite bomber paper study that eventually led to the B-58 program.It makes it hard to rate this book, given that it is now a relatively forgotten aircraft, of interest mainly to plane geeks, or modellers, people who already know a lot of this stuff, who will be annoyed rather than mislead by caption mistakes. More casual readers are less likely to be interested in the subject.So, 4 stars for text and research, 1 star for proofreading by the publisher

These are great books, loads of details. They all suffer from having the world’s worst bindings. Guaranteed within ten readings, pages come loose. Other than that, fantastic.

This comprehensive 220-page book by David Baker is absolutely superb and an essential part of the library of anyone interested in post WWII military aviation history and politics. The illustrations, color, B&W, and diagrams are great. It is very interesting to read about this unique aircraft and its role in nuclear deterrence.

Pretty General Information On The B-36. Good Pictures and fairly good technical information. Nice addition to any aviation library.

I finally received the Haynes "Convair B-36 Owner's Workshop Manual" by David Baker, and at 220 pages it's probably the largest of the series (and appropriately so). While I haven't started reading it yet, so this is not a complete review, the first quick pass through has revealed several glaring errors with the photo captions. Here are just a few:Page 25, caption states the B-17 waist gunners position were removed on the G model. Wrong! Also the photo is a B-24D.Page 50, caption states "The YRB-49 was powered by eight Allison J-35-A-15 turbojets". Incorrect, and the photo is clearly a YB-49.Page 85, caption states, "The Boeing XB-52 parked in front of a B-36, both types, together with the B-47, now adopting the J-47 jet engine". The XB-52 began life with the J-57 engines, I seriously doubt it could even taxi with J-47's.Page 208, caption states the Strategic Air and Space Museum is in "Ashland, New England". Ah, I know the Museum moved, but I didn't think it moved that far.When an author can't even get the photo captions right, I have serious worries about the accuracy of his writing. I guess proof reading is a lost art. Perhaps a cover to cover reading will improve my rating, but right now I'm pretty disappointed.

Ótima fonte de informações para quem se interessa por aviação de combate e aqueles que querem enriquecer a experiência em simuladores de voo. Excelente impressão e acabamento. Recomendo!!!

American excess!

I waited longer than normal for this book but it was worth it I have very many of the Haynes manuals they’re excellent! If you’ve never seen one take The time to see it it’s worth it

Typical of a lot of David Baker's work, this can be heavy read. A propensity to use lots of words is reflected in the longer than typical length of the book. These extra words don't often add up to extra information. Time and time again, his Haynes work needs tighter editing.The book spends a lot of time of the development and operation of the type. There is a degree of repetition which (again) reflects the style of writing - and suggests that the book was written in disparate stages. Not until page 136 does the book start to focus on the anatomy.Present in his other books, is the often poor sychronisation of pictures with the text. Many pictures are one or two pages too early or late. That said, the pictures are really good.This book really is a 3 star, but I give it a bonus star for existing at all. For such a niche aircraft, it is great to see that the author and Haynes developed it in the first place.

Yet another very good book from Haynes. Tons of photos, lots of detail.