Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion
Videos
The Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program and the preceding Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft project worked to develop a nuclear propulsion system for aircraft. The United States Army Air F
HTRE-2, left, and HTRE-3, right, on display at the Experimental Breeder Reactor I facility
Aircraft Reactor Experiment building at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The NB-36H in a test flight, shadowed by a Boeing B-50 Superfortress
HTRE-3.
Convair B-36 Peacemaker
Videos
The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" was a piston-engined, strategic bomber built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command from 1948 to 1959. With 384 units built, the B
Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion
…power for 221 hours up to a peak of 2.5 MWth. On September 5, 1951, the USAF awarded Convair a contract to fly a nuclear reactor on board a modified Convair B-36 Peacemaker under the MX-1589 project of the ANP program. The NB-36H Nuclear Test Aircraft (NTA) was to study shielding requirements for an airborne reactor, to…
Beginning with the B-36D (B-36J shown), the Peacemaker used six radial piston engines and four jet engines
The prototype XB-36
The XB-36 (right) alongside a Boeing B-29 Superfortress
A B-36 airframe undergoing structural stability tests: The three men in the balcony at the right of the photograph provide scale.