B-36 Peacemaker Museum facts for kids
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The B-36 Peacemaker Museum is a special group that works to save important aviation history in North Texas. It is a non-profit organization. This means they use any money they make to help their cause, not to make a profit for owners.
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Saving the B-36 Peacemaker Plane
The museum was first started to save and show off a very special airplane. This plane was the last Convair B-36 ever built. The B-36 was a huge bomber plane. It was called the "Peacemaker."
Only four of these amazing planes still exist today. A total of 386 B-36 planes were built between 1945 and 1954. The plane the museum wanted to save was B-36-J-III 52-2827. It was nicknamed City of Fort Worth.
The City of Fort Worth Plane's History
This specific B-36 was built in Fort Worth, Texas. It was finished in 1954. The United States Air Force received the plane on August 14, 1954. It was used for a few years. Then, it was retired on February 12, 1959.
After its retirement, the plane was put on display. It was shown at Amon Carter Field. This airport later became Greater Southwest International Airport. The plane stayed there from 1959 until the late 1970s.
Moving and Restoring the Plane
Later, the plane was moved to Carswell Air Force Base. But the weather in Texas is very hot and sunny. Being outside for so long made the giant plane start to wear out. It slowly got damaged by the sun and rain.
In the early 1990s, something important happened. The plane was taken apart very carefully. Then, it was moved indoors. It went into a large hangar at the factory where it was first built. This space was given by Lockheed Aircraft.
A group of amazing volunteers worked on the plane. Many of them were retired employees from Convair. Convair was the company that built the B-36 planes. These dedicated people spent 40,000 hours restoring the plane! That's a lot of hard work.
Moving the B-36 to Arizona
The B-36 plane is officially owned by the National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF). The B-36 Peacemaker Museum had borrowed the plane.
In 2006, everyone agreed that the Peacemaker Museum did not have enough resources. They needed more tools and space to fully restore and show the huge aircraft. So, a new plan was made.
The plane was carefully loaded onto trucks. It was then moved to the Pima Air & Space Museum (PASM). This museum is in Tucson, Arizona. The weather in Tucson is very dry. This means planes can be displayed outside without getting damaged like they would in Texas.
The B-36 was restored in Arizona. It is now on display there for everyone to see. The National Museum of the United States Air Force still owns the plane. Because of this, the B-36 Peacemaker Museum is still deciding what its main goal will be in the future.
