B-29 / B-36 Comparison Photograph


  • I’ve just come across this intriguing 1948 picture of a B-29 Superfortress sitting next to a B-36 Peacemaker:

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/B-36aarrivalcarswell1948.jpg

    I always think of the B-29 as a big plane – it was one of the largest aircraft operated during WWII – but compared to the B-36 it almost looks like a toy.  The design of the B-36 originated in early 1941, when the US was planning for the possibility that Britain might be occupied by the Nazis and that the US might need an intercontinental bomber capable of making round trips from North America to Germany and back.  The war in the Pacific revived US interest in developing an ultra-long-range bomber (this time as a means of bombing Japan from as far away as Hawaii), and the B-36 was placed on order in mid-1943.  The plane was unveiled just five days after Hirohito’s radio broadcast of Japan’s surrender, and it first flew one year and one day after the atom bombing of Nagasaki.


  • Nice Marc.
    I was unaware the B36 was that big and agree with you that the B29 is dwarfed by it.
    Thank you also for the history of the plane.


  • Wow!  :-o

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    HBG needs to make that a “Long Range Heavy Bomber” piece.

    Look how COOL it is, with the propellers inverted, and imagine how big that would be on the board lol…


  • @Gargantua:

    and imagine how big that would be on the board lol…

    To borrow a phrase from Peter Jackson’s special effects people: it wouldn’t be a miniature, it would be a “bigature”.


  • @Gargantua:

    HBG needs to make that a “Long Range Heavy Bomber” piece.

    And as a matter of fact…isn’t HBG producing an Amerika game that will include the Horten XVIII intercontinental bomber on the German side?  The B-36 project was essentially the U.S. counterpart of the German Amerika Bomber program, so some B-36 pieces for the US players might be a good counterpart to the German player’s Horten pieces.

  • Customizer

    @CWO:

    @Gargantua:

    HBG needs to make that a “Long Range Heavy Bomber” piece.

    And as a matter of fact…isn’t HBG producing an Amerika game that will include the Horten XVIII intercontinental bomber on the German side?  The B-36 project was essentially the U.S. counterpart of the German Amerika Bomber program, so some B-36 pieces for the US players might be a good counterpart to the German player’s Horten pieces.

    The B-36 will be in Amerika. HBG needs to give us a B-29 though. BTW this was a good post Marc!


  • @toblerone77:

    The B-36 will be in Amerika.

    Excellent news – thanks!

  • Customizer

    @CWO:

    @toblerone77:

    The B-36 will be in Amerika.

    Excellent news – thanks!

    Actually Amerika will have a Martin B-48…oops. Even a parts hound like me get’s it wrong sometimes LOL.

    I heard or read that the sculpts in Amerika will only be available in the boxed game. That could change I suppose if Coach decided to at some point.

    1002772_541146875921538_792921600_n.jpg


  • @toblerone77:

    Actually Amerika will have a Martin B-48…oops. Even a parts hound like me get’s it wrong sometimes LOL.

    Thanks for the picture of those new sculpts – very nice indeed.  The Horten bomber looks quite futuristic compared to the other planes, almost like one of the Martian fighting machine from the 1950s War of the Worlds movie.  The six-engine B-48 is pretty cool too.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    Marc… your last comment has got me thinking…

    What about a “Them” axis and allies mod?

    Or like an Axis and allies mod, where you take the typical global setup, and then add Aliens to the equation as a third party, coming from an untouchable mars of course!

    Would make a very interesting political element to the game too, if you allowed an independant communist victory as well…

    oooo :D


  • @Gargantua:

    Or like an Axis and allies mod, where you take the typical global setup, and then add Aliens to the equation as a third party, coming from an untouchable mars of course!

    I once read an article about a local wargaming convention at which the reporter saw a metal miniatures table where a battle was being fought between modern M1 Abrams tanks and the Victorian-era armoured Martian Fighting Machines from the War of the Worlds novel.  Sounded very cool.

  • Customizer

    @CWO:

    @Gargantua:

    Or like an Axis and allies mod, where you take the typical global setup, and then add Aliens to the equation as a third party, coming from an untouchable mars of course!

    I once read an article about a local wargaming convention at which the reporter saw a metal miniatures table where a battle was being fought between modern M1 Abrams tanks and the Victorian-era armoured Martian Fighting Machines from the War of the Worlds novel.  Sounded very cool.

    Marc, did you ever own any Table Tactics pieces?  :-D


  • @toblerone77:

    Marc, did you ever own any Table Tactics pieces?Â

    Yes, I own pieces from all the sets TT produced, including the little Abrams tanks they made.  Much better M1s (except for their size, which is a trifle big) were made for the old Supremacy game, and were later re-manufactured by another company as gaming supply items.  HBG sells them:

    http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Other-Modern-Pieces_c_133.html

    A funny additional story about the article on that gaming convention.  The reporter was taken around the convention floor by one of the organizers, who at one point showed him a WWII tactical game in progress at one of the tables.  The organizer explained that this was a battle on the Eastern Front between German and Russian forces, then commented “As you can see, the Germans are about to get flanked.”  According to the reporter, two of the players (“presumably Germans”) looked up in surprise.  The organizer lowered his voice and added “And I don’t think they’re expecting it.”

  • Customizer

    @CWO:

    @toblerone77:

    Marc, did you ever own any Table Tactics pieces?�Â

    Yes, I own pieces from all the sets TT produced, including the little Abrams tanks they made.  Much better M1s (except for their size, which is a trifle big) were made for the old Supremacy game, and were later re-manufactured by another company as gaming supply items.  HBG sells them:

    http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Other-Modern-Pieces_c_133.html

    A funny additional story about the article on that gaming convention.  The reporter was taken around the convention floor by one of the organizers, who at one point showed him a WWII tactical game in progress at one of the tables.  The organizer explained that this was a battle on the Eastern Front between German and Russian forces, then commented "As you can see, the Germans are about to get flanked."  According to the reporter, two of the players (“presumably Germans”) looked up in surprise.  The organizer lowered his voice and added “And I don’t think they’re expecting it.”

    I could never get the Central Powers pieces. Everything else was no problem unless you count “Cromwell ???” whatever it was called.

    TT was based out of Tulsa, OK coincedentally HBG is from Tulsa, OK. I’ve always wondered if Coach had anything to do with them.

    HBG Germany still has some old TT singles but the cost to ship plus the fact thier sold as singles rather than sets of runners makes me not want them as much.

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