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Subject: Consolidated B-32 Dominator
Date: 14 Jan 2018 04:05:48 -0800
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_B-32_Dominator
The Consolidated B-32 Dominator (Consolidated Model 34) was an American heavy
strategic bomber built for United States Army Air Forces during World War II,
which had the distinction of being the last Allied aircraft to be engaged in
combat during World War II. It was developed by Consolidated Aircraft in
parallel with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as a fallback design should the B-29
prove unsuccessful. The B-32 only reached units in the Pacific during mid-1945,
and subsequently only saw limited combat operations against Japanese targets
before the end of the war. Most of the extant orders of the B-32 were canceled
shortly thereafter and only 118 B-32 airframes of all types were built.
The Model 33 on which Consolidated based its proposal was similar to the B-24
Liberator. Like the B-24 it was originally designed with a twin tail and a large
Davis wing, but with a longer, rounder fuselage and a rounded nose. The
powerplants were to be the same quartet of eighteen-cylinder, 2,200 horsepower
(1,600 kW) Wright Duplex-Cyclones, as specified for B-29s. The aircraft was
designed to be pressurized, and have remote-controlled retractable gun turrets
with fourteen .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns. It was to have an estimated gross
weight of 101,000 lb (46,000 kg). The first contract for two XB-32s was signed
on 6 September 1940, the same day as the contract for the Boeing prototype
XB-29.
The pressurization system problems were never solved, and consequently the role
of the aircraft was changed to operating at low to medium altitude.This decision
meant that the pressurization system was easily eliminated from production
aircraft. Problems with the remote-controlled gun turrets were never solved and
the armament on production aircraft was changed to 10 .50 caliber machine guns
in manually operated turrets: Sperry A-17 turrets in the nose and tail, two
Martin A-3F-A dorsal turrets, and one Sperry A-13-A ball turret. The bomb load
was increased by 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) to 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg).
The second XB-32 continued to have stability problems. In an attempt to resolve
this a B-29 style tail was fitted to the aircraft after its 25th flight but this
did not resolve the problem and a Consolidated-designed 19.5 ft (5.9 m) vertical
tail was added and first flown on the third XB-32, s/n 41-18336 on 3 November
1943. The first production aircraft was fitted with a B-29 vertical tail until a
new tail was substituted.
By 1944 testing of the three prototypes permitted the AAF to place orders for
over 1,500 B-32s. The first production aircraft was delivered on 19 September
1944, by which time the B-29 was in combat in China. The first B-32 crashed on
the same day it was delivered when the nose wheel collapsed on landing.
Beginning on 27 January 1945, 40 B-32A-5, -10 and -15 aircraft were delivered as
unarmed TB-32-CF crew trainers.
Originally, the Army Air Forces intended the B-32 as a "fallback" design to be
used only if the B-29 program fell significantly behind in its development
schedule. As development of the B-32 became seriously delayed this plan became
unnecessary due to the success of the B-29. Initial plans to use the B-32 to
supplement the B-29 in re-equipping B-17 and B-24 groups before redeployment of
the Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces to the Pacific were stymied when only five
production models had been delivered by the end of 1944, by which time B-29
operations were underway in the Twentieth Air Force.
Role
Heavy strategic bomber
National origin
United States
Manufacturer
Consolidated Aircraft
First flight
7 September 1942
Introduction
27 January 1945
Retired
30 August 1945
Status
Retired
Primary user
United States Army Air Forces
Produced
Number built
118
Developed from
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Production contracts of the B-32 were cancelled on 8 September 1945, with
production ceased by 12 October. Many B-32s ended up being salvaged at Walnut
Ridge, Arkansas with a total of 38 flown to Kingman Army Airfield for disposal.
The large club pip of the 386th is visible on one B-32 awaiting reclamation.
Five of Kingman's Dominators were from the 386th Bomb Squadron, 312th Bomb
Group's overseas assignment. Along with several other noteworthy aircraft on
temporary display at Davis Monthan AFB after World War II, the last surviving
Dominator, B-32-1-CF #42-108474 was written off and destroyed in 1949.
Specifications (B-32)
General characteristics
Crew: 10
Length: 82 ft 1 in (25.03 m)
Wingspan: 135 ft 0 in (41.16 m)
Height: 32 ft 2 in (9.81 m)
Empty weight: 60,278 lb (27,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 100,800 lb (45,800 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 123,250lb (56,023 kg)
(1,641 kW) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 357 mph (310 knots, 575 km/h) at 30,000 ft (9,150 m)
Cruise speed: 290 mph (252 knots, 467 km/h)
Range: 3,800 mi (3,304 nmi, 6,118 km)
Service ceiling: 30,700 ft (9,360 m)
Rate of climb: 1,050 ft/min (5.3 m/s)
Armament
Bombs: 20,000 lb (9,100 kg)
*
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