Nuclear-Powered Bombers

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In the 1950s, nuclear power was all the rage.  It was seen as the future of everything, from nuclear powered cars and submarines to atomic golf balls. Seriously.

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"Save all those hours of looking for golf balls by eliminating them from your life entirely!"

Naturally the military was all over the atomic age, and one good idea that popped into their head was nuclear powered bomber aircraft. Because why not have the aircraft designed to deliver nuclear bombs be powered by the same destructive force?

Ladies and gentlemen, the NB-36:

image via Wings Pallette

NB-36 "Cancer-Giver"

Converted from a B-36 Peacemaker, the NB-36 contained several small differences from the original. Mainly an eleven ton crew compartment designed to shield the pilots and nuclear engineers from the nuclear reactor stored near the rear of the aircraft. Everything was lead-lined, and even the windows measured a solid twelve inches thick.

The aircraft first took flight in 1955, where the crew commented that flying the aircraft was like riding in a submarine because they couldn't hear the sound of their own engines running outside of the lead coffin they were sitting in.

image via istockphoto

"Flying submarine? Now there's an idea . . ."

Accompanying the bomber on every flight was a host of support aircraft including a C-27 filled with US marines to secure the reactor should the aircraft ever crash. Oh, and also a red telephone to call the president should there ever be an issue, which there almost was one time when the smoke detector went off in the cockpit.

While all this was going on, the Air Force began preparations for mass production of nuclear powered bombers by constructing an entirely lead-lined aircraft hangar at Carswell Air Force Base, complete with state-of-the-art robots to avoid exposing workers to nuclear radiation. All this turned out to be completely unnecessary however when the program was cancelled by President Eisenhower, as the NB-36 was retired after forty seven flights.

But that was still better than the Soviet attempt, because if there are two things that go together well it's the Soviet Union and nuclear power.

image via Subbrit

Exhibit A.

Their program was essentially the same concept with one small difference: their shielding for the crew was completely inadequate. Of the twelve men involved, only three survived into the 1990s.