Convair NB-36H Nuclear Test Aircraft

The first modified B-36 was called the Nuclear Test Aircraft (NTA), a B-36H-20-CF (Serial Number 51-5712) that had been damaged in a tornado at Carswell AFB on September 1, 1952. This plane was redesignated the XB-36H, then the NB-36H and was modified to carry a 3 megawatt, air-cooled nuclear reactor in its bomb bay. The reactor, named the Aircraft Shield Test Reactor (ASTR), was operational but did not power the plane. Water, acting as both moderator and coolant, was pumped through the reactor core and then to water-to-air heat exchangers to dissipate the heat to the atmosphere. Its sole purpose was to investigate the effect of radiation on aircraft systems.

To shield the flight crew, the nose section of the aircraft was modified to include a 12-ton lead and rubber shield. The standard windshield was replaced with one made of 6-inchthick acrylic glass. The amount of lead and water shielding was variable. Measurements of the resulting radiation levels were then compared with calculated levels to enhance the ability to design optimal shielding with minimum weight for nuclear-powered bombers.

The NTA completed 47 test flights and 215 hours of flight time (during 89 of which the reactor was operated) between July 1955 and March 1957 over New Mexico and Texas. This was the only known airborne reactor experiment by the U.S. with an operational nuclear reactor on board. The NB-36H was scrapped at Fort Worth in 1958 when the Nuclear Aircraft Program was abandoned. After the ASTR was removed from the NB-36H, it was moved to the National Aircraft Research Facility.

Based on the results of the NTA, the X-6 and the entire nuclear aircraft program was abandoned in 1961.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• NB-36H
• Nuclear
• Test
• Aircraft
• Convair
• Crusader
• Shield
• Reactor
• ASTR
• nuclear
• power
• USAF
• Cold
• War

[KiloByte69]

@mrfrankincense

Only needs to refuel once every 10-20 years.

[mrfrankincense]

@D8W2P4 I don't understand your point; spacecraft use radioisotopethermoelectricgene­rators and this uses a fission reactor, so it has no application in space. The benefits of a nuclear reactor on an aircraft are very slight and the costs (radioactivity) are huge, so it has no application on earth.

[D8W2P4]

@mrfrankincense Where do you think some of the early information for doing that came from though?

[mrfrankincense]

@D8W2P4 We have already built nuclear reactors for travelling away from the sun and they use completely different technology.

[D8W2P4]

@mrfrankincense If we someday go far away from the sun where we cannot use solar panels we would need a nuclear reactor to generate power for the spaceship and some proposed propulsion systems could run off of a nuclear reactor.

[mrfrankincense]

@Gytu Why is that desirable?

[Gytu]

@mrfrankincense Perhaps this aircraft may not be of use now, but in the future it may serve us in space. Think of a spacecraft powered by a nuclear reactor.

[mrfrankincense]

@HeildemKrieg Although it could be purposefully designed to detonate in a crash.

[mrfrankincense]

@Gytu Why does the world need nuclear powered aircraft. An innovation with not much use.

[raykiller545]

@Gytu i agree.