11/12/2010
Warbirdfare
The Consolidated B-32 Dominator (Consolidated Model 34) was a heavy bomber made for United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and has the distinction of being the last Allied aircraft to be engaged in combat during World War II. It was developed in parallel with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as a fallback design should the Superfortress prove unsuccessful. It only reached units in the Pacific during the summer of 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 cancelled shortly thereafter and only 118 B-32s of all types were built.
A test schedule of eleven missions was set up, followed by a plan to convert two of the 312th Bomb Group's four Douglas A-20 Havoc squadrons to B-32s. Project crews took three B-32s to Clark Field, Luzon, Philippine Islands in mid-May 1945, for a series of test flights completed on 17 June. The test crews were impressed with its unique reversible-pitch inboard propellers and the Davis wing which gave it excellent landing performance. However, they found a number of faults: the cockpit had an extremely high noise level, a poor instrument layout, the bombardier's vision was impaired, it was overweight and the nacelle design resulted in frequent engine fires.
The testing missions were mostly successful, and, in July, the 386th Bomb Squadron completed its transition to the B-32, flying six more combat missions before the war ended.
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)
- Wing area: 1,422 ft² (132.2 m²)
- Empty weight: 60,278 lb (27,400 kg)
- Loaded weight: 100,800 lb (45,800 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 123,250lb (56,023 kg)
- Powerplant: 4× Wright R-3350-23A 18-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 2,200 hp (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[12] (252 knots, 467 km/h)
- Range: 3,800 mi (3,304 nmi, 6,118 km)
- Service ceiling: 30,700 ft[12] (9,360 m)
- Rate of climb: 1,050 ft/min (5.3 m/s)
Armament
- 10× .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns
- 20,000 lb (9,100 kg)
** Consolidated B-32 Dominator - Warbird Fare
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