The B-36 was the largest combat aircraft ever designed and fielded by the United States Air Force . While it entered into service too late to be pressed into service during World War II, it none-the-less played an initial and important role during the outset of the Cold War. Blitzkrieg and the potential need for an intercontinental bomber The origins of the Convair B-36 strategic bomber were set prior to the official U.
S. involvement in World War II . The year was 1940.
At that point, U.S. military planners had their gaze fixed across the Atlantic on the European continent.
This gaze was specifically focused on the massive success and combat prowess of the German military, which by that point had subsumed much of Europe. If the German military could successfully conquer the island, any future forward basing options needed by the U.S.
military to confront Germany would be off the table. By July 16, 1940, Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 16, setting in motion the preparations for an invasion of England.
At this same time, the Battle of Britain was underway with the purpose of destroying the Royal Air Force, bringing the English leadership to terms and demoralizing the population of Great Britain. If the German military could successfully conquer the island, any future forward-basing options needed by the U.S.
military to confront Germany would be off the table. It was against this backdrop, and by 1941, that U.S.
military planners began looking into the possibility of a str.