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Conceived when the Americans thought that the stuttering British candle would be snuffed out by Germany, the Consolidated Vultee, the Convair B-36 was intended to take the air war to Europe from the Continental USA. Fortunately Britain hung on and caused the cancellation of the invasion due to the stalwart efforts of the RAF during the Battle of Britain. As global war developed the b-36 programme was put on the backburner as other needs were more pressing. Eventually the B-36 would resume this time as a high altitude, long-range nuclear delivery platform. Numerous versions entered service with USAF covering the bombing and reconnaissance versions, both undertaking overseas deployments in support of their intended missions. Continued production of the B-36 caused a great rift with the US Navy, whose first supercarrier was cancelled to pay for more B-36s, which the the admirals regarded as redundant. It would be the emergence of the reliable turbojet engine that would spell the end of the B-36 as a frontline aircraft as both the Boeing B-47 and B-52 bombers would quickly see the type’s demise. Outside the needs of Strategic Air Command there were other uses for the B-36 airframe; one would be used to transport a B-58 Hustler fuselage/wing assembly for structural testing, another would become the NB-36 and carried a working nuclear reactor aboard, while the final throw of the dice saw the type developed into the YB-6 eight-engined bomber in competition with the B-52. The basic design threw up one more off-shoot, the XC-99 transport that saw a new fuselage married to the original wings and fittings plus the original tail feathers. As a unique one-off, the XC-99 remains in preservation. This book is written by Kev Darling and is superbly illustrated by Richard J. Caruana. WPT102