Niceoldguy58
Airman
- 94
- Mar 2, 2010
I thought it would be appropriate to add some hard-won facts to the discussions on the B-32. Too many fairy tales have arisen about the aircraft over the many decades since she disappeared.
Where to start? I suppose the first place is that all this information comes from documents and photos gathered for a new book on the B-32 by me (Alan Griffith, author of "Consolidated Mess, Vol I" and Nick Veronico, author of many books). This book will, I believe, be the definitive book on the B-32 Dominator/Terminator and we plan to have it to the publisher a bit later this year. I estimate that in photos alone, some 90% have never been seen. While there may be some manual drawings used in the book, the emphasis at all times has been original documents, reports, drawings and photos.
Anyway, while it is true that more emphasis went into the B-29, it needs to be understood that Boeing had begun the process that would result in the B-29 as early as with the Y1B-20 series (Model 316, 316A/B/C/D) . Consolidated was making a huge jump with the B-24 and its inexperience with building big bombers showed in many ways.
Rather than get into the many delays in the B-32 program here, I will share that by late 1944-early 1945 General Arnold ordered that Consolidated should pump out B-32's as quickly as possible. No more delays were to be accepted and personnel from the B-36 program should be moved over to the B-32 as needed. THe B-32 was going to used to pound Japan into dust, so they needed a lot of them. I have a schedule showing the replacement of B-24s in all parts of the Pacific, the CBI and finally the Aleutians (there in November, 1946) by month. THe pressure to produce B-32s would continue to grow until it suddenly ended and the program cancelled. There were a number of reasons for this. The Atomic Bomb is an obvious cause, but not the only one by any means. The Bomb had been kept completely secret (except to the spies, of course), so it wasn't until it became necessary to let Arnold in on the secret and start training B-29 crews to drop it that they decided to pull the plug on the B-32. In addition, a number of very telling arguments had been made along the way that the B-29 was a better, cheaper aircraft and that it was ALREADY IN MASS PRODUCTION and in combat.
Had the B-32 been in production a year earlier, I have no doubt that B-24's would have been gone in the proverbial heartbeat. Also, keep in mind that the manner in which the B-29's were ultimately used - low to medium altitudes and increasingly at night - would have fit perfectly into the B-32's capabilities. My only real question is whether or not they would have been sent to Europe or dedicated to the Pacific. I lean to the latter as I'm not convinced Doolittle et al would be enthusiastic about having to establish yet another logistical trail for a new, untested aircraft at the same time they were trying to make the 8AF an all-B17 unit as it was.
There has been much said about the poor quality of the B-32. My research has not shown this to be the case any more than it was in the early B-29's. The causes for the problems appears to have been due to the number of new and untried systems incorporated into the design and, even more so, the jump from working out the bugs and into full production in such a short time.
Finally, the B-32 was a Fort Worth aircraft, NOT San Diego. There was discussion about starting a second production line in San Diego, but that never came to fruition.
There is so much to be told in the story of the B-32 that has never been touched upon that it is a bit difficult to know where to begin and where to end in an admittedly limited format such as this. I promise to keep everyone appraised of the progress on "Dominator - The Untold Story of the B-32" and will be glad to answer what questions I can about the aircraft itself.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Griffith
Where to start? I suppose the first place is that all this information comes from documents and photos gathered for a new book on the B-32 by me (Alan Griffith, author of "Consolidated Mess, Vol I" and Nick Veronico, author of many books). This book will, I believe, be the definitive book on the B-32 Dominator/Terminator and we plan to have it to the publisher a bit later this year. I estimate that in photos alone, some 90% have never been seen. While there may be some manual drawings used in the book, the emphasis at all times has been original documents, reports, drawings and photos.
Anyway, while it is true that more emphasis went into the B-29, it needs to be understood that Boeing had begun the process that would result in the B-29 as early as with the Y1B-20 series (Model 316, 316A/B/C/D) . Consolidated was making a huge jump with the B-24 and its inexperience with building big bombers showed in many ways.
Rather than get into the many delays in the B-32 program here, I will share that by late 1944-early 1945 General Arnold ordered that Consolidated should pump out B-32's as quickly as possible. No more delays were to be accepted and personnel from the B-36 program should be moved over to the B-32 as needed. THe B-32 was going to used to pound Japan into dust, so they needed a lot of them. I have a schedule showing the replacement of B-24s in all parts of the Pacific, the CBI and finally the Aleutians (there in November, 1946) by month. THe pressure to produce B-32s would continue to grow until it suddenly ended and the program cancelled. There were a number of reasons for this. The Atomic Bomb is an obvious cause, but not the only one by any means. The Bomb had been kept completely secret (except to the spies, of course), so it wasn't until it became necessary to let Arnold in on the secret and start training B-29 crews to drop it that they decided to pull the plug on the B-32. In addition, a number of very telling arguments had been made along the way that the B-29 was a better, cheaper aircraft and that it was ALREADY IN MASS PRODUCTION and in combat.
Had the B-32 been in production a year earlier, I have no doubt that B-24's would have been gone in the proverbial heartbeat. Also, keep in mind that the manner in which the B-29's were ultimately used - low to medium altitudes and increasingly at night - would have fit perfectly into the B-32's capabilities. My only real question is whether or not they would have been sent to Europe or dedicated to the Pacific. I lean to the latter as I'm not convinced Doolittle et al would be enthusiastic about having to establish yet another logistical trail for a new, untested aircraft at the same time they were trying to make the 8AF an all-B17 unit as it was.
There has been much said about the poor quality of the B-32. My research has not shown this to be the case any more than it was in the early B-29's. The causes for the problems appears to have been due to the number of new and untried systems incorporated into the design and, even more so, the jump from working out the bugs and into full production in such a short time.
Finally, the B-32 was a Fort Worth aircraft, NOT San Diego. There was discussion about starting a second production line in San Diego, but that never came to fruition.
There is so much to be told in the story of the B-32 that has never been touched upon that it is a bit difficult to know where to begin and where to end in an admittedly limited format such as this. I promise to keep everyone appraised of the progress on "Dominator - The Untold Story of the B-32" and will be glad to answer what questions I can about the aircraft itself.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan Griffith
