Best "Western World" post WWII Bomber

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The B-36 was a good bomber and very capable. It was also a very large bomber as the photos I have posted elsewhere show. I can remember hearing the quote 'They maketh a desert and they call it peace' in relation to this bomber.
 
For post war piston powered aircraft the B-36 is definately king in my book. A close second would go to the B-50D, it was marginally faster and was equipped with inflight refuelling.

For jet aircraft the B-52 has range and the payload to go with it. Another favorite is the B-58 Hustler.
 
For post war piston powered aircraft the B-36 is definately king in my book. A close second would go to the B-50D, it was marginally faster and was equipped with inflight refuelling.
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Ah but did the B-36 not have have jet engines as well? Can you call it a Jet or a prop plane?
 
Not all of the B-36's had jets. Jets were first added to the D models although they were only used during takeoff and for extra speed over target. They also allowed a higher ceiling. They were General Electric J47's converted to run on regular 145 octane avgas.

My truly favorite B-36 is the Featherweight III J model. It was stripped of basically everything, no turrets (except tail guns) no crew comfort and such. They carried more fuel and had stronger landing gear as well. All reduction in weight allowed a much greater range and a huge ceiling. They had the jets too, but just the same it was only used for extra power when needed. Id just as soon call it a piston engined aircraft. I got tons of info on these suckers if ya need it too
 
Unfortunately not on the internet, all mine are in books. I do have a few scans of flight engineer operations though, specifically on single turbo operation.
 
It was a different kind of V bomber too, and the other two got made into air-to-air re-fuellers.
 
If I limit it to Post-WW2 -> Vietnam then I would say the XB-70.

Post Vietnam probably either FB-111 or B-1B
 
Because the Tu-95 'Bear' is not a piston plane. The reference to PISTON is refering to Piston ENGINE. The Bear is a Turbo-SHAFT plane. It has props, but it is not a piston aircraft.
 
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