Truly a remarkable aircraft. It and General LeMay scared the
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out of the Russians. While very slow by our standards (they could actually stay aloft nearly 48 hours) without refueling. They could out fly the early jets in altitude and turning ability. However, by the mid-1950s their effectiveness was waning. They converted all the RB's to carry more bombs at that time. What they did do was buy time until the B-52s came on line and became effective and more scary. SAC had competitions between the Bomb Wings and the 36's could deliver payloads with more precision than the early 52's. That did change as time went on.
The RB's were used for photo reconnaissance and actually were able to overfly Russia believe it or not. The last 36's were turned into tin cans in the late 50's. Their engines were used on the 97's and 124's so they did not go to waste. My dad's aircraft was one of the very last ones to be retired as it was used for nuclear tests in the Pacific. It was part of the Megaton Blasters, 4925 Test Group (Atomic) out of Kirtland AFB.