“The City of Fort Worth” moves to Arizona

I’ve had a link in the left sidebar for as long as I can recall, in support of the last B-36 Peacemaker made and the efforts to make it a new home, here, where it was born, and now it’s time to take it down: B-36 PEACEMAKER MUSEUM in FORT WORTH.

B-36J-III-10-CF 52-2827, "City of FT. WORTH" is currently being moved to its new home in Tucson, Arizona at the PIMA County Air & Space Museum.  All that remains to be moved is the wing and a few smaller parts.

We have learned the wing will be moved intact on a special articulated trailer that requires a driver in the rear, much like the ladder trucks used by some fire departments.  This is great news for the aircraft since the wing provides most of the structural strength for the entire aircraft.

Most comments we have received from our membership and other supporters about the loss of the Last B-36 from our city have been very favorable toward PIMA.

A consensus seems to be that since there is very little support for the B-36 in its home town, its survival is now assured for many years to come in the care of a dedicated group of aviation professionals in a city that openly welcomes it for the great tourist attraction it will be for them.

In keeping with our purposes and our pledge of continued support for the Last B-36, we have been in contact with PIMA’s executive director and we are jointly considering ways that B-36 Peacemaker Museum can assist PIMA with the aircraft’s reassembly and various other tasks.  Several of our Convair veterans have already decided they can travel to Tucson to help in any way they can.

What does this mean for us here in Cowtown?  Hopefully it will ease the way for the establishment of a superb aviation museum at Meacham Field.  Since we no longer need to build an environmentally controlled facility larger than a football stadium for the B-36, we have been relieved of a $20 million-dollar obstacle.  We are continuing to work with the city and the city’s aviation department to this end.

Our architect is working long hours to finish a design for the lobby display area at Meacham.  Expect to see many innovative concepts on our website as they become available.

We wish to sincerely thank all our members and other supporters for working with us through the past few months as we worked to keep the Last B-36 at home.  Now is the time to accept the outcome and to continue to support not only the B-36, but the industry that has kept North Texas alive and prosperous for so many years – aviation.

I’ve been to the Pima Air Museum, and it is a terrific collection with a dedicated staff.  I made the mistake of visiting in late June one year, which is a prescription for heat injury.  This isn’t the worst ending for the old girl, and the respect for the painstakingly refurbished wing being transported as one piece is more than a little solace to those who have labored for years to refurbish her and make a permanent home here in Consolidated / Vultee land.  Alas, it never came together here, and Pima will give The City of Fort Worth a good home.

My connection to the B-36 is familial: dad was a ‘right scanner’ (lower right aft gunner) on one during his AF tour, and I grew up with a model of the B-36 atop the TV (until I could reach it, then it was toast, I’m told).  Dad has a new model, and his memories, and we’ll get out to Pima together someday.

The Fort Worth group has done terrific work,  saving it from the chopping block when Meacham Field was closed, then arranging for the refurbishment.  Ultimately, to our collective shame, Fort Worth wasn’t able to find a suitable home, so it’s off to sunny Arizona for the city’s namesake.

I’ll keep the sidebar link for a while, then I’ll let it go, like we let a bit of our own history go.  Here is the Cockpit section, leaving us for good:

I don’t know the AF phrase, but in the Navy it’s Fair Winds and Following Seas, City of Fort Worth!