Home

American Combat Planes of the 20th Century is an incredible reference for anyone who is interested in any American Combat Plane History. There are 758 pages and 1700 b/w photos in this substantial labor of love by Ray Wagner, who has been passionately researching and writing about aircraft for over 50 years. Whether you are already familiar with his past works, or just discovering this accomplished author for the first time... This is the book that you've been waiting for!

If you'd like to see the book's Table of Contents ... Click here. You can also browse the entire Index Section to get an idea of the extensive amount of information that is covered within this book.

Search our site for other combat planes. A- 1 Eaton A- 4 Skyhawk A- 6 & A- 7 Air Weapons AV- 8 to A- 10 A- 20 Havoc A- 22 Martin Maryland A- 23 Martin Baltimore A- 24 Douglas A- 26 Douglas Invader Attack Planes B- 2A, F-111, F-117 Stealth B- 17 Flying Fortress B- 24 Liberator B- 25 North American B- 26 Marauder B- 29 Superfortress B- 32 Dominator B- 35 Flying Wing B- 36 B- 47 Stratojet B- 50 Boeing B- 52 Stratofortress B- 57 Canberra B- 58 Hustler Biplanes Biplanes, Army Pursuits Bombers, B- 70 to Stealth Bombers, First Big Curtiss Falcon CO- 1 DH- 4 De Havilland F3D- Douglas Skyknight F3H- McDonnell Demon F4D- 1 Skyray F4F Grumman Wildcats F- 4U Corsair F6F Grumman F7F Grumman F7U Vought F9F G. Cougar F9F G. Panther F- 16 Fighting Falcon F- 84 F- 86 Sabre F- 89 to F-94 F- 100 to F-108 First Fighters Flying Boats GAX Iraq to Afghanistan Martin Bombers Missile Era Fighters Navy Fighers Navy Flying Boats O- 2 Douglas P- 35 Seversky P- 36 to 42 Curtiss P- 38 Lightning P- 39 Airacobra P- 40 Line P- 47 Thunderbolt P- 51 Mustang Fighter P- 61 Black Widow P- 63 Kingcobra P- 79 to P-81 P- 82 Twin Mustang SB2C Helldiver TBF-TBM Avenger Thomas-Morse Torpedo Planes V- 11 Vultee XB -28 XP -48 / 77

B-32 Dominator

Page 1

The B-32 Convair XB-32

The success of the Superfortress made the parallel heavy bomber development by Convair superfluous. The first XB-32 had the same engines and pressurization of the B-29, with the high wing and twin tails of its B-24 ancestors. Issac B. Laddon designed a smaller wing area using the Davis airfoil and Fowler flaps, a circular fuselage, and dual main and nose wheels on the retractable tricycle gear.

Prototypes were ordered September 6, 1940, and 13 YB-32s were added on June 30, 1941. The first XB-32 was flown on September 7, 1942, two weeks ahead of the B-29, by Russell Rogers at San Diego. Powered by R-3350-13 Duplex Cyclones with Hamilton three-blade propellers and dual turbosuperchargers, it had extensive test instrumentation and no armament. While that plane crashed when taking off on May 10, 1943, the second XB-32 flew July 2, 1943, and after 30 flights went to Muroc (now Edwards) for acceptance tests in February 1944.

Range was calculated as 5,030 miles with a one-ton bomb load, which could be increased to ten tons if fuel load was cut down. Since no fighter escort could go so far, remarkably heavy protection was planned, including 1,221 pounds of armor for the crew, with 14 .50-caliber and two 20-mm guns in remote-control stations.

The “cannons” and a pair of fifties were installed in the rear of each outboard engine nacelle, and could be swung out to 70 degrees outboard and aimed 16 degrees up and 30 degrees down. Four guns placed in a retractable top turret behind the wing covered the upper hemisphere, while four more were in a retractable bottom turret underneath. CONVAIR XB-32 (2nd prototype)

All this firepower would be concentrated on planes attacking from the rear by the tail gunner’s computer sight. Most unusual was the installation of two .50-caliber guns on the leading edge of the wings; one outboard of each side’s propeller disks! Each could be aimed up or down 13 degrees, or swung 60 degrees sideward to cover the forward area blocked from the main turrets by propeller disks.

A fire-control officer sat under a scanner dome behind the flight deck, with top and bottom periscope sights. His computer was linked to the tail gunner’s, and a third gunner behind the bottom turret had a periscopic sight. But by October 17, 1942, Convair engineers raised doubts about the Sperry company’s success in perfecting an accurate fire control system and favored a single vertical tail for the production version.

On March 17, 1943, a contract was approved for 300 B-32 bombers to be delivered at Fort Worth, instead of the busier San Diego factory, from September 1943 to October 1944. But drastic changes made in the production design put back that schedule a year. These changes included elimination of the pressurized fuselage and remote control turrets in favor of conventional manned turrets, and cancellation of the YB-32 version. CONVAIR XB-32 (2nd prototype)

The tall single tail was introduced on the third XB-32, first flown by Beryl Erickson with twin fins on September 17, 1943, and then with a single fin from the Boeing B-29 on January 6, 1944. Convair engineers then designed their own taller fin for that prototype. By June 1944, contract changes called for 1,213 production ships, including 500 to be built in San Diego, instead of Fort Worth.

The first production B-32-1-CF Dominator was flown August 5, 1944 at Fort Worth by Beryl Erickson. Powered by R-3350-23A Duplex Cyclones with Curtiss 16-foot, 8-inch, four-blade propellers, a B-32 could hold forty 500, or twelve 1,000, or eight 2,000, or four 4,000-pound bombs in the double bay. Ten .50-caliber guns with 5,450 rounds were paired in power-operated turrets: two Martin turrets on top, Sperry ball turrets in the nose and in the tail, and another as a retractable belly turret. Armor protection was limited to turrets and 520 pounds on engine nacelles.

[ B- 24 / Home ] [Continue to next page]

Want information on other Combat Planes? Search the rest of our site.