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The Convair X-6 was an experimental aircraft project to develop and evaluate a nuclear-powered jet aircraft.

Experiments were carried out on a testbed aircraft named Convair NB-36H, based on the B-36 bomber. The program was canceled before the actual X-6 and its nuclear reactor engines were completed. The X-6 was part of a larger series of programs that ran from 1946 through 1961, and cost 7 billion USD.

The basic idea was that nuclear-powered strategic bombers would be able to stay airborne for weeks at a time, as their range would not be limited by liquid jet fuel.

Nuclear Test Aircraft

The first modified B-36 was called the Nuclear Test Aircraft (NTA), a B-36H-20-CF (Serial Number 51-5712) that had been damaged in a tornado at Carswell AFB on September 1, 1952. This plane was redesignated the XB-36H, then the NB-36H and was modified to carry a 1 megawatt, air-cooled nuclear reactor in its bomb bay. The reactor, named the Aircraft Shield Test Reactor (ASTR), was operational but did not power the plane. Water, acting as both moderator and coolant, was pumped through the reactor core and then to water-to-air heat exchangers to dissipate the heat to the atmosphere. Its sole purpose was to investigate the effect of radiation on aircraft systems.

The NTA completed 47 test flights and 215 hours of flight time (during 89 of which the reactor was operated) between September 17, 1955, and March 1957 over New Mexico and Texas. This was the only known airborne reactor experiment by the U.S. with an operational nuclear reactor on board. The NB-36H was scrapped at Fort Worth in 1958 when the Nuclear Aircraft Program was abandoned. Based on the results of the NTA, the X-6 and the entire nuclear aircraft program was abandoned in 1961.

Development plans

right|thumb|[[Experimental Breeder Reactor I in Idaho, the first power reactor, now a museum. The reactor is in the building top right, the two structures lower left are reactors from the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Project]]

Had the program progressed, follow-on aircraft would have been based on the successor to the B-36, Convair's swept-wing B-60.

The X-6 would have been powered by General Electric X-40 engines (J53 engines modified to use nuclear energy as fuel), utilizing a P-1 reactor. In a nuclear jet engine, the reactor core would be used as a heat source for the turbine's air flow, instead of burning jet fuel. One disadvantage of the design was that, since the airflow through the engine was used to cool the reactor, this airflow had to be maintained even after the aircraft had landed and parked.

|crew=Five

|length ft= 162

|length m= 49.38

|span ft= 230

|span m= 70.1

|height ft= 46

|height in= 9

|height m= 14.26

|wing area sqft= 4770

|wing area sqm= 443.3

|max takeoff weight lb= 360000

|max takeoff weight kg= 163000

|eng1 lbf=5,200

|eng1 kn=23.1

|eng1 name=General Electric J53

|eng1 type=nuclear turbojets

|eng1 number=4

|eng2 name= Pratt & Whitney R-4360-53

|eng2 number=6

|eng2 hp= 3800

|eng2 kw= 2830

|max speed mph=390

|max speed kmh= 628

|ceiling ft= 40000

|ceiling m= 12200

|avionics=

See also

References

  • Dream of Atomic-Powered Flight original published on Aviation History, March 1995.
  • Joe Baugher. B-36 Peacemaker. Section devoted to NB-36H