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From: anderson@osl475a.erim.org (Rod Anderson)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: B49 vs. B36
Message-ID: <1991May29.010413.4754@amd.com>
Date: 24 May 91 13:58:35 GMT
Sender: military@amd.com
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
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Approved: military@amd.com


From: anderson@osl475a.erim.org (Rod Anderson)


wb9omc@ee.ecn.purdue.edu (Duane P Mantick)'s comments on the B49 - B36
situation reminded me of the following.

KCET (LA's public TV station) produced a news special on the B-36 vs. 
B-49 controversy,  in which they interviewed Jack Northrop. He was in his 
80's at the time and would die within a few months. (Program was recorded 
c. 1982).  It's been a number of years since I've seen it, but the interview
goes something like this:  

Jack Northrop wasn't Stuart Symington's (Sec AF) favorite airframer.  
Symington told Northrop that the country didn't want two bomber manufacturers 
and that Northrop should merge with Convair.  When Jack tried to negotiate
with Convair, they insisted on a buyout which would mean the end of 
Northrop Corp.  It was clear to Jack Northrop that the Convair folks knew
the pressure placed on him by Symington.  When Northrop told Symington that
he couldn't agree to being forced out of business, Symington cancelled the
B-49 and promised Northrop would never receive another contract if he had 
anything to say about it.  As an indicator of Symington's animosity, he
had the eight B-49's on the line broken up for scrap and the tooling 
destroyed.  (This is why there is no B-49 in the AF Museum.)  

Northrop later testified before Congress that no pressure had been placed
on him.  In the program, he said he perjured himself because he still
feared Symington (a senator at this time?).

Incidentally, the B-36 display at the AF Museum says a lot about how 
the AF really felt about the B-36.  Next to it is a Goblin parasitic
interceptor, which was launched from the B36's bombbay when enemy planes
appeared, presumably shot them down, and then was recovered with a
trapeze-type gadget.  That the AF was reduced to this sort of Rube
Goldberg approach indicates they had real concerns about the B-36's 
survivability and mission effectiveness.  

If anyone can add more details or corrections from the KCET program, 
I would appreciate it.

-Rod