Salt Lake Telegram | 1948-12-09 | Page 4 | Giant Plane Completes Flight of 8000 Miles

I Giant Plane Completes 1 Flight of Miles FORT WORTH Tex Dec C 9 ItT The CiP-The The biggest bomber has made its greatest flight The air force announced Thursday Thursday Thurs Thurs- day that its giant pride a B 36 flew nonstop from Fort Worth to Honolulu and return breaking Its own record At 7 pm p.m. CST Wednesday night 35 hours and more than miles after takeoff time the great silver ship touched down at this city's Carswell air field And it had carried a useful bomb load to the halfway mark dropping the bombs in the ocean oft off Honolulu I Brig Gen J. J B. B Montgomery of the strategic air command made I the announcement here after atter hours of official silence by 15 men the ship flew from Fort Worth to Honolulu by byway byway byway way of oC San Diego Gal Cal and re returned returned returned re- re turned via San Francisco Built to carry pounds of bombs miles the super- super bomber is as big as three five- five room houses and its it's foot 67 tail is as high as a story four build build- ing inS It has groaned into the air at its full fun gross weight of or pounds No other plane ever toted such a load Its amazing wings stretch feet feet almost almost the length of a foot oot- ball field field and and they flap lazily in flight And the 36 is so 50 long long long- feet its feet its crewmen use a little scooter on rails to zip from nose to tail taiJ Six pusher engines shove the along along- at better than miles an on hour The flight was not a record for tor distance In October 1946 a navy Lockheed Neptune patrol bomber flew new from Perth Australia to Columbus Ohio miles mites The air force hopes to stretch the bombing range to miles