Boeing B-54A

[Foo Fighter]

Just a thought, would the B-54 have been a candidate for turboprops a la TU-95/114?

 

[Archibald]

I often think the B-36 could have had six*T-56s or 4*T-54s (from the Douglas C-133). T-56s would also be of interest for the B-54.
Can't help thinking this bring these bombers into Soviet (Tu-85 / Tu-95) and chinese territory (the Tu-4 AWACS with the 6000 hp TV-2 turboprops).

 

[blackkite]

Hi!

The Ultimate Superfortress: The B/RB-54A

Concept art of the B/RB-54A in flight (Boeing Historical Archives) During the Second World War Boeing worked extensively on further imp...

aviationtrivia.blogspot.com

"Boeing, however, was working on an even more powerful and longer-ranged development of the B-50. Designated the B-50C, this evolution into the ultimate Superfortress was designed to extract as much speed and performance as was possible using a new version of the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major engine that added what was called a "variable discharge turbine" (VDT) to the engine. The standard Wasp Major used on the B-50 developed approximately 3,500 horsepower and a Wasp Major with a VDT could easily produce 4,000 horsepower, making it one of the most powerful production piston engines in the world.

The Wasp Major VDT (from the Engine History website)

The VDT consisted of two General Electric CHM-2 turbosuperchargers that collected the hot exhaust gases from the 28 cylinders of the Wasp Major. A portion of the hot gases were diverted through an intercooler to provide turbosupercharging at high altitudes. The bulk of the hot gases went through the CHM-2 turbines and were exhausted out a variable area nozzle that resembled a set of eyelids. By adjusting the size of the nozzle, jet thrust could be achieved that had the potential to add as much as 15% to the speed of the B-50C over the production standard B-50. The Wasp Major VDT was already flying at this point on the Republic XF-12/XR-12 Rainbow long range reconnaissance aircraft. "

 

[Tonton-42]

Published on the forum over the XF-12. The French engineer Michel Wibault was a design member of the Rainbow propulsion unit.

 

[Archibald]

Wibault truly had a fascinating career...

 

[Tonton-42]

Wibault truly had a fascinating career...

Just for fun although outside the scope of this post, what could have been the masterpiece of Wibault, the "Air-Wibault 1-00", which the war 39-45 killed before the end of its construction ... However, we see the technological leap in only 6 years between Wibault’s avant-garde project (in France) and Republic’s masterpiece !..

 

[Arjen]

I modified the B-54A 3-view by Lloyd Jones to make a complete top view.
Original drawing first, new top view second. The front forward turret is offset to port, as can be seen in the frontal view in the original drawing.
<edit> replaced top view after @Tonton-42 helpful comment

 

[blackkite]

Please check page 192 of the "R-4360 Pratt & Whitney's Major Miracle" By Graham White, Specialty Press.
You can get interesting information about VDS engine through this book.

 

[Tonton-42]

I modified the B-54A 3-view by Lloyd Jones to make a complete top view.
Original drawing first, new top view second. The front forward turret is offset to port, as can be seen in the frontal view in the original drawing.

Be careful, however, to symmetrical copy and paste (I too am being tricked) ! The turbo air inlets are identical on the 4 engines and not symmetrical ...

 

[Arjen]

You're right about the nacelles, I missed that. The original drawing was slightly crooked around the tail, it took some work to correct that.
<edit> fixed the nacelles - the top view of the radome still doesn´t match the mockup image though - the radome stuck to the starboard side of the cockpit is different.

 

[NMaude]

This video was uploaded to YouTube earlier today about the B-54A:

Join me in this guided tour through a series of declassified photos of the Boeing B-54 which was going to be the final and ultimate version of the legendary B-29 Superfortress. The program was cancelled after a few mock-ups were assembled and sadly these photos are all we have left.

It's a pity we didn't see Boeing construct a couple of XB-54A prototypes and test-fly them before being retired to museums.