A 12-ton lead-and-rubber-shielded cockpit with windows 10-12 inches thick protected the flight crew from the otherwise lethal amount of radiation emanating from the reactor hanging in the bomb bay. Special water pockets installed aft of the cockpit also absorbed radiation.

Among the most audaciously hazardous concepts of the 1950s was the notion of installing an operational nuclear reactor inside an aircraft, a venture pursued by both the Soviet Union in and the USA. The NB-36 'Crusader' epitomized this daunting venture, representing a potential ecological catastrophe each time it ascended. Nevertheless, it managed to execute 47 flights. Its purpose was to evaluate the viability of managing a nuclear reactor during flight, serving as a preliminary step towards creating a genuine atomic-powered aircrat the NB-36 carried a three-megawatt reactor into the skies, and due to the extensive shielding necessary to protect its crew, it became the aircraft with the highest quantity of lead integrated into its structure, with the cockpit's rubber and lead shielding alone amounting to eleven tons.

I know that this plane was just a bomber with normal dinosaur-burning engines, but what was the long term plan for the concept? Were they going to use steam turbines to power engines?

Weird. I wonder if nuclear power would work in one of those ground-effect planes. Like a far faster and far less stealthy SSBN.

Thankfully, the DoD chronicled the nuclear aircraft engine program thoroughly. Existing 1950s jet engines were used as the baseline for the nuclear engines. If you're ever passing through Idaho, you can even see two of the prototype engines on display.

https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jun/21/2 ... N%2021.PDF
https://www.afmc.af.mil/News/Article-Di ... e-testbed/
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-hi ... d-aircraft

Greg

My father was in construction and one of his jobs was to build a hanger for it near Idaho Falls. He said they ended up using it to store potatoes.

One of my mentors….gone west…was a FE on the nuclear 36.

Leldon

Ah, the wonders of the cold war and the exuberance of the 50s and 60s when the future was Nuclear.

There was also a nuclear (Nerva) upper stage version of a saturn C-5N launcher planned.

The don't forget project Pluto and SLAM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto
fur the ultimate in cold war insanity.

I read a sci-fi story once where they built a nuclear spaceship to combat the alien spaceship. It ejected small nuclear warheads which vaporized material on the lower surface, providing thrust. They built it in secret and launched out of Bellingham bay. I don't imagine it did much for Bellingham.

Orion Drive
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_O ... propulsion)

great silliness.

I remember the story, probably Niven and Pournelle? Alien invasion.



I read a sci-fi story once where they built a nuclear spaceship to combat the alien spaceship. It ejected small nuclear warheads which vaporized material on the lower surface, providing thrust. They built it in secret and launched out of Bellingham bay. I don't imagine it did much for Bellingham.

Yup. Footfall, classic SF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footfall

IIRC the "acceptable" ionizing radiation exposure levels were much higher on those days. I'd bet the flight and maintenance crews for this airplane had noticeably higher incendence for cancer and other health issues.