Origins of the the Convair B-36 Peacemaker (a name which was never official) lay in an early World War II requirement for an aircraft capable of attacking targets in Europe from the continental United States. At the time, the US had not yet been involved in the war and there was a distinct possiblity that Britain might fall to the Germans thus requiring such extreme range for a bomber. It only appeared after the war ended but it became by far the largest and heaviest aircraft in the world at the time: in fact, it still remains the largest combat aircraft ever made today (not counting transports). The B-36 had forward and aft pressurized sectons joined by an 80-ft trolley tunnel over four weapons bays capable of delivering a bomb load four times that of a B-29. Such size required ample power in the form of six engines driven by pusher propellers while later versions also had four pod-mounted underwing jet engines to boost takeoff performance. Nuclear armed B-36s eventually formed the backbone of the newly created Strategic Air Command serving throughout the 1950s until intercontinental jets finally became available but without ever having seen combat.

First flight of the XB-36 took place on 8 August 1946 followed by the YB-26 which was to introduce the raised cockpit in production variants. These began with the B-36A unarmed trainer and then the B-36B and B-26D, the latter which introduced the auxiliary jet engines (some were conversions). The B-36F featured new piston engines, the B-26H had cockpit improvements, and the final B-26J had increased fuel capacity and weights. A reconnaissance version was the RB-36 with a total of 14 cameras.