{"id":31508839,"date":"2026-11-06T17:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T16:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/?p=31508839"},"modified":"2026-11-06T17:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T16:28:31","slug":"b-36-peacemaker-crew-tunnel-trolley-bomb-bays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/b-36-peacemaker-crew-tunnel-trolley-bomb-bays\/","title":{"rendered":"The B-36 Tunnel: Crossing a Bomber on Your Back"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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Pressurising the whole of a 162-foot fuselage was not practical, and the bomb bays could not be pressurised at all, because their doors had to open in flight. So the B-36 had two pressurised compartments, one forward and one aft, with the bomb bays between them, and a sealed tunnel to link the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Convair B-36 Peacemaker, Strategic Air Command, 1948&ndash;1959<\/li><li><strong>Layout:<\/strong> Forward and aft pressurised cabins either side of unpressurised bomb bays<\/li><li><strong>Tunnel length:<\/strong> About 85 ft (26 m); one National Archives caption gives 80 ft<\/li><li><strong>Tunnel diameter:<\/strong> About two feet<\/li><li><strong>How you crossed:<\/strong> Lying on your back on a wheeled cart, pulling on an overhead rope<\/li><li><strong>Typical crew:<\/strong> 15: about 10 forward and 5 aft<\/li><li><strong>Aft cabin:<\/strong> Bunks, an electric range and access to the tail turret<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Two Cabins and a Tube<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The forward compartment held the flight deck and most of the crew: pilots, flight engineers, bombardier, navigator, radio operators and gunners, about ten men in all. The aft compartment, behind the bomb bays, held about five more, mostly gunners, along with bunks and an electric range. An Air Force history of B-36 crews describes the tunnel simply as the link between the forward and aft pressurised areas on either side of the unpressurised bomb bays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tunnel itself ran along the top of the bomb bays for about 85 feet, roughly the length of two city buses, and was about two feet across. There was no room to crawl comfortably. Instead, a crewman lay on his back on a small wheeled cart and pulled himself along an overhead rope.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Hot Meals by Trolley<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cart carried more than people. Because the galley was in the aft cabin, the same trolley worked as a dumbwaiter, sending hot food forward through the tunnel to the men on the flight deck. On missions that could last more than 30 hours, that mattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The arrangement had its moments. The Smithsonian&rsquo;s Air &amp; Space magazine recounted the story of a new captain who went aft to use the facilities without asking how they worked, with predictable results for his boots.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Not the First<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The idea came from the B-29 Superfortress, which also had separate pressurised compartments joined by a crawl tunnel over its bomb bays. The B-36 simply needed a much longer one, and the wheeled cart was the answer to its length.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the Popular Version Gets Right<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 3D reconstruction going around is accurate: two pressurised cabins, unpressurised bomb bays because their doors opened in flight, a sealed tube along the top of the bays about as long as two city buses, and a crewman lying on his back on a wheeled cart to roll through it. The rear cabin did hold bunks and gunners. We found no source for a separate relief crew in the aft compartment; the bunks let the regular crew of about 15 rest in turn on very long missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Sources: &ldquo;B-36: Bomber at the Crossroads&rdquo;, Air &amp; Space Magazine (April\/May 1996); Tony R. Landis (ed.), <em>Peacemaker Personnel<\/em>, Air Force Materiel Command History Office; National Archives photograph of the XB-36 crew tunnel, via HistoryNet; John Weeks, &ldquo;B-36: The Peacemaker Survivors&rdquo;.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>How did B-36 crews move through the aircraft?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">B-36 crews moved between the forward and aft pressurised cabins through a sealed tunnel about 85 feet long and two feet in diameter running over the bomb bays. A crewman lay on his back on a wheeled cart and pulled himself along an overhead rope.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why were the B-36 bomb bays not pressurised?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The B-36 bomb bays were not pressurised because their doors had to open in flight to release bombs. The crew instead lived in two pressurised compartments, forward and aft of the bomb bays, linked by a pressurised tunnel.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How long was the B-36 crew tunnel?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The B-36 crew tunnel was about 85 feet (26 metres) long, roughly the length of two city buses, and about two feet in diameter. A National Archives caption for the prototype XB-36 gives 80 feet.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many crew did a B-36 carry?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A standard B-36 bomber carried a crew of about 15, roughly ten in the forward cabin and five in the aft cabin. Reconnaissance versions carried up to 22.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What was in the B-36 aft compartment?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The B-36 aft compartment held about five crew, mostly gunners, along with bunks and an electric range. The tunnel cart also served as a dumbwaiter, sending hot meals forward to the flight deck.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did other bombers have crew tunnels?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. The B-29 Superfortress also had separate pressurised compartments connected by a crawl tunnel over the bomb bays. The B-36 tunnel was much longer, which is why it used a wheeled cart.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did B-36 crews move through the aircraft?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"B-36 crews moved between the forward and aft pressurised cabins through a sealed tunnel about 85 feet long and two feet in diameter running over the bomb bays. A crewman lay on his back on a wheeled cart and pulled himself along an overhead rope.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why were the B-36 bomb bays not pressurised?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The B-36 bomb bays were not pressurised because their doors had to open in flight to release bombs. 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The B-36 tunnel was much longer, which is why it used a wheeled cart.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\">\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/convair-nb-36h-nuclear-reactor-bomber-cold-war\/\">The B-36 That Flew With a Live Nuclear Reactor<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/convair-b-36-peacemaker-six-turning-four-burning-history\/\">Six Turning, Four Burning: The Story of the B-36 Peacemaker<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/b-29-superfortress-pressurized-crawl-tunnel-engineering\/\">The B-29&#8217;s Pressurised Crawl Tunnel: 1940s Engineering Genius<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Convair B-36 was so long that its crew lived in two separate pressurised cabins, with the unpressurised bomb bays in between. The only way across in flight was an 85-foot tube, two feet wide, travelled lying on your back on a wheeled cart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":31507969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31508839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The B-36 Crew Tunnel: Crossing a Bomber on Your Back | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The B-36 had two pressurised cabins and unpressurised bomb bays between them. 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