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Description
| Manufacturer: | Consolidated | |
| Base model: | B-32 | |
| Designation: | B-32 | |
| Nickname: | Dominator | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1924-Present | |
| Basic role: | Bomber | |
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Known serial numbers
Recent comments by our visitors
| Kevin Semple Beaver Dam, WI | My Father worked with the B-32's in Luzon, Philippines. As he told me, his was the first squadron to received the "long-awaited" ship. I found his service papers after his death in 2007. With his discharge papers was listed his "schooling" etc. According to his papers he received 2 weeks of "schooling" previous to the 9 planes that arrived on Luzon.
He told me that they lost one "ship" while there due to pilot error by a Lt. According to him, that plane lost an engine on takeoff and the pilot tried to stop before going over the edge of the runway which ended with a 1000ft. drop into a "gravel-pit". All crew-members lost. He also stated that everybody wanted to take a tour of their ship because it was so much larger than any planes they ever saw before. Some couldn't believe that a plane that large could even fly!! They were amazed that they could walk standing upright all the way to the tail section. 12/27/2010 @ 14:30 [ref: 35071] |
| ellitto long beach, NY | went to factory school in san diego summer of 1945 war ended production stopped never to work on them later worked for UAL 40 years 01/06/2009 @ 10:02 [ref: 23425] |
| chuck ellis , CA | My father worked on the B-32 and was onboard for a test flight to Anchorage and back to Fort Worth.....his name Walter Ellis and is now 89 years years young any one know of him 12/29/2008 @ 17:10 [ref: 23372] |
| Bill , PA | Following the dropping of the atomic bombs, in August of 1945, the unit was ordered to move to Okinawa before the conversion could be carried out. Six more B-32s joined the squadron on Okinawa a few days later. Combat operations continued in spite of the de-facto cease-fire that had been called following the bombing of Nagasaki. During this time, the B-32s flew mainly photographic reconnaissance missions, most of which were unopposed. However, on August 17 a group of 4 B-32s flying over Tokyo were fired on by radar-directed flak and were attacked by Japanese fighters. The American aircraft escaped with only minor damage, claiming one confirmed fighter kill and two probables. During a reconnaissance mission over Tokyo on August 18, 42-108532 and 42-108578 were attacked by Japanese fighters. The American gunners claimed two kills and one probable, but -108578 was badly shot up and one of her crew was killed with two being injured. This was to prove to be the last combat action of World War 2.
The last Dominator mission of the war was flown by four B-32s on August 28 in a reconnaissance mission to Tokyo. The mission was a disaster, although not because of any enemy action. 42-108544 lost an engine on takeoff and skidded off the runway. All 13 men aboard perished when the aircraft exploded and burned. On the way back from the target, 42-108528 lost power on two of its four engines. The plane's pilot ordered the crew to bail out, but two men were killed. After VJ-Day, the surviving B-32 aircraft were ordered to return to the USA. All further production of the B-32 was cancelled in September/October of 1945. At the time of cancellation, Fort Worth had produced 74 B-32s and 40 TB-32s, and San Diego had built only one. The last six fully-equipped Dominators (42-108579/108584) were flown from the production line directly into storage at Davis-Monthan and Kingman, Arizona. Twelve additional aircraft in shop-assembled status at San Diego and Fort Worth were declared "terminal inventory" and were also flown directly to disposal sites. At least 37 partially-assembled machines were stripped of all their government-furnished equipment and engines and were scrapped on site by the contractor. Those Dominators that were already in service were flown to the nearest disposal center, and all the non-flyable examples were scrapped in place. By 1947, most of B-32s that had been sent to the disposal centers had been scrapped. (Harding,Stephen,Flying Terminated Inventory, Wings, April 1993, page 40 retrieved Maarch 10, 2008 from home.att.net/~jbaugher2/b32.html). I just wanted to share what I found with the rest of you. I have cited my source appropriately. I wonder if the B=32 in this article passage was the one were the survivors were picked up by the ship mentioned above. The Aulich I it was. I don't have the page visible while writing this. 03/09/2008 @ 19:52 [ref: 19943] |
| Saul Goode , NE | gotta write a stupid lame ass 5 page report!!!
All you old bald men can KISS MY ASS! aint doin it now BIHHHHHH!!! 02/29/2008 @ 15:42 [ref: 19819] |
| Dorothy , AL | THIS PLANE SUCKS ASS! 02/29/2008 @ 15:36 [ref: 19818] |
| David Dembeck , MI | There werre two Hobo Queens. However the first was a B-29 that was sent to the far east via Europe. It was also piloted by Col. Cook 12/06/2007 @ 10:22 [ref: 18815] |
| Ben Sinko Blaine, MN | There is a new book out about the B-32 told by the men who flew the bomber. Echoes of the Domainater(The tales and the men who flew the B-32) is availible at www.lulu.com 09/26/2007 @ 08:22 [ref: 18009] |
| Steve Bradshaw Rapid City, SD | Just a note regarding the photo from Oki....The planes pictured are actually PB4Y-2's, if you look close enough you can see the ERCO waist turrets. 06/27/2007 @ 09:34 [ref: 16956] |
| Nita Frederickson Austin, TX | I read Tom Walker's account of his father being on the USS
Aulick. I wonder if his father remembers one of his crew-men that was from Austin? At the time of the incident, I recall the young man's mother calling my mother about the incident. I would love to know his name. 03/13/2007 @ 11:36 [ref: 15880] |
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