Consolidated B-32 Dominator

what is it?

The Consolidated B-32 Dominator (Consolidated Model 34) was an American heavy strategic bomber built for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. A B-32 was involved in the last air combat engagement of the war, resulting in the war's last American air combat death. It was developed by Consolidated Aircraft in parallel with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as a fallback design should the B-29 prove unsuccessful. The B-32 reached units in the Pacific only in mid-May 1945, and subsequently saw only limited combat operations against Japanese targets before the end of the war on 2 September 1945.

🔎How to recognise it: 4 piston engines with propellers · retractable tricycle gear · 41.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 574 km/htop speed
• size 55.9 tmax take-off weight
• built 118made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 41.2 m: about 9 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 9 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 1.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1942-09-07

introduced

1945

retired

1945

status

retired

number built

118

role

heavy strategic bomber

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Consolidated Aircraft

engines

4× Wright R-3350-23A Duplex-Cyclone

crew

10

length

25 m

wingspan

41.2 m

height

9.8 m

max take-off weight

55.9 t

top speed

574 km/h

cruise speed

467 km/h

range

—

ceiling

9,357 m

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.