AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 30

PILOT BRIEFING
AVIATION HISTORY

The airplane
that never was
First nuclear-powered aircraft didn't happen
YOU COULD SAY it was the nuclear-powered
bomber that never got off the ground-
literally. But it wasn't the weight of the
massive GE engines, reactor, and tons of
shielding that meant the Convair WS-125
would never fly; it was bureaucracy and
government mismanagement.
In 1946, after the power of nuclear
energy was demonstrated with the bombing of Japan, the U.S. Department of
Defense set out to develop a nuclear-powered jet aircraft. The project began with a
Convair B-36 bomber as a shield test aircraft. Although one model was modified in
the early stages of the project-and prototype engines were developed and flew an
on-board operating reactor-the program
was canceled before the nuclear-powered

30 | AOPA PILOT January 2018

SPECIFICATIONS
Powerplant

General Electric J53
nuclear turbojets,
5,200 lbst each

Crew

5

Length

162 ft

Wingspan

230 ft

Height

46 ft 9 in

Wing area

4,770 sq ft

Max takeoff
weight

360,000 lb

Performance
Max speed

390 mph

Service ceiling

40,000 ft

aircraft was completed. Because the aircraft's range would not have been limited
by needing to refuel, it was theorized that
nuclear-powered aircraft would be able to
stay in the air for weeks at a time.
The manned aircraft nuclear propulsion program ran from 1946 until 1961,
when-after much back and forth between
the Department of Defense, the Air Force,
Navy, and the Atomic Energy Commission-
President John F. Kennedy stated: "Nearly 15
years and about $1 billion have been devoted
to the attempted development of a nuclearpowered aircraft; but the possibility of a
militarily useful aircraft in the foreseeable
future is still very remote."
The airplane would have been powered
by modified General Electric jet engines.
Instead of burning jet fuel, the
nuclear jet engine would use the
reactor core as a heat source for
the turbine's airflow. Because airflow through the engine was used
to cool the reactor, this airflow
had to be maintained, even when
the aircraft was parked. GE built
two prototype engines, and the
reactor can be seen outside the
Experimental Breeder Reactor I
near Arco, Idaho (shown at left).
A 350-foot-wide hangar was
built to house the X-6 project, but
the project was canceled before
the planned 15,000-foot runway
was built to accommodate the aircraft's expected weight.



AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018

Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 8
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 30
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 34
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 36
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 40
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 43
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 78
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 112
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - Cover4
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