The Convair B-36 was the first true intercontinental bomber, a mainstay of the United States’ defense system the first decade of the Cold War. Despite its seemingly obsolete appearance, the B-36 pushed 1950s state-of-the-art further than any other aircraft of it era. However, it only served for 10 years and always under doubt that it could perform its assigned strategic bombardment mission. While the B-36 was slow, it flew so high that speed didn’t matter; few fighters of the time could climb that high, and surface-to-air missiles were just being developed. Only in its last few years of service was the B-36 vulnerable. This massive bomber also had long legs- an attribute essential to its role- and could remain airborne for two days without refueling. It took a long time to fly 10,000 mile at 250 MPH.