Consolidated Vultee XB-46 "Needle" Book

Air Force Legends #221: Consolidated Vultee XB-46 Needle Book. The Consolidated Vultee (Convair) XB-46 jet-powered medium bomber was first developed by the USAAF in 1945. Although the XB-46 bomber never went into production, it became the first all-pneumatic aircraft, using pneumatics to operate landing gear, brakes, and bomb bay doors. This Cold War-era aircraft's biggest legacy was its unique beauty! The Consolidated Vultee (Convair) XB-46 was a four-jet medium bomber built to a 1944 USAAF requirement. It was the largest of the four different bombers built to this requirement. The other three were the North American XB-45, the Boeing XB-47 and the Martin XB-48. The winner of the competition was the XB-45, but Boeing was allowed to continue development of their offering with swept wings. Because of this, only one XB-46 was built. It was to be the first all-pneumatic aircraft built with pneumatics operating the landing gear, brakes, and bomb bay doors. This system was highly successf