Editing Consolidated B-32 Dominator (section)

==Design and development==
The engineering development of the B-29 had been underway since mid-1938 when, in June 1940, the [[United States Army Air Corps]] requested a similar design from the Consolidated Aircraft Company in case of development difficulties with the B-29.

The Model 33 on which Consolidated based its proposal was similar to the [[B-24 Liberator]]. Like the B-24 it was originally designed with a [[twin tail]] and a large [[Davis wing]], but with a longer, rounder fuselage and a rounded nose. As can be seen in pictures, the B-32 also retained the B-24's tambour-panel "roller-type" bomb bay doors, which operated very much like the movable enclosure of a [[rolltop desk]], retracted into the fuselage. These types of doors created a minimum of aerodynamic drag to keep speed high over the target area; they also allowed the bomb bays to be opened while on the ground since the low ground clearance prevented the use of normal bomb bay doors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graff |first=Cory |date=August 18, 2021 |access-date=April 20, 2025 |title=The strange saga of the B-32 Dominator |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/b-32-dominator |website=www.nationalww2museum.org}}</ref> The powerplants were to be the same quartet of eighteen-cylinder, {{convert|2200|hp}} [[Wright R-3350|Wright Duplex-Cyclone]]s, as specified for B-29s. The aircraft was designed to be pressurized, and have remote-controlled retractable gun [[gun turret|turrets]] with fourteen {{convert|.50|in|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} machine guns. It was to have an estimated gross weight of {{convert|101000|lb|abbr=on}}. The first contract for two XB-32s was signed on 6 September 1940, the same day as the contract for the Boeing prototype XB-29.

The first XB-32-CO, AAF s/n 41-141, was constructed next to the Army Air Forces (AAF) Base [[Carswell Air Force Base#World War II|Tarrant Field Airdrome]] at the [[United States Air Force Plant 4|AAF Aircraft Plant No. 4]] just west of Fort Worth, Texas along the south side of Lake Worth. The [[Convair|Consolidated Vultee]] Bomber Plant assembly line was six months behind schedule, the aircraft making its first flight on 7 September 1942. Due to problems with the pressurization system, the gun turrets and landing gear doors, these items were omitted on the first prototype. The aircraft had R-3350-13 engines inboard and R-3350-21s outboard, with all four powerplants driving three-bladed propellers. The XB-32 had persistent problems with engine oil leaks and poor cooling, much like issues encountered during B-29 development. The inboard propellers' pitch could be reversed to shorten the landing roll or to roll back in ground maneuvers.<ref name="Jones p. 106"/>

The first XB-32 was armed with eight [[M2 Browning machine gun|{{convert|.50|in|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} machine guns]] in [[Dorsum (biology)|dorsal]] and [[ventral]] turrets, and an odd combination of two .50 caliber and one {{convert|20|mm|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} [[cannon]] in each outboard engine nacelle firing rearwards, plus two .50 caliber machine guns in the wings outboard of the propellers.<ref>Baugher, Joe [http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b32.html "Consolidated B-32 Dominator."] ''Consolidated B-32 Dominator: USAAF/USAF Bomber Aircraft-Third Series'', (Joe Baugher's Encyclopedia of American Aircraft), 12 September 2009. Retrieved: 3 July 2010.</ref> The turrets were remotely controlled from periscopic sights in aiming stations inside the aircraft. The sights were coordinated by a sophisticated [[analog computer]] system developed by [[Sperry Gyroscope Company]]. 
[[File:XB-32.jpg|thumb|255px|XB-32-CO ''41-142'' on 28 February 1944]]
On 17 March 1943, the initial contract was signed for 300 B-32-CFs but development problems continued. On 10 May 1943, the first XB-32 crashed on takeoff after making a total of 30 flights before the second XB-32, s/n 41-142, finally flew on 2 July 1943. This aircraft had a traditional stepped cockpit canopy. Upon examination and testing, the USAAF recommended a large number of changes that included more conventional gun stations.

The pressurization system had problems which were never solved and so the role of the aircraft was changed to operating at low to medium altitude. This decision meant that the pressurization system was easily eliminated from production aircraft. Problems with the remote-controlled gun turrets were never solved and the armament on production aircraft was changed to 10 .50 caliber machine guns in manually operated turrets: Sperry A-17 turrets in the nose and tail, two Martin A-3F-A dorsal turrets, and one Sperry A-13-A ball turret. The bomb load was increased by {{convert|4000|lb}} to {{convert|20000|lb}}.

The second XB-32 continued to have stability problems. In an attempt to resolve this a B-29 style tail was fitted to the aircraft after its 25th flight but this did not resolve the problem and a Consolidated-designed {{convert|19.5|ft|abbr=on}} vertical tail was added and first flown on the third XB-32, s/n 41-18336 on 3 November 1943. The first production aircraft was fitted with a B-29 vertical tail until the new Consolidated tail was available for installation.

By 1944 testing of the three prototypes permitted the AAF to place orders for over 1,500 B-32s. The first production aircraft was delivered on 19 September 1944, by which time the B-29 was in combat in [[China]]. The first B-32 crashed on the same day it was delivered when the nose wheel collapsed on landing. Beginning on 27 January 1945, 40 B-32A-5, -10 and -15 aircraft were delivered as unarmed TB-32-CF crew trainers.

Originally, the Army Air Forces intended the B-32 as a "fallback" design to be used only if the B-29 program fell significantly behind in its development schedule. As development of the B-32 became seriously delayed this plan became unnecessary due to the success of the B-29. Initial plans to use the B-32 to supplement the B-29 in re-equipping B-17 and B-24 groups before redeployment of the [[Eighth Air Force|Eighth]] and [[Fifteenth Air Force]]s to the Pacific were stymied when only five production models had been delivered by the end of 1944, by which time B-29 operations were underway in the [[Twentieth Air Force]].{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}