On this day in aviation history, 84 years ago (September 7, 1942), the Consolidated XB-32 Dominator took flight for the first time. Developed during WWII as an American heavy strategic bomber, the B-32 was conceived as a backup to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in case that aircraft encountered serious development problems. The U.S. Army Air Corps requested that Consolidated develop the bomber in June 1940. Based partly on concepts from the company’s B-24 Liberator, the new design featured a large Davis wing and was originally intended to have a pressurized cabin and remotely controlled defensive turrets. The first XB-32 was completed at Fort Worth, Texas, but development ran six months behind schedule. Problems with its pressurization system, turrets, and landing gear doors meant those features were omitted from the prototype for its first flight.
Development remained troubled, with engine cooling, pressurization, armament, and stability problems delaying the B-32 while the B-29 successfully entered combat. The Dominator finally reached the Pacific in May 1945 and flew a limited number of combat and reconnaissance missions before the end of WWII. On August 18, a B-32 crewman, Sergeant Anthony Marchione, was killed during an attack by Japanese fighters over Tokyo, becoming the last American to die in air combat during the war. Production was cancelled shortly afterward, with 118 B-32s completed. The production B-32 measured 82 feet 1 inch in length with a wingspan of 135 feet and was powered by four 2,200-horsepower Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radial engines. It could reach 357 mph at 30,000 feet, had a range of 3,800 miles, and a service ceiling of 30,700 feet. Defensive armament consisted of ten .50-caliber machine guns, while the Dominator could carry up to 20,000 pounds of bombs.
