The Convair B36 "Peacemaker" was a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated solely by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B36 was the largest massproduced piston engine aircraft ever made. It had the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built (230 ft, 70.1 m), although there have been larger military transports. The B36 was the first bomber capable of delivering any of the nuclear weapons in the US arsenal from inside its two bomb bays without aircraft modifications. With a range greater than 9,700 km (6,000 mi) and a maximum payload of 33,000 kg (73,000 lb), the B36 was the world's first manned bomber with an unrefueled intercontinental range.