From 1948 to 1955 the Convair B-36 'Peacemaker' was the only aircraft capable of making a round trip from the United States to the Soviet Union and then back again. That's on one load of fuel! In fact the B-36 was not even capable of air to air refueling; having been developed in an era when that technique had not been sufficiently developed. The USAF's Strategic Air Command had 'smaller' bombers at forward stations in allied Nato countries closer to Russia. But those planes could not carry the new, very large, Hydrogen Bombs and their bases were much more vulnerable than SAC's runways in the geographic center of of America.
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