The following is the text of the photo release for this picture. It is printed on a letterhead titled: "CONVAIR A DIVISION OF GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION".
FIRST FLIGHT VIEW OF CONVAIR YB-60 -- A Convair YB-60 sweptwing, eight-jet bomber is shown here in the first flight view of the U.S. Air Force's latest addition to its air arsenal. Equipped with eight Pratt & Whitney turbojet engines, most powerful of their type now in use, the YB-60 was rolled out of the factory at Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation's Fort Worth, Texas, Division on April 6, 1952, for engine run-ups and ground tests. First flight, on April 18, 1952, occurred just 14 days after installation of its final engine. Planes needle-nose appearance originates from a slender boom used for test purposes. Wingspan of the YB-60 is 206 feet; its length, 171 feet; its height, 50 feet. The new sky giant is nine feet longer and three feet three inches higher than the Convair B-36, now the largest airplane operational in the Air Force. Wingspan of the B-36 is 230 feet; the shorter wingspan of the YB-60 is occasioned by the sweep of the YB-60's wings which reduce the span from tip to tip. The YB-60 was built in record time. A contract for two sweptwing jet bombers was awarded Convair by the Air Force on March 15, 1951. Eight months later the first of the two airplanes was ready for engines.
YB-60 in flight
Scanned from original Convair press release photo.