Posted on 11/16/2017 6:03:25 AM PST by C19fan
On Nov. 11, 1956, the first B-58 Hustler took flight. It would never see combat. An exotic, beautiful bomber designed for high-speed nuclear strike missions, a changes in Soviet tactics and a development method which dramatically hiked costs conspired to doom the Hustler — intended as a replacement for the jet-powered B-47 Stratojet.
(Excerpt) Read more at warisboring.com ...
Me,too. Same timeframe as Cobra64.
Loved that model and the plane.
True awesomeness.
The only surviving aircraft was on static display outside the main entrance gate to Air Force Plant #4 in Fort Worth, Texas. I passed it every morning on my way to work as a young engineer for General Dynamics (formerly Convair and now Lockheed Martin). One of the older enginners told me the rest were cut up as part of a treaty with the soviets.
Looks like the fake glider version used to draw enemy missiles as it was towed behind the real jets.
Like the B-2 it may have won its first battle before its first flight in that it got the soviets’ attention and caused concessions on their part resuluting in a treaty. That, according to my older engineer friend mentioned above. In that regard, it may have served its purpose. That time period was 1982-1985 so I’m going with my memory hear. History may disagree with the comments relayed to me many years ago.
According to Allen, the idea of a supersonic bomber that was nuclear capable scared the crap out of the soviets. Even with the mission and desig flaws pointed out in the article, could they count on the reported “problems” being disinformation?
Me too! It was my inspiration to pursue Aviation. Hands-down my favorite war bird.
I highly recommend the Air Force videos on YouTube, narrated
by Jimmy Stewart on the B 58.
There’s one at Grissom in Kokomo, IN.
There’s one at the sac museum near Omaha, and another gate monument at Grissom in Indiana , that I know of. I’m sure the Air Force Museum wright-Patterson has one also
Brig Gen James Stewart claimed that he joined the Mach-2 club in a B-58.
http://www.avgeekery.com/jimmy-stewart-joined-the-mach-2-club-in-a-b-58-hustler/
General Jimmy Stewart walks you through the B-58 Hustler’s virtues and reviews the many records she claimed in this memorable film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYvsjGroa78
At the last minute, the bomber pilot was switched from the main runway to the shorter cross wind runway and overshot the end of the pavement. Pouring on the fuel, the bomber took off and circled the downtown followed by two black clouds of burned fuel.
On the second try, the pilot made a perfect landing and later, handed out “Fly 44th Rhodesia Squadron” tee shirts.
I would add that the crew's survivability during ejection was not a top priority when this sucker was designed. So many modifications and so many ways to the screw the pooch. I still pucker up when I think back about it. But it was a hell of a beauty to behold.
Got a plastic model of one for Christmas years ago. Remember the sonic booms they used to create flying out of our nearby air base
When they learned to downsize the bomb the plane became obsolete. A real beauty though.
I saw one at Pima Air Museum, AZ in 2009.
They have one on display at the Museum at Bunker Hill (now Grissom ARB). It is very cool! I would have loved to see one fly!
My boss told me once that he worked at Convair during development of the airplane. He said the chief test pilot wanted a $1000/minute for the first flight. He was up 36 minutes.
Thats what they look like at Mach 3.
I was a young Aerosystems Engineer at GD during the first part of my career. I was part of the last B-58 flight test team to test modifications to this aircrafts flight control system. I never got to fly in one but I knew the test pilots who did and the various engineers on the team. My job was on the ground acquiring first generation (analog) flight test data for second generation (digital) computer processing on an IBM-360 mainframe. No, I did not have a pinup of Grace Hopper in my cubicle as this was before my COBOL days. That was later...
There are still 8 of them around various bases on display. The last production aircraft is sitting a few miles from me at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson AZ
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