My father was a navigator in a B-58. He was stationed at Bunker Hill AFB. He died in 1967 while on a training mission when the crew had to eject out of a disabled aircraft and his parachute did not open. I still think it is the most beautiful aircraft ever. I was only 6 years old, so I don't have many memories.
God bless you. We lost two crews while i was there in the late '60s ('67-'70). I was ground crew. We thought the guys who flew were like "gods" because of the risks and responsibilities in case of nuclear war. We all knew we had signed our lives away when we enlisted but it was still very emotional when we lost someone. We're still losing them to things like chemical exposure. I hope you know how grateful we are of your family's sacrifice.
I was in High School when we were let out of class to go outdoors and see the B-58 fly by as it circled Fort Worth. An F-102 flew on its outboard wing as chase plane. What a sight !!!
I was born at Carswell AFB in 1959. The B58 was coming of the assembly line right across the runway. The 43rd Bomb Wing my father was a crewmember of transfered to Little Rock AFB in 1964 and remainded there till 1970. I was 7 when I got to sit in the pilot seat of one of the record setting aircraft. For the trivia buffs, John Denver"s father Col Deutschendorf was a B58 pilot with the 43rd
My dad was B58 mechanic in Little Rock in 1967-68. He hated those things. Said they required 50 hours of maintenance for every hour in the air. He said because of the high landing speed, it would blow tires all the time.
In the 80's there was a the picked over carcass of a B58 in a material storage area adjacent next to main taxiway at Little Rock. It looked fast even in it's sorry condition.
You must be so proud of your father joining a murderous group of government sanction killers. Seriously how can anyone be proud of anything to do with killing from 50 000ft.
It was the coolest airplane ever built. As a young kid I had them practically in my back yard. The runway was close to base housing. When it took off with afterburner the houses would shake
I remember having a toy B-58 as a little kid. I had seen pictures of the B-29 and B-36 in my encyclopedias as a kid, but this was something totally different. I thought it was the coolest airplane ever until I saw an F-4 Fighter. Then I was truly hooked. I did 24 years in the Air Force on (wait for it)...C-130s. Yup, started on E model trash haulers, was on the AC-130U Gunship Test Team, worked Combat Shadows and Talon IIs, then finished on H model trash haulers. AND LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!
Nothing wrong with the Herky Bird. I have plenty of trips on them in USMC and would love to have seen a Spectre or Spooky lighting up an area, so that must have been a cool experience for you. I can still hardly fathom firing 105mm howitzers from an aircraft as a direct fire weapon.
I worked in Air Port AD squadron. We did practice air drops at Moses Lake WA. My job was on the ground, recovering practice loads and parachutes. Our w30 crews always said, " I would rather screw my way around than suck and blow like the c141 pilots" who also did air drops at the same location.
While performing at CCK Bob Hope thanked the 130 crews for providing their transportation services. He appologized, as he determined it was because of him, they were called trash haulers!
One of my aviation mentors, Capt. Bill Hale flew the B-58 and was the highest time B-58 pilot in the USAF. In april 1962 he was taking off at Bunker Hill and got an un-commanded roll he couldn't arrest and called for an eject. One crewman was lost. When I visit the AF Museum at Wright-Pat I spend a lot of time around the B-58. Magnificent machine.
Hey, Kevin….I flew with Bill also on the B727 for UPS. He told me the story of ejecting out at Grissom and had photos of the ejection. Great stories….great pilot! RIP…
I met and hung out with a Hustler pilot and copilot at an air show, they said it wasn’t the most reliable plane due to the many high performance new systems crammed into it. They loved it though and were really proud of their time in the plane. I didn’t get the sense they called themselves “the bravest,” they did their jobs and were glad to be assigned to the new cool plane.
4 J 79 jet engines, with afterburner, Jet Fighter Engines. I had the privilege of seeing this jet fly, when I was young, then later worked and flew in F 4D Phantom. 2 J 79s in that jet. Now retired and happy to see your video!😊
I was at Lambert Field once in the early 80s, when you could go down to the gates, waiting for an arrival. I could hear a very high-pitched whine coming from somewhere outside. A few seconds later, two F-4s leapt off the runway. Those J79s cut through all the other airport noise like a knife.
A remarkable achievement, particularly considering it was designed in the mid 1950s. Very experienced crew, some of whom later joined the SR-71 program. Worth remembering that while building the B-58 Convair were also building the F-102/F-106, R5Y Tradewind, XFY-1 Pogo VTOL, F2Y Seadart, and the SM-65 Atlas ICBM / Space launcher. Unfortunately it achieved operational status roughly at the same time that SAM development rendered high altitude penetration less survivable. Low level performance was also impressive, but range limiting. Finishing problem was high operational costs, only two wings created, with overall costs roughly equivalent to 6 wings of B-52s. Beautiful plane though.
My uncle was a weapons control operator on the B-58 and went on to be a yf -12 weapons control operator shooting hypersonic missles at B-47 target drones over the Gulf of Mexico.
My Dad bought me the Revell model of the B-58 in 1963 when we lived on Holloman AFB NM. This was around the same time he took me out on the flight line to see a brand new F4 Phantom.
My step father was a USAF test pilot on the Hustler. He said he loss one of his friends in Utah after the aircraft loss control at high altitude. He told me it was a unforgiving airplane and he was glad his number of takeoffs equaled the number landings in B-58. The ejection capsule was an automatic coffin.
@@SkepticalSteve01 Yes, they worked, about as well as any other contemporary system. It wasn't "an automatic coffin". The ejection parameters were pretty narrow, though. If you ejected and died, you were probably out of the envelope.
So… best used when in straight & level flight? When you might prefer to stay in the plane? And you don’t know if you’re “out of the envelope” until you’re dead? Sounds very reassuring.
Great movie but the aircraft cockpit was misrepresented. They show pilot and copilot sitting side by side and a third crew member right behind. Not how the B-58 was configured.
My dad was a HH-43 rescue pilot. We moved to Bunker Hill AFB in fall of 1966 after he completed a remote tour at Korat in Thailand. I was 11 and we lived on base, which was a fantastic experience. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and listening to more than a dozen B-58s taking off with full afterburners. Lots of my friends' dads were NCOs, pilots, navigators, and DSOs. Unfortunately, there were crashes (3 while I was there if I remember correctly), one of my neighbors on the block included. I remember one while we were going walking home from school for lunch and there was a big cloud of black smoke towards the flight line. I was there when Bunker Hill became Grissom AFB - there was huge airshow and my boy scout troop (369) served a lot of refreshments.
"Communication was done by passing hand written notes back and forth". I spit up my coffee when he said that. Besides skill and experience as a pilot, you needed good hand writing to qualify to fly this plane. 😂😂😂😂😂
Had an uncle who flew on B58s at Little Rock Air Force Base. I believe his crew position was Defensive Systems Operator if I have term correct.He later flew in Vietnam on jets that jammed enemy radar. After retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel he went to work with the company that built the B2 Stealth Bombers
Interesting that the same outfit that produced the B-36 then produced the B-58 from the same production line in Fort Worth. Quite a developmental step forward wouldn't you say?
I went into the USAF Jan of 1964, after tech school ( mechanic ) was stationed at Edwards AFB and was assigned to the ground crew of the TB-58 Hustler. The title should read only the best of the best pilots and ground crew where chosen to fly and work on the B-58. A complicated aircraft to work on, but not so much that a good mechanic could learn and do the inspections and upgrades to the plane. This bomber was a great airplane to be around and keep flying. A beautiful machine with great power. My time spent with the B-58 was the best years of my career. Went on to be a master aircraft mechanic 43171E on C-141A's and C-130E's they where good airplanes but pale comparison to the B-58.
I was enlisted Air Force and the Air Force didn’t care who went to work on what aircraft as long as you passed your tech school. Believe me I saw guys who were so so mechanical and techs on very good aircraft. From F4s to F15s and F16s. I knew I didn’t want to waste my time being a tech so I got out used the GI bill got my engineering degree and went to China Lake and worked as a scientist for the Navy in weapons development.
@@jimsteinway695 Maybe the AF recruiters were accepting any warm body, and that is why they (the lower income class) enlist,for the training,schooling and experience of Law & Order. The Armed Forces are an EOE.....The Air Force once had to see you passed Geometry and Trig to enlist All phases of life on Earth have people that are unqualified doing a job pretty close to the Right Way of Doing It This is the Oh NO moment of nuclear accidents - for all, that now own WMD
@@dddevildogg I think the military is good for anyone who wants to go on. You can stay in and make a career, and today college isn’t that great , so why not? The military can help those like me who had no money to go on to study something else whether it’s engineering or some trade school. ANYONE can use the military to get a better life
Incredibly beautiful airplane! I remember building a plastic model kit of the B-58 Hustler back in the Fifties. I also remember Jimmy Stewart praising its attributes and it winning the Harmon speed trophy... that was after watching his movie "Strategic Air Command" with those awesome but ponderous B-36s. Unforgettable is a great scene of a B-36 Peacemaker flying through a series of billowing clouds! JJS
You left out 'Project Greased Lightning' - the B-58 sitting on display in the SAC & USAF Museum way out in Nebraska. That specially prepared plane flew from Tokyo to Anchorage and on over the North Pole to London, just over 8000 miles in 8 hours. She inspired a whole lot of Hotrodders, as you may have heard.
Crazy me. To run a project to build an updated -58 with today’s tech, materials, engines, electronics, manufacturing and super computers. With the goal of staying as close as possible to the original form and configuration. I have no doubt all issue would be solved and the result would be spectacular.
It’s truly amazing how much we’ve advanced since then. The humble F-16 has almost doubled the thrust in afterburner from it’s single engine than the B-58 has in two combined.
Watching the pod drop 0:24 - don't see that very often - After seeing some of the engineering films for ordinance releases gone wrong, where ordinance obtained lift for instance, "phew."
@@s.porter8646 Forget the pod, reinforce the cockpit and strap a booster to it. How about a D-21, or would Kelly Johnson object? Faster than a B-52, safer than between the rudders of a Blackbird.
A B-58 Hustler sits at the entrance of Grissom AFB on display with other A/C. I was stationed at that base back in mid 70’s I was in the Hydraulic shop and worked on the KC-135.
As a very young boy living in Tacoma WA I saw several flights of B58s flying in and out of McChord AF base in 1964; first military planes I ever saw. Of course I thought they were the coolest thing ever.
I worked in the tower at Little Rock AFB 1969. They were something. When they reported 15 miles on final you didn't have another a/c in front of them. The speed on final was very high. They retired them and took them away moving the C-130's from Sewart AFB in Smyrna to Little Rock.
It was a '1 trick pony' but it looked intimidating. I guess the Bone is the closest thing we have nowdays. I wished they could of saved a few for airshows, it would of been a helluva draw.
These old planes just looked BADASS, what incredible designs - and all without the sophisticated computers we have today. Also - nothing can top flying a warplane called a HUSTLER.
The British worked out that speed wasn't everything and switched to high altitude to low level. Their own delta wing, the Vulcan, successfully nuked the US twice in exercises even when the US knew they were coming.
Growing up for awhile at Webb AFB early 60's I used to see a few from time to time on the flight line. My dad was crash/rescue and stationed at the flight line fire station so would visit him there. I thought they were giant Delta Darts...
I believe the B-58 still holds the US Coast-to-coast speed record, set by the late Lt Col Henry John Deutschendorf. Dutch was the father of H. J. Deutschendorf, Jr, better known as John Denver, also a pilot like his dad.
The official AF history gives a typical B-58 mission as “take off and buddy-cruising subsonic with a KC-135 with final refueling near enemy territory”. The B-58 evolved incredibly from early 1950’s concepts that began with a mini-plane carried by a B-36, to a split-body where the lower half including radar and nose gear would be disposable. I knew original test pilot Beryl Erickson and took him on a museum tour where they had one of the escape pods - said the B-58 was his favorite plane to fly.
Strategically, the B-58 caused the USSR to spend a fortune on air defense. So, the two wings actually penciled out. It's not mentioned, but the USAF had many WWIII scenarios where the planes were to be sent on one-way missions. The pilots were expected to E&E their way home. (!!!) This is not as crazy as it seems -- as the enemy would have 'issues' to deal with. Their cities would be gone, their everything would be gone. The assumption was that the USA would also be gone, too.
No, you didn't. B-58s were not stationed there until 1961. "The second wing to receive the B-58 was the 305th BW at Bunker Hill AFB. Equipping of the wing began in December of 1960. Following official instigation of the reorganization of the unit on January 9, 1961 and its attainment of wing status on February 1, the first aircraft was flown to Bunker Hill on May 11."
A Mach 2 delta wing bomber is going to be trickier to take off and land than a B-52. Maybe the average pilot just couldn’t cut the mustard, hence the high accident rate. Its reputation is undeserved, as was the F-104s.
The plane was just too advanced for its time. Using the experience from Convair, General dynamics, after a few false starts, got it right with the F-111, which could carry much more versatile bomb load and could safely fly at low altitude, thanks to its terrain following radar.
Like an oversized MiG-21, Convair's award-winning 'hot rod' B-58 Hustler was THE bad-ass bomber beauty of its time. I know because my uncle, a B-58 DSO (LtCol retired), told me so.
While stationed at Travis watch one take off it clear the runway pulled straight up and it was gone. i was stationed at Luke never saw an F 104 do that.
Worked with an instrument tech (or whatever was the speciality) who performed maintenance on B-58s, and he said you could dial in the automatic navigation systems and come back after a restroom break to have to start all over again because of system instability. They didn't quite understand the idea of Uncertainty Budgets in those days. Ground Breaking? Isn't that a little MORBID?!
What a beautiful plane. Guess I’d be one of the brave ones, as I would have given anything to fly that beast. As a retired corporate pilot with 20k hrs in my book, I would have loved to at least get a back seat ride in it. Now that’s a real airplane. Loud, smokey and fast !!!!
The B-58 was the only manned pentrator in service until the B-1. The B-52 was obsolete in that regard, as soon as it was deployed, and was useless until the Hound Dog standoff weapons were available. These weapons perform well, but lack the human ability to recon and select targets on the fly. B-58's prowled the Soviet border 24-7 during the Cuban Missile Crises, and the Russians backed down.
There is another video on RUclips on a "Bunker 24" in Moscow, which teached from a subway stop. It says that the B-58s based in Western Europe made this bunker necessary.
I read before where they said pilots were scared of the plane and with such a high accident rate that would be understandable. It would have taken only the best of the best to fly the plane . Landings were at 200 kts and with a high angle of attack pilots had to look out the side windows and know the landmarks of the runway in order to safely land . For a pilot though there would have been no greater experience then this jet I can only imagine what a ride it must of been . For the pilots that died in the gorgeous Hustler without a doubt they died doing what they loved doing .
My father was a navigator in a B-58. He was stationed at Bunker Hill AFB. He died in 1967 while on a training mission when the crew had to eject out of a disabled aircraft and his parachute did not open. I still think it is the most beautiful aircraft ever. I was only 6 years old, so I don't have many memories.
God bless you. We lost two crews while i was there in the late '60s ('67-'70). I was ground crew. We thought the guys who flew were like "gods" because of the risks and responsibilities in case of nuclear war. We all knew we had signed our lives away when we enlisted but it was still very emotional when we lost someone. We're still losing them to things like chemical exposure. I hope you know how grateful we are of your family's sacrifice.
@@ron.v Thank you very much for your thoughts.
I was in High School when we were let out of class to go outdoors and see the B-58 fly by as it circled Fort Worth. An F-102 flew on its outboard wing as chase plane. What a sight !!!
I was born at Carswell AFB in 1959. The B58 was coming of the assembly line right across the runway. The 43rd Bomb Wing my father was a crewmember of transfered to Little Rock AFB in 1964 and remainded there till 1970. I was 7 when I got to sit in the pilot seat of one of the record setting aircraft. For the trivia buffs, John Denver"s father Col Deutschendorf was a B58 pilot with the 43rd
My dad was B58 mechanic in Little Rock in 1967-68. He hated those things. Said they required 50 hours of maintenance for every hour in the air. He said because of the high landing speed, it would blow tires all the time.
literally named the hustle err.
John Denver had an aircraft problem.
In the 80's there was a the picked over carcass of a B58 in a material storage area adjacent next to main taxiway at Little Rock. It looked fast even in it's sorry condition.
You must be so proud of your father joining a murderous group of government sanction killers. Seriously how can anyone be proud of anything to do with killing from 50 000ft.
It looks like it’s Mach 1 just sitting on the ramp. Such a majestic airplane. Thanks for sharing.
It was the coolest airplane ever built. As a young kid I had them practically in my back yard. The runway was close to base housing. When it took off with afterburner the houses would shake
You just said it: Majestic! 🤩
I remember having a toy B-58 as a little kid. I had seen pictures of the B-29 and B-36 in my encyclopedias as a kid, but this was something totally different. I thought it was the coolest airplane ever until I saw an F-4 Fighter. Then I was truly hooked. I did 24 years in the Air Force on (wait for it)...C-130s. Yup, started on E model trash haulers, was on the AC-130U Gunship Test Team, worked Combat Shadows and Talon IIs, then finished on H model trash haulers. AND LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!
Thank you for your service .
Nothing wrong with the Herky Bird. I have plenty of trips on them in USMC and would love to have seen a Spectre or Spooky lighting up an area, so that must have been a cool experience for you. I can still hardly fathom firing 105mm howitzers from an aircraft as a direct fire weapon.
One of my first models was the B-58. Beautiful aircraft.
Thanks for your story and your commitment to our freedoms.
God bless you.
I worked in Air Port AD squadron. We did practice air drops at Moses Lake WA.
My job was on the ground, recovering practice loads and parachutes.
Our w30 crews always said, " I would rather screw my way around than suck and blow like the c141 pilots" who also did air drops at the same location.
While performing at CCK Bob Hope thanked the 130 crews for providing their transportation services. He appologized, as he determined it was because of him, they were called trash haulers!
A dear departed friend once flew the B-58. I listened to his stories for hours when he worked at our local airfield as an elderly line boy.
Convair built some badass aircraft. Speed was always something that they worked hard on. The Convair 880 and 990 were good examples.
One of my aviation mentors, Capt. Bill Hale flew the B-58 and was the highest time B-58 pilot in the USAF. In april 1962 he was taking off at Bunker Hill and got an un-commanded roll he couldn't arrest and called for an eject. One crewman was lost. When I visit the AF Museum at Wright-Pat I spend a lot of time around the B-58. Magnificent machine.
Hey, Kevin….I flew with Bill also on the B727 for UPS. He told me the story of ejecting out at Grissom and had photos of the ejection. Great stories….great pilot! RIP…
I met John Denver’s father, “Dutch” Derfendorfer who held the world’s speed record from the west coast to the east coast in a B-58.
No, you did not.
I met and hung out with a Hustler pilot and copilot at an air show, they said it wasn’t the most reliable plane due to the many high performance new systems crammed into it. They loved it though and were really proud of their time in the plane. I didn’t get the sense they called themselves “the bravest,” they did their jobs and were glad to be assigned to the new cool plane.
❤😢😅😅
One of the best looking jets ever built.
It's a 150% scale-up of the F-102.
B-58 Hustler
4 J 79 jet engines, with afterburner, Jet Fighter Engines. I had the privilege of seeing this jet fly, when I was young, then later worked and flew in F 4D Phantom. 2 J 79s in that jet. Now retired and happy to see your video!😊
I was a wild weasel F4G guy
I was at Lambert Field once in the early 80s, when you could go down to the gates, waiting for an arrival. I could hear a very high-pitched whine coming from somewhere outside. A few seconds later, two F-4s leapt off the runway. Those J79s cut through all the other airport noise like a knife.
All the guys with their drafting tables, t-squares and slide rules. Really cool.
Hard for us to image them using such "primitive" tools to design bleeding edge tech like the B-58. But from the 40s through 60s, it's what they did.
One of the coolest looking jets to fly!
A remarkable achievement, particularly considering it was designed in the mid 1950s. Very experienced crew, some of whom later joined the SR-71 program. Worth remembering that while building the B-58 Convair were also building the F-102/F-106, R5Y Tradewind, XFY-1 Pogo VTOL, F2Y Seadart, and the SM-65 Atlas ICBM / Space launcher. Unfortunately it achieved operational status roughly at the same time that SAM development rendered high altitude penetration less survivable. Low level performance was also impressive, but range limiting. Finishing problem was high operational costs, only two wings created, with overall costs roughly equivalent to 6 wings of B-52s. Beautiful plane though.
My uncle was a weapons control operator on the B-58 and went on to be a yf -12 weapons control operator shooting hypersonic missles at B-47 target drones over the Gulf of Mexico.
SR-71 = “the Black Egret.”
My Dad bought me the Revell model of the B-58 in 1963 when we lived on Holloman AFB NM. This was around the same time he took me out on the flight line to see a brand new F4 Phantom.
Yes Holloman, Alamogordo, I was also stationed there, working on F 4Ds, and T 38B Aggressors. 😊
Yes I was also stationed there, working on F 4Ds and T 38B Aggressors. Good day to you. 😊
Atlantis models has just re released the first Revell B58..
@@ArthurPeters-h8gI’ve been to Holloman but was at George AFB working on F4Gs
This was the most badass bomber in history.
1950 60 engineers were badsasses
@@alainbellemare2168 Got to love the pipes.
Got better Germans.
Valkerie... I am a joke to you?
XB70!
That's one badass looking aircraft.
My step father was a USAF test pilot on the Hustler. He said he loss one of his friends in Utah after the aircraft loss control at high altitude. He told me it was a unforgiving airplane and he was glad his number of takeoffs equaled the number landings in B-58. The ejection capsule was an automatic coffin.
So how many times were the ejection capsules actually used? And what was the survival rate? Did they work at all?
@@SkepticalSteve01 Yes, they worked, about as well as any other contemporary system. It wasn't "an automatic coffin". The ejection parameters were pretty narrow, though. If you ejected and died, you were probably out of the envelope.
So… best used when in straight & level flight? When you might prefer to stay in the plane? And you don’t know if you’re “out of the envelope” until you’re dead? Sounds very reassuring.
That's some convoluted reasoning right there, Steve. You don't have a clue, do you?
@@dukeford8893 You must have a really unusual definition of “convoluted”, chum.
I remember the Hustler featuring in the classic cold war political thriller "Failsafe".
I believe it was stock footage; the Air Force declined to provide aircraft for filming due to the politically-sensitive plot of the movie.
Great movie but the aircraft cockpit was misrepresented. They show pilot and copilot sitting side by side and a third crew member right behind. Not how the B-58 was configured.
My dad was a HH-43 rescue pilot. We moved to Bunker Hill AFB in fall of 1966 after he completed a remote tour at Korat in Thailand.
I was 11 and we lived on base, which was a fantastic experience. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and listening to more than a dozen B-58s taking off with full afterburners. Lots of my friends' dads were NCOs, pilots, navigators, and DSOs. Unfortunately, there were crashes (3 while I was there if I remember correctly), one of my neighbors on the block included. I remember one while we were going walking home from school for lunch and there was a big cloud of black smoke towards the flight line.
I was there when Bunker Hill became Grissom AFB - there was huge airshow and my boy scout troop (369) served a lot of refreshments.
Not many bombers have magazines named after them
😁🤣
One of all time greatest aircraft of all time ! You can see some of B1 bomber design features in it !
Bunker Hill AFB was later named (Gus) Grissom AFB in Indiana, north of Indianapolis on US 31.
I saw a B-58 take off from Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa in 1968. What an awesome sight!
"Communication was done by passing hand written notes back and forth". I spit up my coffee when he said that. Besides skill and experience as a pilot, you needed good hand writing to qualify to fly this plane. 😂😂😂😂😂
Had an uncle who flew on B58s at Little Rock Air Force Base. I believe his crew position was Defensive Systems Operator if I have term correct.He later flew in Vietnam on jets that jammed enemy radar. After retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel he went to work with the company that built the B2 Stealth Bombers
Passing notes to each other? What a line of bull.
One of these beasts flew over us when my dad worked at GE Evendale. We got the sonic BOOM
Interesting that the same outfit that produced the B-36 then produced the B-58 from the same production line in Fort Worth. Quite a developmental step forward wouldn't you say?
I went into the USAF Jan of 1964, after tech school ( mechanic ) was stationed at Edwards AFB and was assigned to the ground crew of the TB-58 Hustler. The title should read only the best of the best pilots and ground crew where chosen to fly and work on the B-58. A complicated aircraft to work on, but not so much that a good mechanic could learn and do the inspections and upgrades to the plane. This bomber was a great airplane to be around and keep flying. A beautiful machine with great power. My time spent with the B-58 was the best years of my career. Went on to be a master aircraft mechanic 43171E on C-141A's and C-130E's they where good airplanes but pale comparison to the B-58.
I was enlisted Air Force and the Air Force didn’t care who went to work on what aircraft as long as you passed your tech school. Believe me I saw guys who were so so mechanical and techs on very good aircraft. From F4s to F15s and F16s. I knew I didn’t want to waste my time being a tech so I got out used the GI bill got my engineering degree and went to China Lake and worked as a scientist for the Navy in weapons development.
@@jimsteinway695 Maybe the AF recruiters were accepting any warm body, and that is why they (the lower income class) enlist,for the training,schooling and experience of Law & Order. The Armed Forces are an EOE.....The Air Force once had to see you passed Geometry and Trig to enlist
All phases of life on Earth have people that are unqualified doing a job pretty close to the Right Way of Doing It
This is the Oh NO moment of nuclear accidents - for all, that now own WMD
@@dddevildogg I think the military is good for anyone who wants to go on. You can stay in and make a career, and today college isn’t that great , so why not? The military can help those like me who had no money to go on to study something else whether it’s engineering or some trade school. ANYONE can use the military to get a better life
The B-58 still looks futuristic today!
Incredibly beautiful airplane! I remember building a plastic model kit of the B-58 Hustler back in the Fifties. I also remember Jimmy Stewart praising its attributes and it winning the Harmon speed trophy... that was after watching his movie "Strategic Air Command" with those awesome but ponderous B-36s. Unforgettable is a great scene of a B-36 Peacemaker flying through a series of billowing clouds! JJS
You left out 'Project Greased Lightning' - the B-58 sitting on display in the SAC & USAF Museum way out in Nebraska. That specially prepared plane flew from Tokyo to Anchorage and on over the North Pole to London, just over 8000 miles in 8 hours.
She inspired a whole lot of Hotrodders, as you may have heard.
Crazy me. To run a project to build an updated -58 with today’s tech, materials, engines, electronics, manufacturing and super computers. With the goal of staying as close as possible to the original form and configuration.
I have no doubt all issue would be solved and the result would be spectacular.
Spectacular - and strategically useless! But fun.
It’s truly amazing how much we’ve advanced since then. The humble F-16 has almost doubled the thrust in afterburner from it’s single engine than the B-58 has in two combined.
The whole thing is an engineering marvel
Watching the pod drop 0:24 - don't see that very often - After seeing some of the engineering films for ordinance releases gone wrong, where ordinance obtained lift for instance, "phew."
@@franksizzllemann5628 yea...dropping at(X) speed times time+elevation to target = MERICA
@@s.porter8646 Forget the pod, reinforce the cockpit and strap a booster to it. How about a D-21, or would Kelly Johnson object? Faster than a B-52, safer than between the rudders of a Blackbird.
A B-58 Hustler sits at the entrance of Grissom AFB on display with other A/C.
I was stationed at that base back in mid 70’s I was in the Hydraulic shop and worked on the KC-135.
As a very young boy living in Tacoma WA I saw several flights of B58s flying in and out of McChord AF base in 1964; first military planes I ever saw. Of course I thought they were the coolest thing ever.
I worked in the tower at Little Rock AFB 1969. They were something. When they reported 15 miles on final you didn't have another a/c in front of them. The speed on final was very high. They retired them and took them away moving the C-130's from Sewart AFB in Smyrna to Little Rock.
A restored B-58 Hustler is on display at Little Rock AFB heritage park.
It was a '1 trick pony' but it looked intimidating. I guess the Bone is the closest thing we have nowdays. I wished they could of saved a few for airshows, it would of been a helluva draw.
These old planes just looked BADASS, what incredible designs - and all without the sophisticated computers we have today. Also - nothing can top flying a warplane called a HUSTLER.
The B58 and the XB70 my two favorite planes.SuperCool👍👍
Those two, and the b.1
The British worked out that speed wasn't everything and switched to high altitude to low level.
Their own delta wing, the Vulcan, successfully nuked the US twice in exercises even when the US knew they were coming.
We in the US should be thankful for the British nuclear deterrent--it kept the Soviets uncertain as to who would react, and how.
I don’t know why all the British designs were just not attractive compared to American designs. I sat in a Vulcan. Looked like a 1936 design
Having seen one of these in person multiple times I can say that this video does the beauty of this plane zero justice
Silly title but good documentary- at the time Convair build the fastest bomber, fighter and airliner…amazing (B-58, F-106, CV990)
Growing up for awhile at Webb AFB early 60's I used to see a few from time to time on the flight line. My dad was crash/rescue and stationed at the flight line fire station so would visit him there. I thought they were giant Delta Darts...
An absolute beauty
I saw one of those take off once. Damn was it LOUD.
This aircraft looks cool standing still as it does when it's flying.
I believe the B-58 still holds the US Coast-to-coast speed record, set by the late Lt Col Henry John Deutschendorf. Dutch was the father of H. J. Deutschendorf, Jr, better known as John Denver, also a pilot like his dad.
The official AF history gives a typical B-58 mission as “take off and buddy-cruising subsonic with a KC-135 with final refueling near enemy territory”. The B-58 evolved incredibly from early 1950’s concepts that began with a mini-plane carried by a B-36, to a split-body where the lower half including radar and nose gear would be disposable. I knew original test pilot Beryl Erickson and took him on a museum tour where they had one of the escape pods - said the B-58 was his favorite plane to fly.
At the time Russia has NOTHING like this. Not even close. Most of their bombers in the 50’s and 60’s still had propellers.
Demanding to fly and a maintenance hog, but hands down one of the most beautiful jets to ever fly.
Strategically, the B-58 caused the USSR to spend a fortune on air defense. So, the two wings actually penciled out.
It's not mentioned, but the USAF had many WWIII scenarios where the planes were to be sent on one-way missions.
The pilots were expected to E&E their way home. (!!!) This is not as crazy as it seems -- as the enemy would have 'issues' to deal with.
Their cities would be gone, their everything would be gone. The assumption was that the USA would also be gone, too.
Lived near a base that flew these,many sonic booms on those days.
We used to watch them coming into Grissom Air Base in the late fifties.
No, you didn't. B-58s were not stationed there until 1961.
"The second wing to receive the B-58 was the 305th BW at Bunker Hill AFB. Equipping of the wing began in December of 1960. Following official instigation of the reorganization of the unit on January 9, 1961 and its attainment of wing status on February 1, the first aircraft was flown to Bunker Hill on May 11."
A Mach 2 delta wing bomber is going to be trickier to take off and land than a B-52. Maybe the average pilot just couldn’t cut the mustard, hence the high accident rate.
Its reputation is undeserved, as was the F-104s.
In the mid 60s I saw these take off at Grissom AFB, loved it.
The ejection system is really something.
Even today, it's a better looking airplane than anything the Soviets have ever built.
Growing up in North Little Rock, Arkansas, I used to see the Hustlers flying overhead.
My favorite plane of all time.
The plane was just too advanced for its time. Using the experience from Convair, General dynamics, after a few false starts, got it right with the F-111, which could carry much more versatile bomb load and could safely fly at low altitude, thanks to its terrain following radar.
Like an oversized MiG-21, Convair's award-winning 'hot rod' B-58 Hustler was THE bad-ass bomber beauty of its time. I know because my uncle, a B-58 DSO (LtCol retired), told me so.
False. The Mig-21 was not a tail-less delta wing aircraft.
The F106 Delta Dart was another delta wing design with internal Bombay designed by Convair.
"Narrow chord wing" - it's one of the widest chord wings ever!
Kinda goes along with “passing notes by hand between the crew” which is absolute bullshit, as each crew-member was in his own cockpit.
A 9 megaton warhead... same as the Titan II. Enormous firepower.
While stationed at Travis watch one take off it clear the runway pulled straight up and it was gone. i was stationed at Luke never saw an F 104 do that.
A co-worker who had worked on them in the Air Force said they were a maintenance nightmare. None of the access panels we see in contemporary aircraft.
They used footage of the b58 in the original movie Fail Safe, and I think the b 46 also...
One of my favorite jets was the B58.
also the F104 star fighter.
1969 Little Rock AFB spent many hours in the Cole, heat, rain guarding these monsters. Finally retrained for an inside job, thank the Lord.
Amazing such an advanced jet was designed with pencil, paper, and a slide rule.
My very favorite plane of all time!!
Awesome, 3 Guys strapped into a Missile.
Love this plane !! Ihad /built a model of it ! It was also used in a Hollywood movie !!!!!!!!
Worked with an instrument tech (or whatever was the speciality) who performed maintenance on B-58s, and he said you could dial in the automatic navigation systems and come back after a restroom break to have to start all over again because of system instability. They didn't quite understand the idea of Uncertainty Budgets in those days.
Ground Breaking? Isn't that a little MORBID?!
Horsefeathers. Hundreds of pilots flew the B-58.
I think flying any aircraft "wrong" will lead to problems.
Pretty sure the actor Jimmy Stewart spent some time in this bird.
One (1) orientation ride in a TB-58 (the trainer version).
@@dukeford8893 What is your source for that? The (staged) movie of Stewart shows him with a B-58, not a TB-58.
What a beautiful monster 🇺🇲
What a beautiful plane. Guess I’d be one of the brave ones, as I would have given anything to fly that beast. As a retired corporate pilot with 20k hrs in my book, I would have loved to at least get a back seat ride in it.
Now that’s a real airplane. Loud, smokey and fast !!!!
The B-58 was the only manned pentrator in service until the B-1. The B-52 was obsolete in that regard, as soon as it was deployed, and was useless until the Hound Dog standoff weapons were available. These weapons perform well, but lack the human ability to recon and select targets on the fly.
B-58's prowled the Soviet border 24-7 during the Cuban Missile Crises, and the Russians backed down.
I believe John Denver's dad was a Hustler SQCO.
If there are any still flyable today (and I doubt that there are) I wonder how they would perform with Fly-by-Wire technology….
There is another video on RUclips on a "Bunker 24" in Moscow, which teached from a subway stop. It says that the B-58s based in Western Europe made this bunker necessary.
I read before where they said pilots were scared of the plane and with such a high accident rate that would be understandable.
It would have taken only the best of the best to fly the plane .
Landings were at 200 kts and with a high angle of attack pilots had to look out the side windows and know the landmarks of the runway in order to safely land .
For a pilot though there would have been no greater experience then this jet I can only imagine what a ride it must of been .
For the pilots that died in the gorgeous Hustler without a doubt they died doing what they loved doing .
Even today the bloody thing looks advanced! 😧
Modern technologies in multiple Disciplines might very well result in a much more durable and capable Hustler, if re-attempted.
"Hussler"? Should have been called "Hotrod"!
I believe John Denver’s father ‘ Dutch’ Deutschendorf was a decorated B 58 pilot ...
Best bomber ever made
The pilot and rear seaters in the Hustler often had two or three aeronautical ratings.
Like my father-in-law. B58 and B52 ratings.
Can’t believe the back seaters had no windows. That suuuucckkks!!,
I mean the sr 71 had windows
But they had a pull string and hand signals!? LMAO
They did. Small, but they did.
Did those ejection seats work??
Yes.
The B-58 was capable at low altitudes - better than the B-52.
Why are the two inner engines lower?
Concord did it and had a glass of champagne in hand .
Concorde flew more than 12 years after the B-58, and entered service almost 20 years after the B-58's first flight.