In March 1949 the US Air Force's Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) invited proposals for a supersonic bomber, and after submissions had been reduced to two, from Boeing and Consolidated-Vultee's Fort Worth Division, the latter was selected in August 1952 to develop its Convair Model 4 designed to the hardware stage under contract MX-1964. On 10 December 1952 the designation B-58 was allocated and late in that year Convair received a contract for 18 aircraft, to be powered by a new J79 engine for which General Electric received a development contract at the same time. The performance requirement for the new aircraft demanded considerable advances in aerodynamics, structures and materials. The resulting design, one of the first to incorporate the NACA/ Whitcomb-developed area-rule concept, was a delta-winged aircraft with four engines in underslung pods, a slim fuselage and, perhaps its most novel feature, a 18.90m long under-fuselage pod to carry fuel and a nuclear weapon. The three-man crew, in individual tandem cockpits, were provided with jetti-sonable escape capsules.
In June 1954 the 18-aircraft order was reduced to two XB-58 prototypes and 11 YB-58A pre-production examples, together with 31 pods. The first of these was rolled out at Fort Worth on 31 August 1956, making its first flight on 11 November piloted by B. A. Erikson. On 30 December, still without a pod, the XB-58 became the first bomber to exceed Mach 1. A further 17 YB-58As were ordered on 14 February 1958, together with 35 MB-1 bomb pods, to bring to 30 the number of aircraft available for the manufacturer's test programme and ARDC service trials with the 6592nd Test Squadron and the 3958th Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron at Carswell AFB.
A total of 86 production B-58A Hustler bombers was ordered between September 1958 and 1960, supplemented by 10 YB-58As which were brought up to production standard to equip the 43rd Bomb Wing, initially at Carswell but later assigned to Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, and the 305th Bomb Wing at Bunker Hill AFB, Indiana. The first was handed over to the 65th Combat Crew Training Squadron at Carswell on 1 December 1959 and the 43rd Bomb Wing, activated as the first B-58 unit on 15 March 1960, became operational on 1 August 1960. The 116th and last B-58A was delivered on 26 October 1962 and the type was withdrawn from Strategic Air Command service on 31 January 1970.
With such outstanding performance it was clear that the B-58A had record-breaking potential. On 12 January 1961 Major Henry Deutschendorf and his crew secured the 2000km closed-circuit record at 1708.8km/h and on 14 January Major Harold E. Confer's aircraft raised the 1000km record to 2067.57km/h. On 10 May Major Elmer Murphy won the trophy presented by Louis Bleriot in 1930 for the first pilot to exceed 2000km/h for a continuous period of 30 minutes. Sixteen days later Major William Payne and his crew flew from Carswell to Paris setting, en route, record times of 3 hours 39 minutes 49 seconds from Washington and 3 hours 19 minutes 51 seconds from New York; sadly the Hustler crashed at the Paris Air Show on 3 June with the loss of the crew. Other flights included a supersonic endurance record of 8 hours 35 minutes from Haneda, Tokyo to London, on 16 October 1963.
Convair B-58 Hustler on YOUTUBE
Specification
MODEL
B-58
CREW
3
ENGINE
4 x General Electric J79-GE-5A turbo-jets, 69.3kN with afterburner
WEIGHTS
Take-off weight
73936 kg
163002 lb
DIMENSIONS
Wingspan
17.32 m
57 ft 10 in
Length
29.49 m
97 ft 9 in
Height
9.58 m
31 ft 5 in
Wing area
143.25 m2
1541.93 sq ft
PERFORMANCE
Max. speed
2229 km/h
1385 mph
Ceiling
18290 m
60000 ft
Range
3219 km
2000 miles
ARMAMENT
1 x 20mm cannon, nuclear bombs inside the container under the fuselage
my father waspart of a classified radar program in Biloxi Mississippi during the time of the hustlers, he said that they came on so quick that the radars couldn't pick them up until they were right on you, he said their flight route was from Cuba North simulating Russian supersonic bombers,that's pretty impressive considering that the radar he was working on could pick up contacts from the moon
I lived for several months in Bismarck N.D. in 1967. One day while walking home from school I say three B-58 glinting in the afternoon sun turning in formation over the city. They were not that high and I still remember the fantastic screaming sound and the sparkling natural finish. he formation was staggered with each aircraft behind and to the left. A most impressive sight to see at 13 years of age.
My dad and I were throwing horse shoes in our back yard in Duncan, OK. We saw the B58 in flight and then saw an orange glow and heard the explosion. Many white streams started falling from the sky. My dads farm was 7 miles west and North of Duncan and many pieces fell on our farm as well as the magnetic tape. You won't believe this but I found a piece of the plane 20 years after the crash on our farm. I still have it today. I could not find anyone to turn it in to. The squadron commander out of Wichita Falls Texas even came to our house and ask permission to search the farm. Dad gave him a key to the gate. I heard years later the pilots were experimating and running a series of test with shutting off the fuel to one side or two of the engines on one side of the plane and doing restarts. It is my understanding that it was the tremendous yaw condition during one of these test that caused structural failure and caused the airplane to explode in flight. It was a sad day. The crews were well trained and dedicated to the program and the plane they were flying. I will never forget. It was a big deal back then and something I will never forget.
I was 1 /4 mile from crash site . Iwas supporting U.S. army helicoptor h-13 display .I was a mechanic . I saw the b-58 go down inverted . The first aircracft to the seen was a Kayman helicoptor . It was there on display for the show .It crashed in a field where animals were grazing .The whole U.S. air force and navy contingent of aircreft did thier flyby followed by the b-58. Not much left of aircraft at crash site .Right away they said it was sabatoseged. I guess later they concluded it was fog and instrumentation failure at such low altitude. thats all I can say . We all felt heart sick at that moment . Edward Ginnegar Army E-5
I was 1 /4 mile from crash site . Iwas supporting U.S. army helicoptor h-13 display .I was a mechanic . I saw the b-58 go down inverted . The first aircracft to the seen was a Kayman helicoptor . It was there on display for the show .It crashed in a field where animals were grazing .The whole U.S. air force and navy contingent of aircreft did thier flyby followed by the b-58. Not much left of aircraft at crash site .Right away they said it was sabatoseged. I guess later they concluded it was fog and instrumentation failure at such low altitude. thats all I can say . We all felt heart sick at that moment . Edward Ginnegar Army E-5
First of all thanks to all for your accounts of this aircraft the B58 was being design way before me,As young boy buying models to build I thought this was nothing but bad ass! now being much older I have decided to rekindle my child hood desires aircraft like this into yard art my first project is the B58 I am not building it to any precise scale. the plan is to keep its masculinity with simplicity. I will post progress on a blogger I hope you will enjoy Cheers!
On a warm Saturday afternoon--- on November 7th 1059--- my dad and I were tending his little garden in our back yard---- he had a camera to take pictures of a tomato plant--- as he was getting ready to take the picture there was a huge explosion to the southeast of us--- we lived at Fletcher OK at that time--- a large cloud of white smoke hung in the air along with streamers of debris-- he took the picture--- and the only known color picture of a 58 Hustler exploding in mid air----- the Lawton Constitution had a article and picture in the Sunday paper--- my dad and I were saddened by the loss of the crew--- and the wonderful airplane---------
I was stationed at Little Rock AFB from spring 1963 to about the end of 1964. I was assigned to the 27th MMS as a bomb loader. The B-58s came from Carswell AFb and were fun to work on. I remember it being the first aircraft that I worked on to have an audible warning system. While wringing the system out prior to loading, we would occasionally trip a alarm just to listen to the female voice. The only "mission" I remember, other than maintaining the alert pad with loaded aircraft, was March 1964 when we loaded a camera pod and the aircraft flew to Alaska to take pictures of the great Alaskan earthquake, and flew directly to DC to get the photos downloaded and analyzed. Supposedly, the total flight only took about six hours, but I had no way to confirm that. I think it;s top speed would support that possibility. It was really a neat aircraft, but unfortunately it was very expensive to operate and maintain.
Regarding the November 1959 explosion of the B-58 in mid flight near Lawton, Oklahoma, I was a 13 year old boy playing in my back yard in southwest Oklahoma City and noticed the high altitude contrail to my southwest. I looked away and moments later looked back and the contrail ended in a white puff with white streamers falling toward the ground. I didn't witness the explosion, just the aftermath. Lawton is about 75 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. The next day my parents and I heard on the news about the B-58 explosion with no survivors.
I was stationed at Bunker Hill AFB from 1966 to 1968 and loved to watch those B-58's take off. Those J79 engines were LOUD, especially in the winter with the cold air. A few years later I cross trained to air traffic controller (tower) and had the pleasure of observing the SR-71 in action at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. Those are my two favorite aircraft ever!
While working at Edwards AFB in 1964 I was dispatched to do some work on the "Bear-Shit-Express". I learned that it was the B-58 that was used to eject a bear at high altitude. Apparently the bear realized what was going on and it turn out to be "too close for his laundry!"
Hello, my name is rodrigo i'm 24 years old and i'm a aviation fanatic, listen, i heard a story about a B-58 who landed with the Landing gear damaged on NASA Dryden research center in Edwards AFB after 14 houers of flight, my question is ¿WHAT WENT WRONG WIHT THE LANDING GEAR ?
In 1979-80 I was working as a farmhand in southwest Kansas south of Garden City. My job was to check on center pivot irrigation systems we had in the area. After checking one of the systems I heard a roar coming from above. I looked up and saw what I believed was a B-58 Hustler flying at low level over me. Having the model as a kid it was inmistakeable. I collected model aircraft and still do. It was a B-58. Does anyone know when the last B-58 flew?
I witnessed the crash of the B-58 near lawton, Okla. in November, 1959. My friend and I were traveing to lawton from Hulen to go skating at Doe Doe Park. We were looking out of the rear window of his dad's 58 Impala watching this airplane when it suddenly blew up. We were right under it. Fire shot out of one side, then the other and then it exploded. We followed one engine to the ground. Small parts of the fuselage were raining down all around us. The main part of the fuselage landed aout a quarter of a mile behind another friends house just southeast of Hulen. It was said that they had to call a demolition team in from Ft. Sill to disarm the ejection seat so they recover the body of one of the crew. One section of the wing came down about 3 /4 of a mile north of my friends home. At the time my friend and I had constucted a tree house on the creek that ran through his family's farm and several helicopters checked it out thinking it was part of the plane. I never got the true story of what happened that tragic day but we were told that one of the engines sucked in a weather ballon released from Ft. Sill.
This is a day I'll never forget and have told it to my grandchildren over and over.
My Dad, LTC Don Shirley was at LRAFB 63-66 and was Cmdr of some of the missle sites. I was aware of the 58s and thought they were the best looking aircraft ever. Little did I know how spectacular they were! Would like to know if any of you guys here remember Col Jim Gueydan or Col Pete Peters? Especially Peters as his 2 sons were my very good friends and if you know where Col Pete is please let me know. Or if you knew my Dad. Doug. A1ADauntless@yahoo.com
I was stationed at Little Rock When the 58 was sent to the bone yard.Rigleys Bird was used as a training aircraft for loading bombs and fuel tanks. When the scedual to send the planes to the bone yard was printed the first plane on the list was Rigleys bird. It was not flyable and we all thought that was funny. I think that plane was used at Little Rock for display. Over all have some fond memories of working on that bird. 1968-1969 time frame.
