Martin RB-57D

I flew this aircraft out of Hill AFB on two assignments. It did two things extremely well; takeoff and climb. I can recall days flying at 45,000 ft and having an F86D struggle to try and get a look after a practice intercept. You could drop the landing gear and select full power and stand it on its tail to climb away from the fighter. It was a good airplane that required your complete attention at 70,000 ft.It was ornery but very forgiving. It had an indicated airspeed restriction of 150 kts when fuel was below 5,000 lbs remaining but at max altitude an indicated airspeed of as low as 100 kts would give a true A /S of 460 kts. Boring missions at 65,000 plus and 8 hours alone.

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we also had b57d models @ hill afb utah from about 1960 to 1964 ours was black on top and white on the bottom and our sqdn was 4677 dses we had 6or 7 of them

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Nice article on a little known bird. Once assigned to the 4080SRW at ZDel Rio (also called Felipe Springs) for several years but just after the "Dog' model 57s departed. It remains a handsome impressive plane. I just contacted Hill Historian to locate photos of the birds that flew at Del Rio...I believe 4026th & 4928 (?) SRS with black bellys and white tops. Nobody seems to know where to locate a photo of one D model with white top wing and geometric patterns on it, possibly for U-2 or recon satellite camera calibration? Seemingly an unknown, the D model appears to have done some really neat classified work during its career. There is a possible story here as I write for paceflight History and Air Enthusiast Magazines, so those who flew and maintained the D model are welcome to contact me with memories, maintenance,flying it as opposed to the ever-popular U-2. I'm A&P and comm helio-pilot, and no stranger to aviaiton hsitory at asll! People assigned to 57s or flew are welcome to communicate. Have a good day.

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I was privalage to crew one of the D2 at DelRio Tx. in 1957. It was a deram to work on. I went on to the U-2 after we transfered all the B57 out.we bid have one to loose a wing on landing. Retired USAF.

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Correction, it was the 7407th CSG at Rein-Main AFB that I was assigned to in 1961 /62. The 7406th was our sister squador, they flew modified C-130s.

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I was assigned to the 7406th CSG at Rien-Main AFB, Germany in 1961 /62 - Instrument Shop - - one thing I remember is that on a good photo day some of the pilots would push the limit on fuel and return low on fuel and in some cases out of fuel making a gulider landing and have to be towed in. Spy birds are fun.

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In mid 60s these were flown by Nationalist Chinese out of Taipei. Normal mission profile was a takeoff towards Okinawa to gain altitude and then turn 180 back to mainland. Apparently one had O2 system failure and ended up crashing just off beach of northern Okinawa. After losing contact We were doing radio search when a farmer called in thru the local police saying he had seen a big airplane crash into the water. After getting confirmation the recovery operation took several days /weeks and became very restricted however several years later Aviation Week and Space Tech magazine published pictures of both U2s and RB57s on display in China that had crashed or been shot down. More forgotten history

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I flew the B-57D out of HILL AFB in 1966. It was used as a "Friendly Intruder" flying against USAF fighter outfits. We usually operated at 50,000ft. but occasionaly, just for fun, went to a 'bit' higher.

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The aircraft wqas assigned to the 4080th Strat Recon Wing based at Del Rio, TX. It also operated from Operating Locations in response to Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance (PARPO) tasking such as overflights of the disputed area during the Suez Crisis. The RB-57D fleet was grounded after several instances of a wing falling off during landing. Succeeded by the RB-57F which was tasked for air sampling and Air Weather Service assignments

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Although we did not know it at the time, the B-57D was a U-2 backup. A high flyer and very unique to fly. As the Martin Chief Test Pilot, I probably flew all of the 20 that we built and trained the super secret SAC squadron which deployed to Del Rio, Texas and Japan. Another almost forgotten Cold War story. Martin was a fun and diversified A /C Company to fly for but like so many others, got out of the Aircraft business so most of Flight Test types moved on.

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