The B-58 was the first supersonic bomber put into production and the first bomber to reach Mach 2. The Hustler had no internal weapons stowage and made use of stainless- steel honeycomb construction for lower weight and greater strength. Crew members had individual escape capsules rather than individual ejection seats. The B-58 used sophisticated inertial and star-tracking navigation methods. On October 15, 1959, one of the first B-58s built was flown 1,680 miles in 80 minutes with one refueling, maintaining a speed of more than Mach 2 for more than an hour. The 43d Bomb Wing at Carswell AFB, Tex., was the first B-58 unit, and the only other unit was the 305th Bomb Wing at Bunker Hill AFB, Ind. Aircraft were withdrawn from service in January 1970 primarily because of the high cost of operation. B-58s were used to set more world records than any other type of combat airplane. On March 5, 1962, Maj. Robert G. Sowers and Capts. Robert MacDonald and John T. Walton were the only entry in the twenty-first and last Bendix Trophy transcontinental race. Called Operation Heatrise, the crew completed the Los Angeles to New York course with an average speed of 1,214.71 mph and total elapsed time of two hours, 56 seconds. The crew was also awarded the 1962 Mackay Trophy. On October 16, 1963, in Operation Greased Lightning, a B-58 crew led by Maj. Sidney J. Kubesch took off from Okinawa, flew to Alaska, over Canada to London to set a world speed record by flying 8,028 miles in eight hours, 35 minutes, 20.4 seconds, averaging 938 mph. Out of 116 aircraft built, 26 crashed, although most of the accidents occurred early in the plane's career. Eight B-58s survive today in various states of repair.
| Contractors: | Convair Division of General Dynamics Corp. |
| Locations Built: | Fort Worth, Tex. |
| Number Built: (USAF) | 116 (116) |
| First Flight: | November 11, 1956 |
| First Flight Model: | XB-58 |
| First Flight Location: | Fort Worth, Tex. |
| First Flight Pilot: | Beryl A. Erickson, pilot; J. D. McEachern, flight-test observer; and Charles Harrison, flight-test engineer |
| Models/Variants: | YB-58. B-58A. RB-58A. TB-58A |
| Powerplant: | Four General Electric J79-GE-5A, -5B, or -5C turbojets of 15,600 lb of thrust each in afterburner |
| Wingspan: | 56 ft 10 in. |
| Length: | 96 ft 9 in. |
| Height: | 31 ft 5 in. |
| Weight: | 163,000 lb gross |
| Armament: | One General Electric T171 (later designated M61) Vulcan 20-mm cannon in tail, plus one MA-1C, MB-1C, or Two-Component Pod (TCP) ventral pod containing fuel and a variety of nuclear weapons; aircraft later modified to carry up to four Mk. 43 free-fall nuclear weapons with a yield of approx one megaton each. |
| Accommodation: | Crew of three (pilot, navigator/bombardier, and defensive systems operator) in tandem |
| Cost: | $12.44 million |
| Max. Speed: | 1,385 mph |
| Range: | 1,750 mi (combat) on internal fuel only; approx 4,000 mi (ferry) on internal fuel only |
| Ceiling: | 64,800 ft |
Copyright Air Force Association. All rights reserved.