Key Points and Summary: The B-58 Hustler was a supersonic marvel designed to outrun Soviet interceptors at Mach 2, but it became a victim of its own complexity and shifting Cold War tactics.
-Despite its record-breaking speed and iconic delta-wing silhouette, the Hustler was notoriously difficult to fly and maintain, suffering a staggering loss of 26 aircraft out of 116 built.
B-58 Bomber. 19FortyFive.com Image from National Museum of the Air Force.
-When Soviet surface-to-air missiles made high-altitude penetration a suicide mission, the B-58’s narrow nuclear-only role left it without a purpose.
-By 1970, the “immortal” B-52 outlasted its futuristic successor, leaving the Hustler as a fast but flawed relic of early supersonic ambition.
The B-58 Hustler, Futuristic, Fast, And Flawed
The B-58 Hustler was the U.S. Air Force’s first operational supersonic bomber, and made its initial flight on Nov. 11, 1956. It was designed and developed during a period of the Cold War when the US believed that its bombers could outrun Soviet missiles.
Convair built 116 B-58s, which were a direct successor to the subsonic B-47: 30 test and pre-production aircraft and 86 for operational service. B-58 Hustlers flew in the Strategic Air Command between 1960 and 1970, and set 19 world speed and altitude records. B-58s also won five different aviation trophies.
B-58 Bomber. 19FortyFive.com Image from National Museum of the Air Force.
Many of the Hustler’s records are still intact today.
Meet The B-58 Hustler
The visually appealing Hustler had a distinctive delta winged shape, a sophisticated inertial guidance navigation and bombing system, a slender “wasp-waist” fuselage, and an extensive use of heat-resistant honeycomb sandwich skin panels in the wings and fuselage.
Since the thin fuselage prevented the carrying of bombs internally, a droppable, two-component pod beneath the fuselage contained a nuclear weapon — along with extra fuel, reconnaissance equipment, or other specialized gear. One 20mm cannon was carried in the tail for air defense.
Later, four external hardpoints were added, enabling it to carry up to five weapons, such as one Mk 53 hydrogen bomb and four Mk 43 thermonuclear bombs, later redesignated as the B43.
The B-58 crew consisted of a pilot, navigator/bombardier, and defense systems operator. The crew all had individual escape ejection capsules in the case of emergencies. The capsule protected the crewmembers from debris and/or high winds.
B-58 Bomber. 19FortyFive.com Image from National Museum of the Air Force.
The Hustler was powered by General Electric J79 engines rated at 15,000 pounds of thrust each (with afterburner). This allowed the bomber to reach a speed of 1,325 mph. The Hustler had a range of 4,400 miles without aerial refueling, and a ceiling of 64,800 feet.
With the 62,400 lbs of combined thrust from the four General Electric J79 turbojet engines with after-burners, it could climb at 46,000 ft/min or 235 m/s and attain an almost vertical climb.
The Air Force developed the B-58 with the intention of flying over Soviet targets at altitudes greater than 50,000 feet at Mach 2 thereby limiting the reaction time of Soviet air defenses.
The B-58 Hustler Had A High Accident And Was Difficult To Fly
However, the B-58 Hustler had a high accident rate, operational costs, and an obsolete mission profile. Despite its speed, the aircraft was difficult to fly, maintenance-intensive, and its high-altitude design was countered by the development of low-altitude surface-to-air missiles, making it a flawed and ultimately short-lived strategic asset.
The B-58 had a very high accident rate, with 26 of the 116 built being lost during its 10-year service life—a loss rate of 22.4 percent. Many of these occurred during the initial testing and service introduction phases.
B-58 Bomber. 19FortyFive.com Image from National Museum of the Air Force.
One Air Force observer was quoted as saying that if the service hadn’t retired the aircraft, the entire fleet would have disappeared in an alarmingly short period due to its accident rate.
The B-58 was a very difficult aircraft to fly. Its eccentric landing and takeoff characteristics made it a challenging aircraft for pilots to master. It was also less stable than its contemporaries and more prone to entering spins, with a particularly difficult recovery from an engine loss at supersonic speeds.
The B-58 was significantly more expensive to operate than the B-52, partly because of the specialized, demanding maintenance required for its complex systems.
The B-58 was equipped with the most advanced electronic navigational equipment, which allowed it to fly radio-silent into enemy territory, and its bombing accuracy was also better than that of the B-52.
However, in the days of vacuum tube technology, it ran hot and needed air conditioning to keep it cool, which made it unreliable and gave the B-58 a reputation that it kept until its retirement in 1970 as an untrustworthy, expensive, and difficult-to-fly aircraft.
However, many pilots loved flying it. Lt. Col Strank, former B-58 pilot sums up on B-58 Hustler website:
“The delta wing made the aircraft handle differently than straight-wing aircraft, but the B-58 was firm, responsive, and was a joy to fly–although you were “flying” it even when you taxied. You had to pay attention to detail at all times, and you couldn’t really relax from the time you climbed on board until you parked and cut the engines.”
The B-58’s Mission Profile Suffered From Bad Timing
The B-58 was designed for high-altitude, high-speed penetration. However, the development of Soviet surface-to-air missiles rendered this tactic obsolete, requiring a shift to lower-altitude flying.
The B-58 was not well suited to this new low-altitude mission and was more expensive than other aircraft, such as the B-52, that could perform it.
General Curtis LeMay sought a replacement high-altitude bomber, the B-70, but that aircraft was also deemed an ill fit due to the SAM threat.
XB-70. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The B-58 Never Saw Combat, Being A Nuclear-Only Bomber
The Hustler, like the B-36 and the B-47, was never used in combat and was configured only for nuclear attack missions, further reducing its strategic value. Therefore, it was never used in Vietnam, where the B-52 was used for strategic bombing missions.
The Air Force tried to adapt the B-58’s mission profile to use it in conventional missions but those were canned because the aircraft was ill-suited to the missions.
Due to these issues, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered the retirement of the fleet in 1965, which the Air Force completed ahead of schedule in 1970.
David Cenciotti, a former Italian Air Force officer and founder and editor of The Aviationist, wrote that, “The phaseout of the fleet was ordered at the end of 1965, when the Soviets introduced highly accurate surface-to-air missiles, and it was felt that the Hustler’s high-altitude attack profile could no longer guarantee success against increasingly sophisticated Soviet air defenses.
“Moreover, the aircraft was substantially more expensive to operate than other bombers, such as the (almost immortal) Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, and also suffered from a high rate of accidental losses.”
Many of the B-58 Hustler pilots transitioned over to the SR-71 Blackbird when it was accepted into the Air Force due to their experience in flying high altitude missions.
The B-58 Had Its Own “Top Gun” Cameo
In the 1964 film, “Fail Safe,” a nightmarish nuclear war is averted after a B-58, named Vindicator, mistakenly bombs Moscow. To avert all-out nuclear war, the American president (Henry Fonda) agrees to bomb New York.
The B-58 wasn’t the bad aircraft that its reputation had. It was a new design and the many issues needed to be ironed out. The Hustler helped the Air Force to learn how to manage speed and the heat associated with that.
Unfortunately, the window that the aircraft operated in was very small and the mission profile was so narrow that it was never able to reach its true potential. Which is probably a good thing since nuclear war with the Russians was not a scenario that anyone wanted.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
