BOMBS AWAY' from 60,0
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The unconventional, far-ahead, supersonic B-58 Hustler is poised combat-ready at Cars- well AFB in Texas — a new addition to the free world's deterrent strength. USAF air- men and their B-58s have been engaged in intensive training. They have also taken time out to rewrite a page or two of the record book . 'BOMBS AWAY' from 60,0 Col. J. K. Johnson, USAF FORMER COMMANDER, 43d BOMB WING (M), SAC HE TARGET is Deerfield, Mass. You're twelve sive. It may not quite rival those reported by miles up, moving at twice the speed of sound. high-altitude record setters and balloonists, or T But there's no sense of speed, of motion. You nation's first Astronaut, but it still covers a giant fi seem to be hanging high above the earth on an in- of vision. To the right, far below, are the lights visible thread strung from somewhere in the universe. Buffalo, N. Y., 150 miles away. You see a lot of te It's calm, smooth, peaceful, quiet—in sharp con- tory from a dozen miles up—although you don't rea trast to the dread lethality of your bomb load. Actu- need to for purposes of this mission. All the infa ally, the bomb load is simulated. This is a practice mation required to plunk your "electronic payloac strike. It could be for real. Deerfield, some 3,500 on target is carried in black boxes in the plane. It miles from home base by a circuitous exercise route, automatically fed to computers to keep you on ems! provides a particular pattern on a radar screen. There Yesterday, back at Carswell Air Force Base i is a major target area in a potential enemy's home- Texas, you and the other two members of your ere land that would yield a similar pattern. studied the target and established a flight profile Below is the northeastern tip of Lake Ontario. You how many miles, and at what speeds and altitude! streak toward target on a true heading of 125 degrees, To fulfill mission requirements, the route was plotte roughly south-southeast. The bomber, on autopilot, from Texas through North Dakota, back to Lake Su is virtually flying itself. You keep your right hand on perior northwest of Sault St. Marie, Mich. Then th the stick, your eyes on the instruments and sky. The Mach-2-plus dash for target. stick reminds you that you used to be a fighter pilot; "Estimated release time, nine minutes," the nay most bombers have yokes instead. By pressing a but- gator-bombardier says quietly. ton on the stick, you could instantly take control back Downstairs, an Air Force radar-bomb-scoring crel from the autopilot. Behind you, the navigator-bom- working in a trailer parked near Deerfield, has y( bardier and the third crew member, the defense sys- on radar. Your course is automatically tracked with tems operator, read their instruments, speak a few pen that moves across a large graph without bene words occasionally. of human hand. This is the record of exactly wh The view from the cockpit, as the three of you you did—when you did it—and how well y, commence the routine of target approach, is impres- "bombed" the simulated target in Deerfield. 48 AIR FORCE Magazine • August From the earphones, the navigator comes in again Hill AFB, Ind. About sixty of the planes are now in loud and clear: existence, an inclusive total of 116 programed. "Time-to-go meter, 240 seconds." What do we at Carswell think of the Convair-man- The bomb-nay system is flying the airplane, send- ufactured B-58? In terms of hardware, a few words ing out a clear electronic signal being heard a milli- sum it up: She's a sweet airplane. Strategically speak- second later in the radar-bomb-scoring trailer. When ing, we see the '58 as a vital element in USAF's mixed the signal stops, it means that the bomb-nay system aerial arsenal. The Hustler is, so far as we know, the has simulated release of the payload—starting the only supersonic strategic bomber in the world today— aginary weapon on its trajectory toward the target. and as such a powerful swift-strike threat to any Again, the navigator: "Time to go, five seconds." potential aggressor. "Four, three, two, one—bombs away!" • Our B-58s can hit targets anywhere in the world A few minutes more and through the earphones from great altitudes at prolonged dash speeds more om the radar-bomb-score people, 60,000 feet below, than twice the speed of sound. mes a coded message. In plain language, it means: They can also execute cross-country bomb runs at "Right in the pickle barrel!" treetop level, where ground radar is blind. Recently, You're in! You take the stick, begin your turn to one of our B-58s hedgehopped 1,400 miles across four oaf" subsonically back to Carswell and the con- states at 700 miles an hour. The plane was never usion of another combat-training mission for SAC's more than 500 feet off the ground, sometimes as low -58 Hustler bomber. as 200 feet. Combining these two capabilities, the Hustler could Hustling airmen and Hustler aircraft of SAC's 43d make an intercontinental approach at high altitude rnbardment Wing ( Medium), based at Carswell, and Mach 2, then drop down under the enemy's elec- training missions such as this around the clock. tronic shield for approach to target and departure. le 43d, which I commanded until recently, is pres- The B-58's comparatively small size would add to the illy the only USAF wing flying the B-58. A second enemy's radar detection problem. ing, the 305th, will be activated this year at Bunker (Continued on following page) —1;$ Air Force photos It by the camera zooming in the supersonic B-58 shows its and deadly lines. Visible under selage is disposable pod, which elp perform a variety of missions. , BOMBS AWAY' CONTINUED _ • This Hustler, shown during aerial refueling en route to Paris in May, set transatlantic speed record. Air- craft commander was SAC's Maj. William Payne. Record set, New York-Paris: 3 hours, 20 minutes. —US Air Force ,--sZrafiA • • ■ '"111k al11111.1.1 With the assistance of midair refueling, the '58 can meters and at an average 1,061.808 mph for 2,000 make a nonstop round trip to any spot on the surface kilometers. One thousand kilometers is about 621 of the globe. The 43d Wing some months ago re- miles; 2,000 km, about 1,242 miles. The plane carried corded a mission of 11,000 miles. a 4,400-pound, or 2,000-kilogram, payload; records Underlining the plane's potentials, our B-58s have were set in the no-payload, 1,000-kilogram, and 2,000- performed spectacularly through their first year as kilogram categories in this one flight. Five of the operational aircraft. They achieved this status last records were held previously by the Russians; one summer, four years after the plane's first flight. was set in a USAF F-101 in 1959. • In September of 1960, a 43d Wing B-58 piloted Two days later, on January 14, Colonel Confer by Lt. Col. Harold F. Confer won the bombing event and his crew raced 1,000 kilometers at an average at the annual SAC Combat Competition—usually 1,284.73 mph to break the three new speed-payload known as the SAC World Series. The Carswell Hust- records for that distance. Colonel Confer's plane re- ler outscored a dozen other SAC planes 7B-52s, B-47s, ceived the Thompson Trophy, privately awarded an- and one other B-58—in both high- and low-level nual symbol of supremacy in closed-course speed bombing, radar and visual. It was the first time out flying. Both planes in the January flights flew over a in the annual competition for a B-58. The cream of course that began at Edwards AFB, Calif., and cov- SAC's combat-ready crews from around the world ered portions of a number of states in the Southwest. annually take part in this World Series. • New glories came to the Hustler on May 10, • Then, in January of this year, two B-58s of the when one of our 484 Wing planes established what 43d brought home a hatful of closed-cogrse speed- we believe to be a world record for sustained speed. payload records. The first, flown by Maj; Henry J. Piloted by Maj. Elmer E. Murphy, a B-58 averaged Deutschendorf, Jr., set six marks on January 12 by 1,302 miles an hour in a flight lasting more than zooming at an average 1,200.194 mph for '1,000 kilo- half an hour. The speed run took place over a closed 50 AIR FORCE Magazine • August 1961 211 s ,,,sfiv • —US Air Force photo of 669.4 miles, also in the Southwest. USAF spectacularly celebrated the opening of the twenty- came eligible to receive permanent possession fourth Paris International Air Show. Aero Club of France's Bleriot Trophy. The Sadly, tragedy also entered the picture in Paris. named for the great French aerial pioneer, The three men who set the May 10 record—Major go permanently to the first aircraft to average Murphy, navigator-bombardier Maj. Eugene E. lleast 1,243 mph (2,000 kilometers per hour) for Moses, and defense systems operator Capt. Raymond rty minutes. R. Wagener—crashed and were killed while taking 1 Two weeks after that, on May 26, another of part in an aerial demonstration event of the Paris aircraft flashed nonstop from Carswell to Paris, show on June 3.