The B-58 Hustler with pilot, navigator/bombardier and the defensive systems operator
Posted by Xeelee1123@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 89 comments
Harpyness@reddit
Pretty to look at, nightmare for crew apparently.
asmallercat@reddit
Just strapped in a supersonic metal tube with no windows for the two non-pilot crew. Horrible.
cat_prophecy@reddit
Taking cues from the Brits. They must have hated their navigators and bombardiers. The whole V-series of bombers crammed them into dark holes they couldn't even easily eject from.
tigernet_1994@reddit
It’s traditional. The Lancaster had exit doors that were a bit too small and made it hard to bail out from.
HH93@reddit
'cos they didn't even have Ejection Seats
evilmercer@reddit
If everything went to plan they would just be ejecting out into overlapping mushroom clouds anyways.
Maro1947@reddit
It's because the radar tech has such dim screens
cat_prophecy@reddit
That would certainly make sense. Why couldn't they just...make it brighter or give them a window shade?
xternocleidomastoide@reddit
Things were moving so fast back then than the life time of these airframes was less than a decade at most. So they aerodynamic developments were moving faster than the rest of equipment (digital tech hadn't taken off fully yet, put intended).
So it was just easier to ghetto rig it and call it a day. Plus the perspective of the time was that nuclear war was about break out at any time, so stuff like crew comfort or survivability wasn't even a consideration. Since the expectation was that the flights were going to be a one way ticket to drop nukes.
That's why in the Vulcan, for example, they didn't even bother to give the 60% of the crew ejection seats. They most definitively weren't expecting that air frame to serve for decades, for example.
Raguleader@reddit
I think it was just the limitation on screen technology of the time. All-weather fighters in the 1950s had the GIB sticking his face into a hood kind of like Spock's science scope so he could read the radar scope, in a plane designed to be used at night. Trying to keep your head in that position pressed into the hood while the pilot was maneuvering a jet interceptor must have been an interesting ergonomic experience.
Foreign_Athlete_7693@reddit
The V bomber cabins were a tad more spacious than this😂(even if they were shared by all 5)
Kodiak01@reddit
The B-58, however, used encapsulated ejection seats.
UNC_Samurai@reddit
Bear-tested, USAF-approved
ZehAngrySwede@reddit
Looks like the navigator has a tiny 7x7 window to look out of. Just enough to let him know if things are going terribly wrong or not.
whooo_me@reddit
"Up = blue, Down = green? We're good..."
Illustrious_Bet_9963@reddit
Keep the blue side up……
turlian@reddit
"Fuck, we're over water."
BehindEnemyLines1@reddit
They both do. Last widow is behind his leg.
LazaroFilm@reddit
Last window with a wing view. Wing = good no more wing = bad.
G-I-T-M-E@reddit
Kinky. But why a widow?
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
Those things killed too many flight crew.
ballsack-vinaigrette@reddit
Getting her through the little pulley system was definitely an engineering challenge.
Ok-Rough-2235@reddit
🤣🤣🤣🤣
ZehAngrySwede@reddit
Ah, can barely see the flashing of he window by his knee.
ziper1221@reddit
How could he possibly take sextant readings out of that?
Lando_Lee@reddit
I think the back seat has it too, just covered by the guys leg.
BehindEnemyLines1@reddit
They both have windows.
asmallercat@reddit
lol you’re right I missed the tiny squares
DFWPrecision@reddit
Barf bags are a must
Swisskommando@reddit
Not as bad as the sea vixen. Little hole next to the pilot for the radar operator
HH93@reddit
The various mks of Canberra were no better either.
Harpyness@reddit
Another gorgeous jet. However I wouldn't want to be in the coal bunker haha.
jdmgto@reddit
They retrofitted the escape capsules into the cockpits and getting in, dunno how you do it in full flight kit.
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
Carefully :P
Cetun@reddit
Pilot has shit to look at with the window and all the controls. Navigator at least has some job to do that can keep him busy. Literally all the DSO had to do was if a target aircraft showed up on his targeting scope, he would select it and the gun would automatically track and fire at it without any other input needed.
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
The DSO did all the systems work that a flight engineer would do on any other aircraft. In many ways, he was the businest of the crew members. And he also had to do the ECM and shoot the tail gun (by shoot I mean press the button that turned the automatic system loose to fire at anything worth firing at).
I can't find it now, but in the early days of the interwebs, there was a website run by a DSO who used it for stories of his time in the B-58 plus a few fictional scenarios of what would have happened if the B-58 fleet ever went to war. He told one story of a patrol over Seattle where he spent a few hours jamming a taxi company's radio frequency just because he was bored and feeling mischevious.
jorgepolak@reddit
They had a looped string, basically a clothesline, going between the three positions to pass each other paper notes in case the coms went down. The three positions were completely isolated, like three little tombs.
devolute@reddit
"Get in lads, whaaay. We're all going to heaven!"
Someonenoone7@reddit
Last man on the right has this "I hate this hell bucket" posture.
DemonsSouls1@reddit
My favorite plane
Patient-Jelly-8752@reddit
Now this is cool. Thank you so much
Professor_Lavahot@reddit
Trying to find it, the National Museum of the Air Force used to have some great 360deg camera views from each of these seats.
At armrest height the crew had a little pulley system to winch notes? playing cards? pictures of assorted ladies? back and forth
Elias_Fakanami@reddit
Paul Stewart (a YouTube plane nerd) did a full tour of this plane that included climbing into each seat to show the cramped conditions.
Lonely_Programmer_42@reddit
Or snacks, got to have a snack line
yoweigh@reddit
When they refurbished NASA's Apollo control room a while back, they discovered ancient ham sandwiches in the pneumatic tube system.
Potato-Engineer@reddit
The first sushi conveyor belt restaurant was built in 1958. These B-58s were ahead of the curve!
Brainchild110@reddit
No windows for you, little backseat bitches
TwoAmps@reddit
Skunk works gets all the attention, but over the years, Convair certainly came out with some innovative, way out there aircraft.
T-wrecks83million-@reddit
What’s the little Bull 🐂 nose art say? “El Toro De Moro”??
The M word is difficult to read with the chipped paint.
SutttonTacoma@reddit
The Wikipedia article is interesting. There was no bomb bay, just a single nuke strapped to the belly.
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
And later on, 4 more nukes tucked in under the wing roots.
tudorapo@reddit
a nuke/fuel tank combo.
7stroke@reddit
Pilot and losers
circumburner@reddit
:(
SaltyDogBill@reddit
My local air museum recently got one. Without the weapon pod… and sitting so high on its gear… she sleek and fast looking as all hell.
DWMoose83@reddit
I'd recognize that SAC emblem anywhere. Dad was a MSgt at a SAC training base.
Sonic_Is_Real@reddit
The design is very human
isaac32767@reddit
When I was a kid in the 60s in SoCal, you'd hear a sonic boom now and then. I imagine a lot of them were from this plane. Probably a factor in its early retirement.
It's interesting that the ultra-advanced B-58 only flew for about a decade, while the less sophisticated B-52 is still in use 70 years after it was first deployed.
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
The problem is losing an engine. Lose an engine in a B-52 and your problem is that your fuel will last a little longer because only 7 engines are burning it. Lose an engine in a B-58 and everything goes sideways , the tail rips off and you end up having a really, really bad day.
Also it was ridiculously expensive to operate and maintain. One B-58 cost the same as several B-52s per flight hour. This was at the time when they were losing a bunch of F-105s per day over North Vietnam. The budget had to lose something.
PicnicBasketPirate@reddit
What were the defensive systems?
blorbschploble@reddit
At the time, Mach 2 dash at 50,000+ feet.
SA-2 changed that.
Raguleader@reddit
ECM, tail gun, and the throttle lever.
Bon-Bon-Boo@reddit
A tail mounted 20mm rotary canon.
smokepoint@reddit
Shitloads of ECM and a radar-directed 20mm Vulcan tail-gun.
legal_stylist@reddit
Well, beyond electronic warfare detection and jamming, there was a radar directed 20 mm Gatling tail gun to operate.
smokepoint@reddit
Yow. Somehow I had the idea that that was only how you'd leave on a bad day, not the normal ingress route. There's not much room to do it any other way, though.
One-Swordfish60@reddit
On a bad day you'd just eject the escape pod. For real.
smokepoint@reddit
Bear-tested. Aircrew-approved.
I take it the capsules ejected that way, too, though, especially given that they were rated for zero-altitude.
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
Yes. The lip popped off and the capsule popped out. The challenge was getting the bear out of it safely after it landed.
Bonespurfoundation@reddit
Jimmy Stewart was a reserve B-58 pilot.
HH93@reddit
OMG -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEKyTxnrXIc
Fanta645@reddit
Its the clone arc fighter lmao
Raguleader@reddit
I love the Hustler. It looks like something George Lucas would model a Prequel-era spaceship after.
Swisskommando@reddit
It’s like a mini advent calendar
TacTurtle@reddit
This little piggy went to market, this little piggy wanted to stay home, this little piggy had a thermonuclear surprise for Ivan.
_ohodgai_@reddit
Mini as in 3 days right? Or are you just a giant?
Lower_Ad_1317@reddit
One of my favourite planes. I didn’t know they had caterpillar crew.
Xeelee1123@reddit (OP)
Source: https://acesflyinghigh.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/supersonic-greased-lightning-the-convair-b-58-hustler/
Source: https://b-58.com/crew.php
Kvaw@reddit
The shroud on the tail gun looks wild when it's moving - I don't know what I expected but not that.
Sprintzer@reddit
Navigator and Bombardier have no windows? What a fucking nightmare. The motion sickness would be crazy if flying in any kind of turbulence
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
They had tiny litle windows, but they were kept so busy they hardly had any time to look outside.
BamInventas@reddit
Is this the one that Clint Eastwood or some golden age star hitched a ride back to the mainland only for it to crash off the coast? The description of that space must be these right?
LongjumpingSurprise0@reddit
I used to know a man who flew a B-58. He lives with his daughter now and is still alive at 100 years old.
GoSitInTheTruck@reddit
They each have a fully enclosed ejection pod. They were tested using live bears.
AOC_rocks@reddit
Those guys in the back don’t have a window. Fuck that.
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
They do, but they're not very big. Imagine an airline window put on its side. You can see the Navigator's window just behind the insignia. The DSO's window is hiding behind his knee.
Apexnanoman@reddit
Probably my favorite plane. Just looks fast sitting still. Not real practical but damned if its not striking.
ImmersivePencil@reddit
The „Cool Kids Club” 50s style.
jt64@reddit
They had a string line, pulley and clips to pass notes between people if needed.