Convair B-58 HUSTLER Champion of Champions

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you well that is quite a day I had there believe me that's quite an airplane that b-58 hustler like a whole lot of people I've been very interested in the development of the Strategic Air Command supersonic bomber ad when Colonel brick Holstrom gave me a chance to fly well that really got me excited after all the bird flies mark - Oh mark - that's two times as fast as the speed of sound oh they made me a member of the club the b-58 in its brief history has won just about every trophy and set just about every world record for high-performance aircraft there is it's a far cry from this I flew b-24s World War 2 and as a reserve officer I've had a chance to watch the development of a lot of fine airplanes and believe me we've had some great ones real champion but here here's the new champ we call it the champion of champions now this airplane has already won the Thompson the Blair II oh the Bendix the McKay and the Harmon trophy it set 14 world's records and international competition that's a performance unequaled in the annals of aviation now don't get the idea that it's just a flying hot rod the b-58 is a sac medium bomber two wings the 43rd and the 300 fifth are operational and some of their airplanes are on alert right now ready to strike enemy targets like those before it the b-58 was developed to do a job for the Air Force no existing weapon system could do and that job was and is a grim one total destruction of any enemy aggressor anywhere on the face of the earth delivered at supersonic speeds with man bomber accuracy very early its unique performance convinced the Air Force it could do what they expected to and in a variety of ways this double wing for instance because of that sack can launch high speed on the deck missions but let's get that projector going again and I'll show you some of the film on Twitter for low-level flying the hustlers strictly in the clouds by itself this was proved very early when a test pilot flew one from Texas to California nearly the speed of sound never more than 500 feet above the ground a mission that would shake the wings off conventional bombers you can see the importance of this it can sneak under enemy radar nets you can't find it you know you can't hit it now there are no records and no trophies for on the deck capability but should a crew ever need this in combat it could mean mission success something of far greater importance to them and to all of us there are trophies and records plenty of them in sacks combat competition and on its debut the hustler won its share here's one of the two crews entered from the 43rd Bomb Wing Carswell Air Force Base in Texas under combat conditions they scrambled boarded started engines and got wheels rolling in two minutes and ten seconds half the time required for other bombers taking off at sundown on two successive evenings alone d-58 competed against 12 other bombers and when the results were in its crew had racked up the best score for both high and low altitude bombing general thomas has power awarded trophies to major harold e confer the winning pilot and his crew to officials this air force show proved that their new weapons system had an accurate striking power and what's more that the time had come for the whole world to see what the b-58 could do 6 international speed records this is what they went after first two laps had to be flown around a closed course of a thousand kilometers about 1200 43 miles carrying a 4,000 pound payload here's the three-man crew from the 43rd Bomb Wing major Henry J Dutch and Dorf the first sack pilot to fly the b-58 by the way and Captain William L Plymouth's navigator captain Raymond R Wagner defense systems operator accurate radar data played a large part in certification that's the crews commanding general Nils omen standing at the tracking board with the official judges of the race from the National Aeronautics Association chase plane some of our fastest fighters also carried judges they could catch up for a quick look but they couldn't keep up but on the ground the tracking instruments were a ok ready to go four miles out three two one and the race is on naa officials time it watch its climb and a sonic boom the bomber rips the air like an arrow some Indian God might have shot to make it fun 1425 miles per hour was the ground speed reached average speed for the first lap was 1061 for the second 1200 major Dutch indoor screw fluid exactly his plan establishing six world records in a single flight you see they went with 4000 pounds so they automatically set records for 2,000 pounds and for no payload at all now this gave them three records for the first lap of a thousand kilometres and three more for the second six and AW and five of these had been held by the Soviet Union and I you'd think this airplane had pretty well proved itself would you I mean what what can you expect of a medium bomber speed not just in flashes but for the long stretch and carrying loads to altitudes that only a heavy bombers supposed to and maneuvering around up there like a fighter well before the ink had a chance to dry on the record books another one set out to break three of these new records piloting was major Howell D confer major Richard H where was navigator and captain Howard as bialys DSO we saw them receiving trophies in the bombing competition today's flight like the previous one was uphill all the way they crossed the starting line at 40,000 feet finished above 50 to give you an idea of the caliber of b-58 pilots here major contra was making a 185 degree turn keeping a 60 degree Bank angle throughout and pulling more than 2 G's now that's twice the force of gravity and from down below the turn look razor sharp the least caught inside the cross wire of course would have put them out of the race but they finished in fine style having circled the 1000 kilometer course at an average of 1284 miles per hour upping the speed of the previous flight by nearly a hundred miles per hour and winning for themselves three of the six v58 world-record the man of the forty-third it was all one they were keeping the records in the family and preparing a Carswell homecoming major confers crew wouldn't soon forget their own families friends newspaperman and VIPs just about everybody turned out but who wants to see VIPs a reporter at a time like this hmm the Thompson trophy was awarded to major conference crew for speed supremacy and perhaps just as important for practical manoeuvrability in the air now the Thompson trophy was one we'd all heard about of course and respected but even the few racing buffs who had heard about the next one the flurry of trophy well they felt that no one short of Buck Rogers would ever win that one Louie Blair II oh the Pioneer French aviator first offered the trophy in 1930 the era of Lindbergh at a time when an airplane would need to fly at least ten times as fast as the spirit of st. Louis just to qualify but Blair II Oh Larry oh the visionary he looked for an airplane to come along perhaps in his own generation that could fly 2,000 kilometers per hour and hold that speed for 30 minutes now somebody had asked me 30 years ago if I thought so much progress as possible I'd probably said well I I wouldn't bet on it but not Monsieur Blair yeah he made the bet and 31 years later well let's see how it was won the run was made over closed cores of 669 miles starting at Edwards Air Force Base in California and reaching points in Arizona and Nevada the ground crew had done their part taking care of a sophisticated bird like this is no job for a shade tree mechanic these manners sharp as they come typical of the ground crews that keep the b-58 up there doing what's never been done before here's major Eugene Murphy piloting this one entering the starting gate at forty-four thousand feet and climbing one of the Blair yo rules was the altitude at the close of the run must be equal to or greater than the Stark major Murphy checks with his defense systems operator lieutenant David F dickerson on a flight like this the DSO helps the pilot handle problems of Mach and fuel transfer so the center of gravity stays exactly right there coming up in the final turn and the roughest Lone Pine California at the foot of Mount Whitney pilot gets a reading from his navigator major Eugene F Moses round they go 93 degrees at Mach 2 and then the homestretch in only one try the b-58 became the first airplane to average 1302 miles per hour for 30 minutes and its crew became the permanent winner of the Blair EO Trophy those on hand knew they'd witnessed a beautiful performance precision flying and teamwork in Paris at the award presentation Madame Gloria the widow of the donor stood with the crew and her presence signified that her husband's vision had indeed been fulfilled even in his own generation now from what you've seen already you've got a pretty good idea of the hustlers speed endurance and versatility it has another extraordinary capability to high-altitude world altitude records for payloads of 5,000 kilograms that's slightly over 11,000 pounds and 2,000 kilograms were held by the Soviet Union that is they were until the b-58 went after them they were then claimed for the United States by a crew from the air force Systems Command which does flight testing for the air force a better test pilot major Fitzhugh Foom approached the pull-up point at 35,000 feet high on the coal still going and already they've broken the Soviet records there's the peak after a bullet like trajectory that's 16 and a half miles high on-the-spot certification was made by the National Aeronautics Association just as on all previous record flights their figures were verified later by the fédération aéronautique Internationale Paris France as two official World Records although flights like this are pretty much all in a day's work to test cruise this one must have given special satisfaction to major Fitz Fulton who early in 1957 was the first Air Force test pilot to fly of b-58 other members of the high-altitude crew were Captain William R Payne navigator and a civilian flight test engineer Charles R Haines at headquarters sacked the codename operation heat rise was given the next event the b-58 round-trip flight from Los Angeles to New York which added three more world records to its list and the Bendix trophy for over 30 years the Bendix free-for-all transcontinental speed race has been a proving ground for the newest and the fastest starting back when a daring young pilot by the name of Jimmy Doolittle took off from a Los Angeles suburb and made tracks east following roughly the same course out of Los Angeles as Captain Robert G sours the b-58 pilot here's the navigator calc Donald and the DSO Captain John T Walton almost as fast as you can read their names to be 50h over them and gone equal Newtons up there alright including some who had never heard this kind of thunder before you see most supersonic training missions are flown in special corridors away from heavily populated areas but today sack set up right over sky route 66 at mid country the bomber slowed down to 500 miles an hour and took on fuel now talk about having flying down to a fine art now just just watch this hookup with their tanks full again they're ready to take the giant step on to New York each passing minute puts them 20 miles further along Air Force officials were sweating it out to the NAA ready for the time hack and high overhead an official waited to make an eyewitness validation of the finish in just a hair over two hours two hours and fifty-eight seconds officially The Hustler completed its New York run won the Bendix trophy and became the first bomber to do so but this is just half the story turning around the crew headed right back for Los Angeles trying to beat the sun's westward track across the country such greats as John Glenn had tried the Sun run without success in manned aircraft so when the b-58 was clocked in los angeles officials knew that a history-making flight was coming to an end the son had been challenged and beaten by 41 minutes this flight set three world speed marks that were the beginning of a new era in transcontinental flight LA to New York in just over two hours New York to LA in two hours and 16 minutes and a round trip in four hours and 41 minutes I know you must be thinking what I am that pretty soon commercial jets may be taking us back and forth across the country this past immediately after the flight the Bendix trophy was presented to captain salars McDonald and Walton and the Distinguished Flying Cross was the word of them by General Thomas s power now in watching these flights we don't want to lose sight of something I only touched on and that is with the exception of the high altitude run these records and trophies were won by sac combat ready crews flying combat ready bombers but peace is saks profession and part of their strategy has been to keep the peace by showing everyone everywhere this weapons capability if there'd been any questions about its intercontinental range these were answered once and for all in Paris at the famous labore J field a highlight of the International Air Show came when a hustler touched down after spanning the North Atlantic at an average speed of 1089 miles per hour the crew had flown non-stop from Carswell Air Force Base by way of Washington DC and New York their time from Washington to Paris was three hours 39 minutes from New York to Paris three hours and 20 minutes including two aerial refueling they call this one the Lindy Hop a flight that ended on the exact spot where Charles a Lindbergh had cut the engine of the spirit of st. Louis this gesture was deeply felt by all overseas newspapers said that this flight had done as much as anything in recent years to enhance American prestige abroad Major William R Payne was the pilot Captain William L Polly --mess was navigator and captain Raymond R Wagner DSO their time from Washington to Paris and from New York to Paris added two more to the string of official b-58 world records making it 14 at all how was the flight routine they say routine meaning that in many ways the Atlantic crossing was like the training missions being flown every day by sac but in other ways of course as they themselves knew when they got together around the Lindbergh plaque there Lindy Hop was anything but routine it was in fact recognized by the Air Force chief of staff as the most meritorious flight of the year and for it they received the Mackay trophy further recognition came with the award of the Harmon trophy in a White House ceremony President Kennedy personally honored the pilot for outstanding contribution to aviation for outstanding contribution to aviation and peace in our time well I guess that just about sums up the story of the b-58 force it's a success story fourteen international records and five major trophies won by the only bomber in the free world that's operational at supersonic speed now it may never be used in anger we hope and pray it never will but if it is the Strategic Air commands b-58 force has the airplane to do the job you you

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Channel: AVhistorybuff

Views: 544,440

Rating: 4.8288507 out of 5

Keywords: Convair, B-58, HUSTLER, Cold War, Champion, propaganda, SAC, Carswell, Fort Worth, Texas

Id: cEKyTxnrXIc

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 28min 0sec (1680 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 14 2011

Reddit Comments

Watched the whole thing, but what is the source/purpose of this video? Where did it come from? It is awesome, but do you think that they really let Jimmy Stewart fly one? I find that hard to believe.