Jimmy and the B-58

[Arlo]

[Arlo]

P.S. John Denver's dad is in this film.

[Oldman731]

Summer of 1972 I was in AFROTC summer camp at Plattsburgh AFB in NY.  At the time they had a wing of KC-135s and another of FB-111s - the nuke version of the F-111.  I was fortunate to speak to many of the pilots (and had dinner with the Group Exec for the 111s, how cool was that).  Almost all of them had come from B-58s.  When asked how they liked the switch, they'd automatically give you the "well, of course the 58 didn't have anything to compare with these avionics" line (heh...yeah...when the avionics worked...).  But then they'd get this dreamy look in their eyes (I remember the phrase from my 4th Grade reader) and say something like "but nothing moved like that 58."  One of them told me that on scramble, they used to start the engines as they rolled into their takeoff.  The exec confirmed that.  Yikes!

- oldman

[Arlo]

Summer of 1972 I was in AFROTC summer camp at Plattsburgh AFB in NY.  At the time they had a wing of KC-135s and another of FB-111s - the nuke version of the F-111.  I was fortunate to speak to many of the pilots (and had dinner with the Group Exec for the 111s, how cool was that).  Almost all of them had come from B-58s.  When asked how they liked the switch, they'd automatically give you the "well, of course the 58 didn't have anything to compare with these avionics" line (heh...yeah...when the avionics worked...).  But then they'd get this dreamy look in their eyes (I remember the phrase from my 4th Grade reader) and say something like "but nothing moved like that 58."  One of them told me that on scramble, they used to start the engines as they rolled into their takeoff.  The exec confirmed that.  Yikes!

- oldman

 

[davidpt40]

I don't know how valid this is, but in a book I read about C-123s in Vietnam ("Flying Through Midnight"), a former B-58 crewmember said that the downfall of the B-58 was its honeycomb wing structure.  It trapped moisture and corroded the wings.

[Puma44]

Summer of 1972 I was in AFROTC summer camp at Plattsburgh AFB in NY.  At the time they had a wing of KC-135s and another of FB-111s - the nuke version of the F-111.  I was fortunate to speak to many of the pilots (and had dinner with the Group Exec for the 111s, how cool was that).  Almost all of them had come from B-58s.  When asked how they liked the switch, they'd automatically give you the "well, of course the 58 didn't have anything to compare with these avionics" line (heh...yeah...when the avionics worked...).  But then they'd get this dreamy look in their eyes (I remember the phrase from my 4th Grade reader) and say something like "but nothing moved like that 58."  One of them told me that on scramble, they used to start the engines as they rolled into their takeoff.  The exec confirmed that.  Yikes!

- oldman

I worked with an O-6 who flew the Hustler.  One day while chatting, after discovering we had both flown delta wing fast movers; an instant bond.  He loved the Hustler.  Said it would fly “all day long”, at Mach 2 down low.  He too, had that look in his eyes.

[gewehr]

I’ve always felt that the Hustler was, hands down, the best looking aircraft of the Cold War era. Perhaps of all time.