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The B-58 Hustler on display in the SPH.
- Originally, it had four J-404 engines and the fuel tank underneath had fuel inside. While it did provide the supersonic speed I wanted, it came at a cost of an extremely short range and making it near-impossible to land in one piece thanks to the low-hanging engines. That’s when I decided to switch to J-20s; it came closer to the aesthetic anyway.
- Unlike most of my replicas from the Cold War and before, I installed a probe core specifically for Kerbnet since the real-life Hustler had a
…sophisticated inertial guidance navigation and bombing system.
(Air Force Museum Webpage) - Just like the real-life Hustler, I rigged the cabin to have an ejection mechanism if the
ABORT
button was pressed. - To get this new prototype airborne soon enough, I had to DRAIN THE DROP TANK. That’s why AC6 is useless now.
Unlike its real-life counterpart, don’t expect this prototype to win any flight performance awards.
The Hustler getting a good view of the northern lights while approaching the polar ice caps.
- Bob did not expect
any plane with weak engines like this
to go over Alt Test Mountains, so he got the green-light to fly north for this test flight instead. - Since Bob’s grandfather was a bomber jet pilot (before specializing in material science), Bob thought it would be nice if he was the one to do the test flight. Of course, Jeb warned him that
This plane’s performance stats are lame, which means you’ll have to do a trench run through the mountains.
Bob flying over Kerbin’s north pole with the moon shining behind him.
Real-life Counterpart Performance Stats
(B-58A Hustler)
Maximum Speed: 1,325 mph (592.3 m/s) at 40,000 ft (12.2 km)
- Capable of speeds up to Mach 2 (686 m/s)
Service Ceiling: 64,800 feet (19.8 km)
Range: 4,400 miles (7,081 km) unrefueled
Source: Air Force Museum Website
Details
- Type: SPH
- Class: aircraft
- Part Count: 79
- Pure Stock
- KSP: 1.12.4
Very low on fuel, and Bob’s contemplating whether or not to land before or after going over this mountain range. In the end, he decided to just land early in a green, (relatively) flat spot.
- At least he managed to cover 1,225 km before being forced to land.
Description
The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed to replace the subsonic Boeing B-47 Stratojet, was America’s first operational supersonic bomber. To achieve the high speeds desired, Convair chose a delta wing design and used four General Electric J-79 in underwing pods for propulsion. Due to its slim fuselage, it had no bomb bay – but it carried a nuclear weapon along with extra fuel, reconnaissance equipment, or other specialized gear. The Hustler’s strategic value dropped, however, as the Soviets introduced high-altitude surface-to-air missiles. It was also more expensive to operate than other bombers, such as the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, required more frequent aerial refueling, and suffered a high rate of accidental losses.
A stock aircraft called B-58 Hustler. Built with 79 of the finest parts, its root part is Mark1Cockpit.
Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.12.4.
Another successful landing, and with only 10 fuel units left.
RECOMMENDED CRUISE
Altitude: 3.3 km (~10.8k ft)
Velocity: 150 m/s (~313 mph)
Flight time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
EXPECTED RANGE
1,225 km before immediate landing necessary.
My original replica of the B-58 Hustler, which ultimately got REJECTED. Though it is obviously built for speed, it is not built for range. When it came time for the test landings, the engines kept hitting the ground too hard and exploding. After too many failures, I said That’s it,
and installed Juno
engines instead. Those were less likely to snap off during landing.
In another test run, the ejection capsule was launched and the cabin parachuted down to safety. Too bad you can’t say the same for the nose antenna (but who cares about that).
- Also why I installed a third parachute on the cabin afterwards.
