Tall Man 55

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: aircraft
• Part Count: 158
• Pure Stock

Description

Designed to be a low-altitude supersonic bomber, the Hustler was an idea heavily suppordted by the SAC (Strategic Air Command) and easily fulfilled this role by being capable of sustained Mach 2+ flight.

For its time, the avionics in the B-58 were rather advance; a combination of pilot skill and terrain guidance meant that constant low level flight could be achieved, even at maximum thrust from the four GE J79s.

The Bendix Trophy

The B-58 held several speed records and received many awards including the Thompson Trophy, the Mackay Trophy, the Bendix Trophy, and by far the most notable, the Harmon Trophy.

Despite all this the B-58 was not easy to fly—Differential thrust issues upon flame-out, very specific and high angle of attack at subsonic speeds, fuel sloshing changing the center of mass, and general unwieldiness plagued the supersonic, lawn-dart-shaped plane. Given these characteristics, though, B-58 pilots made great selections for SR-71 pilots given their experience with the low-tolerance, high-performance nature of large supersonic aircraft. The B-58 even served as a Hughes radar testbed for the F-12 (sister program to the RS-71). Who Knew!