THE B-58 HUSTLER ASSOCIATION HOMEPAGE
THE B-58 HUSTLER ASSOCIATION IS COMPOSED OF AN ELITE GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS WHO DESIGNED AND BUILT THE B-58, WHO FLEW THE B-58, WHO MAINTAINED THE B-58, WHO AIR REFUELED THE B-58, WHO WORKED IN THE VARIOUS SUPPORT GROUPS ON BASE AND THE FAMILIES OF ALL OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS. WE ALSO HAVE MEMBERS WHO SIMPLY LOVE AND ADMIRE THE B-58. THIS PAGE IS HERE TO REPRESENT ALL OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS.
THE PURPOSE OF THE ASSOCIATION
Individuals who were formerly associated with the B-58 Hustler, in order to perpetuate their friendship and to promote further fellowship, and for the mutual benefit of themselves and their families, hereby establish the Association.
The Association mails out a newsletter to all members, approximately two times a year. It contains a variety of information about members.
The B-58 Hustler Association has a reunion every two years. The next reunion will be in May 2010, at the Gold Coast Hotel in Las Vegas. All members of the Association are encouraged to attend.
CLICK FOR INFO TO JOIN THE ASSOC.


The Convair B-58 Hustler was the first operational jet bomber capable of Mach 2+ supersonic flight. The aircraft was developed for the United States Air Force during the 1950s, and would see service in the Strategic Air Command (SAC). Originally intended to fly at high altitudes and high speeds to avoid Soviet fighters, the introduction of highly accurate Soviet surface-to-air missiles forced the B-58 into a low-level penetration role that severely limited its range and strategic value. The B-58 was operational from 1960 - 1970. (The B-36 was operational from 1948 - 1958. The B-47 was operational from 1954 - 1965)
The B-58 received a great deal of notoriety due to its sonic boom, which was often heard by the public as it passed overhead in supersonic flight.


TROPHIES WON - RECORDS SET BY THE B-58
On December 15, 1959, a B-58 was flown 1,680 miles in 80 minutes. (That's 21 miles per minute!)
  Combat ready B-58s set more records than any fighter or bomber aircraft in the world -- that's a record in itself!
The B-58 won five aeronautical trophies: Thompson, Bleriot, Mackay, Bendix and Harmon. The Hustler also set 14 world speed records in international competition.
On September 18, 1962, a Hustler carried a payload of 11,000 lbs to an altitude of 85,360 feet. Many of the Hustler's records are still intact today.


On January 14, 1961, a B-58 set three international "speed-with payload" records by flying 1284.73 mph over a 1000-km closed circuit. The crew of Lt. Col. Harold Confer, Lt. Col. Richard Weir and Major Howard Bialas were awarded the Thompson Trophy for this feat. Crew Chief was SSgt Charles Kerce, Jr.


Another record was achieved by the B-58 on May 10, 1961. A Hustler crewed by Maj. Elmer Murphy, Maj. Eugene Moses, and Lt. David Dickerson flew a 669.4 mile closed course at an average speed of 1,302.07 mph for 30 minutes 43 seconds -- winning outright the prestigious Bleriot Trophy. The Bleriot Trophy is on permanent display at the United States Air Force Academy in their library.


On May 26, 1961, B-58 number 59-2451, nicknamed The Firefly, enroute to the Paris Airshow with Maj. William Payne, Capt. William Polhelmus, and Capt. Raymond Wagener as crew, set a New York-to-Paris speed record, covering the 3,626.46 statute miles in 3 hours 19 minutes and 58 seconds (average speed was approximately 1,089.36 mph). The crew was awarded the prestigious Harmon Trophy (L) and Mackay Trophy (R) for this flight.


On March 05, 1962, Captains Robert G. Sowers, Robert MacDonald and John T. Walton flew a B-58 from Los Angeles to New York City in 2 hours and 56.8 seconds, an average speed of 1,214.17 miles per hour. For this achievement each crew member was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
They broke another speed record on the return flight - New York to Los Angeles in 2 hours and 15 minutes (Many had tried but they were the first fliers to beat the sun).
They also beat the record for the roundtrip flight (LA to NY to LA). Captain Sowers and his crew flew non-stop from Los Angles to New York and back again in 4 hours, 41 minutes, at an average speed of 1,045 mph. For this record setting flight the crew won both the Bendix Trophy (L) and the Mackay Trophy (R).



In 1962, Major Fitzhugh "Fitz" Fulton Jr flew a B-58 with a 5,000 kilogram payload to an altitude of 85,360 feet, breaking the record held by a Soviet pilot. He won the Harmon International Aviation Trophy for "Outstanding Individual Achievement" that year; this record remains unchallenged as of May, 1995. (Major Fulton flew the B-58 to more than 16 miles up into the atmosphere.)


On Oct. 16, 1963, Maj. Sid Kubesch, Maj John Barrett and Capt Gerard Williamson flew a B-58, assigned to the 305th BW, on the longest supersonic flight to that date. The flight was called Operation Greased Lightning. They flew 8,028 miles from Tokyo to London in eight hours, 35 minutes. Using five inflight refuelings they averaged 938 mph. Although there were no aeronautical trophies awarded for this flight each crew member was awarded the DFC . Major Kubesch received the David C. Schilling Award in 1964.
61-2059 is on display at the Strategic Air Command Museum. (Ashland, Nebraska)


A pilot once said of the Convair B-58, "She looked like she was breaking the sound barrier just sitting on the tarmac."At Mach 2+, the B-58 wasn't just one of the fastest bombers of her day, she was one of the fastest military planes period. A first cousin of the hot "century series" of fighters, the delta winged Hustler medium bomber combined outstanding performance with a striking, javelin-like profile that spawned a mystique that survives to this day. In the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, in just two years the B-58 captured 14 speed and performance records, many previously held by Soviet aircraft. She was not only capable of extended 700 mph on-the-deck missions at 500 feet (then unheard of for a bomber and without the advantages of today's ground hugging radar or fly-by-wire) she also set altitude and climb records. The B-58 was capable of doing whatever was necessary to navigate through enemy air space. As Jimmy Stewart said, "She was a lot more than a hot rod made for setting records, she was a lethal weapon of war -- and an outstandingly handsome aircraft."

The above statements were copied from an unknown book or magazine a long time ago. They were kept because they described the B-58 quite accurately. Many people don't know that the B-58 carried five nuclear weapons and she would have been a lethal weapon of war. The Russians probably knew that SAC had 40 B-58s sitting on alert - which meant 200 nuclear weapons would be headed their way if they wanted to play "war".

It's worth mentioning that the B-58 got an early reputation as being a dangerous airplane. There were 116 aircraft built and 26 were destroyed. Many of the accidents didn't need to have happened and weren't attributable to the aircraft. There were approximately 11 in that catagory. So, how and where the B-58 got the reputation as being a "dangerous" airplane is unknown. Good pilots, good navigator/bombardiers, good DSOs and good maintenance men made the B-58 a damn good weapon system.

The crews loved the Hustler then and they love her now - she was fast, she was beautiful and she was a hoot to fly! Many, including myself, consider their time with the B-58 as the high point of their USAF career!

LtCol BJ Brown, USAF, Retired


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