#mach3

26 May 1961. Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, s/n 59-2451, of the 43rd Bombardment Wing, Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas, flew from Washington, D.C. to Paris in 3 hours, 39 minutes, 49 seconds, at an average speed of 1,048.68 mph.

XB-70 Valkire

The Convair Kingfish, was a proposed Mach 3 recce platform to replace the U-2 spy plane in the late 1950s. The US Government chose Lockheed's own A-12 design, which evolved into the SR-71 Blackbird. The Kingfish didn't leave the drawing board, which is probably a shame?

Dreams To Remember

Peter Chilelli by Peter Chilelli

29 April 2006. Death of Alvin Swauger White (b. 9 December 1918). American engineer, and USAF astronaut. Chief test pilot for the XB-70 Valkyrie who flew the maiden flights of both aircraft, the first 2,000 mph flight, and all subsequent Mach 3 exploration flights.

Cuban missile crisis 1962

B-58 on nuclear alert during Cuban Missile Crisis

‘During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the B-58 Wing did not have a group of aircraft on alert like other SAC Bomb Wings because we were still doing CATEGORY II & III tests on the new weapon system. When the President ordered the military to get ready for war, the Wing Commander, B/G Brick Holstrom, ordered the Wing to get all our B-58s ready and load them with nukes.

‘Soon, we had forty B-58s loaded and ready to go but had no targets or tanker support. When SAC Headquarters found out, they gave us targets and tankers. Carswell had B-52s and tankers on alert, so there was no place for the B-58 alert crews to stay on base.

‘We pre-flighted our aircraft, studied our target, and were sent home to await a call from the Command Post to report to the aircraft and launch. I was armed with my snub-nosed Cal. 38 handguns and wore the nuclear weapons “GO” code around my neck. I felt odd being in the house like that with the kids around.

‘Soon, our Squadrons’ Operations Building had beds and guards, so we moved onto the base. We stayed on alert for a long time, about thirty days.’

Sheffield concludes;

‘Our house was right near the flight line. I told (wife) Rosie, if you hear us taking off, put the kids in the car and drive west. She had already bought canned goods and water. It was a terrifying time for the Country and us.

From the book.

“Ohio to Supersonic “ by Col Richard Butch Sheffield

MAINLINE Reconnaissance B-58 was good practice for the first RSOs selected for the SR 71 program, Butch Sheffield and Coz Mallozzi . They were both hired away from the B 58 program for the SR-71 in 1964.

My father’s book “Ohio to Supersonic “Flying the SR-71 Blackbird to the secret world of the Skunk Works” he writes about flying the first supersonic bomber, the B-58. Everyone knows about the U2 flying over Cuba but no one knows about the B 58. They took off the Pod that included a nuclear bomb and replaced it with a reconnaissance pod.

B-58 reconnaissance (Mainline)

The Air Force needed a long-range, low-level reconnaissance system. This became apparent during the Cuban missile crisis. They were looking for Russian nuclear missiles, just 90 miles away from the United States .

General Powers, CINCSAC, ordered the 43rd Bomb Wing to do it, and we did.

Our crew was selected. Only six crews in the wing were made “Mainline crews.” They are the best crews in the wing.

We trained at five hundred feet and six hundred knots. The radar was almost useless at the low altitude, so we had to navigate by dead reckoning and map reading. It was exhilarating flying that fast at those low levels. I don’t believe most SAC personnel knew about this capability.

The B-58 reconnaissance crew’s code name was “Mainline.” The fact of that the B-58 had a reconnaissance capability was kept close hold so our adversaries did not know.

Our crew was selected to fly to the United Kingdom (UK) with the reconnaissance pod on board. The flight was uneventful. A far cry from the first time I had navigated the Atlantic. The B-58’s navigation system was almost automatic. It had a star tracker for heading, Doppler for ground speed and inertial for all movement of the airframe.

After we landed, another crew took the aircraft to France and then back home to Carswell. The B-58 program did not treat its crews well like the program I was heading for did. ( SR-71’s ) They could have arranged a better way for us to return home, but did not.

--Dropping nuke; Mark 53

SAC had a program called; “Dual Exhaust.” The program was to test the reliability of the real nuclear weapons SAC possessed. We were selected to drop a real Mark-53 nuclear weapon at White Sands test range in New Mexico with the nuclear pit removed (Plutonium).

We dropped it at five hundred feet about the ground and at six hundred and twenty-eight knots. After release, we pitched up into a forty-five-degree bank and watched it go off. It looked just like a nuke explosion.

We decided to fly back to Carswell subsonic with altitude hold off, to see how high the aircraft would go without the pod on it. It just keeps climbing, higher and higher, we finally stopped the climb at about *forty seven thousand feet. This was the only time I was never in a B-58 without the pod; it sure flew like a bird without one.

Doolittle Raiders

Our Wing Commander, B/G Brick Holstrom, was a “Doolittle Raider.” He was one of the first pilots to take off from the aircraft carrier Hornet to bomb Tokyo. He was as fine of a gentleman as I ever knew. He really liked our crew, I think it was because of Dick Reynolds and his can do attitude.

On April 18, 1964, the “Raiders” all got together in Ft. Worth for one of their annual reunions and we got to attend. Jimmy Stewart was master of ceremonies. General Doolittle was there and all the living raiders. It was a fine affair.

Currently, the B 21 a brand new bomber is named after the Doolittle Raiders. ~Linda Sheffield

if you want “Ohio to Supersonic” be sure and pre-order it before they sell out. the book is available in Great Britain. This book will become available in the United States on June 1 amazon.com/Ohio-Supersoni…

B-58 prepping for flight