Supersonic Bomber
At plants 1,100 miles apart last week, General Dynamics' Convair Division gave the U.S. a peek at two new developments in the deadly art of aerial warfare, one over sea, one over land. From San Diego, Convair's giant R3Y-2 Tradewind turboprop transport went aloft as the Navy's newest flying boat tanker, packing enough fuel for eight swept-wing jets as they snuggled up, four at a time, behind trailing funnel-fitted hoses. Even bigger news was Convair's new B58 Hustler bomber, a plane eight years in development as the nation's first truly supersonic long-range bomber. At Fort Worth, a cameraman for the Star-Telegram snapped a picture of the Hustler as it was rolled out of the hangar for its first ground tests and test flight.
The plane looks like a bigger, burlier version of Convair's supersonic F-102 jet fighter interceptor: like the F-102, it has a needle-nosed, coke-bottle fuselage with sharply swept delta wings and high, shark's-fin tail. The Hustler appears to be about 100 ft. long 60 ft. from wingtip to wingtip, roughly comparable to the current Air Force standby, Boeing's 600-m.p.h. B-47 medium bomber. But where the B-47 has six General Electric J47 (5,800 lbs. of thrust) engines, Convair's new B58 gets its supersonic hustle from only four General Electric J-47s, with an estimated thrust of more than 12,000 Ibs. each. Estimated speed of the Hustler: between 1,000 m.p.h. and 1,400 m.p.h.
So far Convair has a $400 million development contract for a small number of planes. But if the Hustler proves as good as it looks, Convair is in line for a whopping big order and a pat on the back. Where most U.S. planemakers just build the air frame, then fit on whatever armament, radar, etc. that the Air Force orders, Convair's B58 is the first U.S. aircraft to be built under the new "weapons-system" concept, where the prime contractor is responsible for everything (except engines). On a plane as complex as the Hustler, the new system can save as much as three years in development time.
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