B-58 Hustler Live Bear Testing?

BattleRabbit · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 10:53 am

I was perusing wikipedia for information on the B-58 Huslter when I came across this tidbit:

Quote:

nlike standard ejection seats of the period, a protective clamshell would enclose the seat and the control stick with an attached oxygen bottle.[3] In an unusual test program, live bears were successfully used to test the ejection system.[4] The XB-70 would use a similar system.

Is this true? Why live bears? Does this make the B-58 the aircraft with the manliest testing program ever?

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 10:57 am

They were going to use Chuck Norris, but he was busy.

BattleRabbit · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 10:59 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-58_Hustler

here is the original article if anyone is interested.

CAPFlyer · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 11:02 am

The book I have on the subject indicates that Bears were used because they could take the stresses imposed on ejection and their weight is similar to a pilot fully equipped in his flight gear. This allowed them to make several test ejections and ensure the capsules were relatively safe before putting in a live human for tests.

Remember, this was back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The idea of a fully instrumented Crash Test Dummy that could be wired up and give you all the data you need to deem survival equipment like that "safe" while fitting into the body of the dummy and within the weight of a human pilot wasn't a real possibility.

Lynn Allen · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 11:33 am

I would not liked to have been the one who open it up after the little test flight :shock:

Lynn

Nathan · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 12:22 pm

Lynn Allen wrote:

I would not liked to have been the one who open it up after the little test flight :shock:

Lynn

Maybe they had Boo-Boo do it. :lol:

n5151ts · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 12:22 pm

BattleRabbit wrote:

I was perusing wikipedia for information on the B-58 Huslter when I came across this tidbit:

Quote:

nlike standard ejection seats of the period, a protective clamshell would enclose the seat and the control stick with an attached oxygen bottle.[3] In an unusual test program, live bears were successfully used to test the ejection system.[4] The XB-70 would use a similar system.

Is this true? Why live bears? Does this make the B-58 the aircraft with the manliest testing program ever?

because we THINK we are the highest life form and its our right to kill every other living thing on the planet.

sgt hawk · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 1:01 pm

I'll bet that bear didn't just say "whoopi let's do that again!

Cking · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 1:08 pm

CAPFlyer wrote:

This allowed them to make several test ejections

I don't know who had the worst job, the guy opening the capsules or the guy trying to get Yogi back into one for another go!
We also all know what bears do in the woods, I bet they did it in the capsules too!

Rgds Cking

Jiggersfromsphilly · **Joined:** Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:15 pm **Posts:** 951

Was Ditka one of the participants?

Tom Moungovan · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 1:34 pm

I'd assume that if this newer device was adopted, then is would have been on SAC aircraft. The one flying example that we had at Edwards when I was stationed there (June 66-May 69) had standard ejection seats. I got to work on her maybe 1-2 times a year, but do remember that much. We had a bit of fun getting down on the floor of the aircaraft and sliding from the 3rd station to the 2nd and then into the 1st. As I recall, there was a bulkhead on one side and you had to get to the extreme left or right side of the interior to accomplish this.
The things enlisted folk will do for entertainment!

Cvairwerks · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 6:28 pm

Tom: all but a handful of the -58's got the capsule systems eventually. Without it, having to eject at anything over ~400kts was considered to be most likely fatal.

I used to work for a couple of guys that were Flight Test types during the -58 days. One talked about the capsule systems and the bears some. I don't remember him saying whether any of them got hurt during the tests. He did say that the capsules were pretty messy when they were recovered and the bears removed. If I remember correctly, he said they had been sedated prior to strapping them in and that it wore off pretty soon after recovery. His comment was that there was nothing in the world like trying to remove a semi-sedated, but definately pissed off bear covered in feces from one of the capsules and trying to clean the capsule itself up.

Tom Moungovan · **Posted:** Fri May 23, 2008 7:25 pm

Cvairwerks wrote:

Tom: all but a handful of the -58's got the capsule systems eventually. Without it, having to eject at anything over ~400kts was considered to be most likely fatal.

I used to work for a couple of guys that were Flight Test types during the -58 days. One talked about the capsule systems and the bears some. I don't remember him saying whether any of them got hurt during the tests. He did say that the capsules were pretty messy when they were recovered and the bears removed. If I remember correctly, he said they had been sedated prior to strapping them in and that it wore off pretty soon after recovery. His comment was that there was nothing in the world like trying to remove a semi-sedated, but definately pissed off bear covered in feces from one of the capsules and trying to clean the capsule itself up.

Thanks...appreciate your insight on this. Be patient with me as one of these days I'll get something scanned for this forum. I have a slide of a B-58 seat in our Egress Shop @ Edwards.

Cking · **Posted:** Sat May 24, 2008 7:15 am

Cvairwerks wrote:

I used to work for a couple of guys that were Flight Test types during the -58 days. One talked about the capsule systems and the bears some. I don't remember him saying whether any of them got hurt during the tests. He did say that the capsules were pretty messy when they were recovered and the bears removed. If I remember correctly, he said they had been sedated prior to strapping them in and that it wore off pretty soon after recovery. His comment was that there was nothing in the world like trying to remove a semi-sedated, but definately pissed off bear covered in feces from one of the capsules and trying to clean the capsule itself up.

Were they still covered in scratches?
This series of tests sound so cruel to the bears but I can't help laughing at some on the images that come to mind!
I shall apologize to Yogi, Bo-Bo, Pooh and Baloo the next time I'm in Florida.

Rgds Cking

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Sat May 24, 2008 8:58 am

n5151ts wrote:

BattleRabbit wrote:

I was perusing wikipedia for information on the B-58 Huslter when I came across this tidbit:

Quote:

nlike standard ejection seats of the period, a protective clamshell would enclose the seat and the control stick with an attached oxygen bottle.[3] In an unusual test program, live bears were successfully used to test the ejection system.[4] The XB-70 would use a similar system.

Is this true? Why live bears? Does this make the B-58 the aircraft with the manliest testing program ever?

because we THINK we are the highest life form and its our right to kill every other living thing on the planet.

Bears taste like chicken.

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B-58 Hustler Live Bear Testing?

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