Static B-58 in Utah in the '70s?

[JohnB]

A friend in Salt Lake City mentioned he recalled seeing a B-58 at Fort Douglas as a child in the 70s.

Obviously, there isn't one now.
And it's not the Hustler that crashed in the great Salt Lake on a pre-delivery test in April, 1960. I don't think that aircraft has been recovered, in any event, it would be in no shape for display.

Normally, I'd doubt my friend's aircraft identification skills, but he is knowledgeable in aviation history, and worked as an engineer in various aerospace fields.
His older brother, who would have been a teenager then, back him up. He's an IPMS award winning model builder, so again, he knows what a B-58 looks like.

I don't believe nearby Hill AFB's Ogden Air Logistics Center did the B-58 depot work, (that would have been Kelly), so that removes that possibility.
So, maybe a "iron bird" test rig or mockup?
A ship that was damaged in an emergency landing at Hill?

So, anyone know more?

[mike furline]

You could always call and ask.

https://fortdouglas.org/

[JohnB]

You could always call and ask.

https://fortdouglas.org/

And ask a 20-something receptionist if they had an long gone antique aircraft (that she has never heard of, let alone could recognize) there 55 years ago?

I thought I'd ask here first....because I confident someone, somewhere is a B-58 fan/nut/buff/pedant.

[mike furline]

You could always call and ask.

https://fortdouglas.org/

And ask a 20-something receptionist if they had an long gone antique aircraft (that she has never heard of, let alone could recognize) there 55 years ago?

I thought I'd ask here first....because I confident someone, somewhere is a B-58 fan/nut/buff/pedant.

Or perhaps an 80 year old docent as in many museums.

[Cvairwerks]

Only way someone would have seen a B-58 at the old Douglas Army Airfield, would have been a disassembled one. The longest runway was about 3000' short of what a B-58 needed. Also, the field had been in civilian only usage for more than 20 years, in 1970.

[Fencer]

There is some info from a 1970 national register survey at the following link, it does not mention a B-58 and it has an aerial photo circa 1968 of the fort on page 30 of the survey.

https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s62r7fb7

Also other aerial photos and other pics here as well, I did not look at them closely.

https://collections.lib.utah.edu/search?q=Fort+douglas&year_start=1970&year_end=1985

[sandiego89]

Did a quick thumb through the disposition section on the excellent B-58 Aerograph book by Jay Miller and didn't see anything that would suggest a Utah B-58. Most went to the boneyard in late 1969, with the last arriving in January 1970. The few survivors are fairly well documented, and yes a few have moved, but nothing suggests Utah.

Even if an expert later, the childhood imagination can do things. I swore as a youth I saw a B-45 on the ramp at Mojave because of the heavily framed canopy- but years later realized it was a heavily framed Meteor trainer.....

[Hooligan2]

I swore as a youth I saw a B-45 on the ramp at Mojave because of the heavily framed canopy- but years later realized it was a heavily framed Meteor trainer.....

That'd be NF.11/TT.20 N94749 - departed for Mojave just four days before I made my first visit to Biggin Hill in 1975! Looks like I was about a dozen miles from its present location at Edwards 24 years later when driving from Mojave to Palmdale...

[JohnB]

Sandiego89

I agree, memories play tricks. It has happened to me, I'm sure it has happened to everyone.
When he mentioned his memory to me, I told him pretty much what you said.
There weren't many B-58s and their dispositions are well recorded.
In other words, they're not like T-33s which can be found pretty much anywhere (another friend, an sent me a photo of a very nice T-33 that he'd never heard of before a city park in North Dakota not far from his hometown).

When I told him that it most likely wasn't a Hustler, he asked his older brother who backed him up, so I thought I'd ask here.

Of course, the Miller book or Baugher's serial website, won't account for the other possibilities I mentioned, a mockup or test rig.
Over the years, some neat artifacts were later used as recruiting exhibits or with the late, lamented, Air Force Orientation Group...(an early casualty of the post Cold War defense cuts).
Unlikely, yes, but you never know.

If it was a wooden mock-up, you can easily see it not surviving to today. If it was something more substantial, I would have thought it would have ended up in the nearby Hill museum.

[wendovertom]

So I am coming super late to the game here. My grandmother was the director of personnel at the University of Utah and her office was maybe 200-300 yards away from Fort Douglas and the museum. I have been visiting the museum since the mid-1970s and I can promise you, there has never been a B-58 at the museum. that I for certain would remember.

They do have quite a small collection of armor, and even a OH-6 "loach" and a early version of a "Cobra" (IIRC) but that's as close to aviation as they go. The staff is quite knowledgeable and helpful - they have supported Wendover with records regarding the foundation of the base - Wendover Airfield was a Fort Douglas sub-post in 1939-1941.

Tom P.

[quemerford]

Could it possibly have been the B-58 cockpit section that was used for ejection seat/pod ejection? It did move at around this time (supposedly to Grissom via Barksdale):

https://www.grissomairmuseum.com/exhibi ... ocket-sled

[mike furline]

You could always call and ask.

https://fortdouglas.org/

And ask a 20-something receptionist if they had an long gone antique aircraft (that she has never heard of, let alone could recognize) there 55 years ago?

I thought I'd ask here first....because I confident someone, somewhere is a B-58 fan/nut/buff/pedant.

I called the Fort Douglas Museum. They were very helpful, but no one can remember there ever being an aircraft at their location other than some small helicopters. They did mention a T-33 in a park south of SLC that was removed in the late 90's - early 2000's.

[JohnB]

Thanks for doing that.

I'll tell my friend he's mistaken.