Jet Bombers

[JBoyle]

o, the old stuff (B-47, et al) is not covered under SALT treaties. B-52s are.
The main reason: COST.
also complexity...and what do you do with it when you're done?
Not many people have the money to fly a large multi engine aircraft as a toy.

Look at the trouble the brits are having with the Vulcan project.

[tulsaboy]

Wasn't the Castle B-47 flight in about 1986? Would have been great to see. Can't imagine actually being on board. I can't imagine that anyone would have deep enough pockets to not only restore a B-47 but maintain and fly one. As someone else mentioned earlier, all 6 of those engines sucking down fuel would be a massive drain on someone's budget. And not a lot of opportunities to sell rides, either. While it would be an amazing sight to see, I can't imagine that it will ever happen.

kevin

[B-29 Super Fort]

Wasn't the Castle B-47 flight in about 1986? Would have been great to see. Can't imagine actually being on board. I can't imagine that anyone would have deep enough pockets to not only restore a B-47 but maintain and fly one. As someone else mentioned earlier, all 6 of those engines sucking down fuel would be a massive drain on someone's budget. And not a lot of opportunities to sell rides, either. While it would be an amazing sight to see, I can't imagine that it will ever happen.

kevin

Only someone with Paul Allen's money and interest in aviation could afford that investment.

[airnutz]

I heard the B-58 was a maintenance nightmare! I don't know how true that was but I can see how it could be.

Every thing concerning maintenance and the B-58 I've read or heard holds
this to be true. I've read, it cost the same amount of dollars to support 2
B-58 wings as it cost to field 6 B-52 wings. Another number...1 million dollars
a month per B-58 in support. These birds were cutting edge weapons relying
on vacuum tubes and analog instruments. I've read a comment of a '58
Crew Chief who called his bird "Ol' Unpredictable". Another stated that,
when the Hustler first arrived at SAC each airframe was assigned 25-30
groundcrew...later this was reduced to 5 or 6 per bird, I assume this was
achieved after ironing out bugs and specialization of the support shops.

You'll see disparaging comments about the PCLA(Power Control Linkage Assembly), an ingenious
but heartbreaking device whut ever crossed the path of a wrench bender. Also comments about the AEMS Flight Control..I don't remember what it means..but it was not remembered fondly. I was at a wedding in Austin in the early 80's and one of the guests was an engineer who worked on the celestial navigation and other nav systems on Hustler..he said they really were kept on the ball by that beast. Somewhere I have some "Barbara and Richard" napkins with neat sketches on them.

Here's a little description of the PCLA from a fellows memories of his participation
in an investigation board following the 5th accident of a '58, tho unrelated
to the 1st four. About 1/4 down the page..also other interesting stuff after..
www.history.nasa.gov/monograph12/ch15.htm

I've mused about the possibilties of combining a mad guzzillionaire(Mitty moments),
a B-58, and modern computer systems and avionics. It wouldn't be an accurate
restoration, but it certainly would be exciting!! I believe one engineer stated,
if only the B-58 had come along 10 years later it would have enjoyed the
solid-state avionics of the period and would have probably been around longer.
He also mentioned replacing the J-79's with turbofans..but mine..err the
guzzilionaires won't! 'Twould be sacrilege!! Bring back the Thunder!!!

There some great B-58 webpages and most, if not all are by pilots. I suspect
the Crew Chiefs simply want to forget!

If you want to try to get a feel for the mark the '58 left on crew, family and observers
check out the Guestbooks at Hustler House about 1/4 downpage..also checkout the links to other '58 websites..lotsa good pics and schtuff..
http://members.cox.net/dschmidt1/

Hustler Rendezvous
www.xs4all.nl/~mvburen/b-58

www.b-58.com

[RickH]

Let us not forget the itty bitty tires that were prone to overheating and occasionally caught fire !

I would also counsel those to look at where the B-58s were based. All of those places have REALLY long runways. The B-58 would be severely limited in the number of airshows it could attend , just on that basis. Places to stop for enroute fuel would be few and far between.

I guess if someone had the bucks to resurrect and feed a B-58 they might as well take the plunge and get a KC-135 too!

[TimAPNY]

I also heard that the last flight to Castle Airforce base was almost the last crash of a B-47. I guy I worked with was stationed there at the time and he said that thing limped in far beyond a wing and prayer. I would have still would have loved to be there to see it. Can anyone confirm this story for me?

Anyone know of any good pictures of it coming in, I remember seeing a video at the Castle air musuem but I think the VHS tape had been played about 1000 too many times and it was painful to try and watch.

Tim

[JohnH]

Thanks. If the airplane's systems were failing the rough landing now makes more sense.

JH

[Cvairwerks]

Just to give you an idea about the maintenance requirements for the bigger birds....

SR-71 uses an estimate of about 320 manhours per flight hour, not including data package maintenance.

B-58 ran around 650 hours per flight hour, with the flight control system overall requiring 200+ hours on average.

[PhantomAce08]

Don't get me wrong, I would really love to see things like a B-47 and a B-58 flying. But maybe it is just me, but I think that the money would be better spent trying to get more jet fighters flying. For the cost of a B-47 and the time spent on it, think what could be done for say more F-100s, another F-4, more F-104s, and even say an F-101 or F-105? Just a thought.

[airnutz]

Don't get me wrong, I would really love to see things like a B-47 and a B-58 flying. But maybe it is just me, but I think that the money would be better spent trying to get more jet fighters flying. For the cost of a B-47 and the time spent on it, think what could be done for say more F-100s, another F-4, more F-104s, and even say an F-101 or F-105? Just a thought.

Welcome PhantomAce08! I'm sure the jet bomber guys would understand.
"We're here today to honor your sacrifices in service to your country. Now
if you'll watch the 4 F-104's taking off in formation, squint your eyes and
you can just imagine..."

Somehow it just don't work for me. If you'd ever seen and HEARD Hustlers
launch..especially in multiples at dusk..your sentiments, I'll wager, would be
quite different!

[PhantomAce08]

Thanks for the welcome!

I'm sure that if I did see them, I probably would feel differently ... and believe me, I really wish I could see them! I was just looking at what was the most realistic today as far as money.

(I'm only 19, so I'm pretty sure that none of these great planes were even flying when I was born!!! )